Nicolas Batum Deserves to Be an All-Star
Batum is having an incredibly well-rounded season that should earn him a spot in New Orleans
This NBA season has been off to a great start with stars filling stat lines to the max. James Harden and Russell Westbrook are outdoing each other with astronomical stat-lines seemingly every night. LeBron James is quietly putting up 26/8/9 a night. The Brow is putting up career highs in points and rebounds. The individual performances this season have been incredible, and the attention has gone to the superstars.
As the league looks forward to All-Star Weekend, many fans and writers are putting together their teams, and submitting their votes. Big names dominate the voting, as they do every year. This year there’s one player whose star power might not match up with the rest, but who absolutely deserves a spot.
The Case
Nicolas Batum has been absolutely killing it since he signed with Charlotte in 2015. Last season in his debut for the Hornets, he posted career highs in points and assists while being the team’s second scoring option and defensive stopper. This year, he’s stepped it up even more.
Batum has matched his point output from last season at 14.9 per game while raising his assists and rebounds and lowering his turnovers. Now sitting at 7.6 rebounds per game and 5.9 assists per game, Batum has one of the most well-rounded lines in the league right now.
Batum has also been extremely solid on the defensive side of the ball. Those who select for the All-Star Game typically don’t look too hard at this side of the ball, but Batum finds himself at #12 in the league in Defensive Win Shares at 1.7.
Batum’s team has also enjoyed quite a bit of success this season. After losing Jeremy Lin, Al Jefferson, Courtney Lee and Tyler Hansbrough, many thought Charlotte would take a step back. However, they’re currently enjoying the #4 seed in the Eastern Conference and have showed no signs of dropping back. Kemba Walker has had an amazing season, and will likely get the All-Star nod, but Batum has been just as important in their team’s success.
How Does He Match Up?
Batum is obviously having a career season and impacting his team in a huge way, but none of that matters. The All-Star Game isn’t about who’s having the best season for their career or helping their team win the most games. It’s about being the better player and having the better numbers. Is Batum actually outplaying the big-name stars?
Well, it sure looks like it. He’s rebounding at a higher percentage than LeBron James. He’s assisting at a higher percentage than Steph Curry. His TS% is right on pace with Paul Millsap. He’s assisting more than his back-court mate Kemba Walker. He’s scoring on pace with Al Horford. His steals per game are the same as Avery Bradley who was named first-team all-defense last year.
None of Batum’s numbers are eye-popping individually. But together they paint the picture of a player doing everything for his team at a high level. Even All-Stars seem to have some weaknesses, but Batum seems to be above average at everything this season.
The East has been disappointing to this point of the season, and a player that does so much for one of the top teams in the conference needs to be in the All-Star conversation. Names like Paul George, Carmelo Anthony, and Kristaps Porzingis are flashier names, but Batum is having a better, more well-rounded season.
The All-Star game has become about getting the biggest named players all under the same roof. But if we’re seriously looking for the players who are having the best seasons, Nicolas Batum deserves the nod just as much as anyone else.
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