POR/LAC Trade Idea.

On paper Kaman seems like a good fit. But in reality he is taking touches and rebounds away from Blake. DJ posted 9 and 8 off the bench. He should be starting.

Portland certainly loves Batum, but their love for him may be dwindling out of the current excitement for Gerald Wallace. This isn’t an entirely unlikely scenario, I think.

Batum still starts for Por while Wallace plays the 4 in starting the last 9 games after coming off the bench for his first 8 with Por. In playing both Wallace and L.A. out of position while having Camby come off the bench says they must think quite a bit of Batum or that camby is not at the level he was during his clipper tenure. I gotta think if Neal was willing to trade Kaman he would not see this as enough value, especially if the clips were asked to throw in any kind of 1st round draft pick.

but you dont need to acquire both in the same deal. The back up C would only need to provide 15-18 minutes of decent basketball. I would take a flier on Yao if the Clips traded Kaman for a SF.

Battier is a lock to go to a elite contender on a discount deal. Little chance he spends the last few remaining years of his career playing for a team that would have to battle hard just to make the playoffs. And his age (33 on opening night) means the Clips will be looking for a replacement almost right away.

They promised us that trading Baron allowed them to re-sign EJ and DJ. Accordingly, I’m expecting extension for both this off-season (EJ extension and DJ re-signed.)

I doubt Tony Allen would be available. He’s been the most sneaky great free agent acquisition of the year and he’s really shined since being in the starting lineup.

From Memphis (via trade) I believe the only guy available will be Mayo.

But he’d still be a perfect fit for the team. And it’s never bad to acquire a player everyone else wants.

Based on my memory and the eye test, he rebounds, scores efficiently, spreads the floor, plays great individual and help defense, and unselfish. Not unlike Tayshaun Prince, only much younger.

Now let’s look at it statistically. From basketball-reference.com, it looks like his reputation as an efficient scorer is based on the 09-10 season, not the 10-11 season. However, even in a “slump year,” he’s nearly as efficient as EJ. He’s an average rebounder, at best. He rarely gets assists, but he also rarely turns the ball over. PER seems average (was above last year, dipped below this year). Decent enough defender (statistically), but nothing to write home about. That being said, I still think he plays good defense and forces low percentage shots. His win-shares are above average no matter when you look at them.

If one assumes there’ll be development, he’s right around the level of Gordon (less scoring, more all-around), and both would be very solid pieces to a team built around Griffin. If we could somehow fleece NJ out of DWill, I think a lineup of DWill, Gordon, Batum, Griffin, Jordan goes to the WCF.

Batum’s defense is overrated, especially this season.

Synergy’s top 5 worst defenders (min. 300 plays): J.R. Smith, Ramon Sessions, Daniel Gibson, Marco Belinelli, Nic Batum.

As of February 22nd, Batum was allowing 1.06 points per possession on defense. That was worst among qualified SF’s.