Tuesday, May 2, 2017
What if we have Nicolas Batum instead of Andrei Kirilenko?
In the 2012-13 NBA Free Agency, Restricted Free Agent Nicolas Batum and Minnesota Timberwolves reached an agreement of a 4 year / $46 Million contract in which the Portland Trailblazers match the offer afterwards. If not for extending his qualifying offer Batum would be an Unrestricted Free Agent in which being a Wolf would be inevitable. But what if the Portland Trailblazers did not match the offer that was offered to him the Minnesota Timberwolves?
Will We Make it to the Playoffs?
After the Blazers matched the offer made by the Timberwolves, the Timberwolves immediately find another alternative for him and that is Andrei Kirilenko who was 31 at that time. Now before you judge him let us look at the stats of both players
2012-2013 NBA Stats
Nicolas Batum - 14.3 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 4.9 APG, 1.2 SPH, 1.1 SPG 38.5 MPG
Andrei Kirilenko - 12.4 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.5 SPG, 1.0 BPG 31 MPG
Honestly there is no much of a difference between the production of both players are making, the big difference is Kirilenko is making the same production at a shorter time in the court. Also one of the major difference is shooting in which the 3P% of Kirilenko is .292 and Nicolas Batum is .372 which is a big difference that will obviously help the Timberwolves in their shooting problem.
So will we make it to the 2012-2013 with Nic Batum around? My answer is no, even if Batum was a better shooter than Kirilenko, Kevin Love was injured in the rest of the season (due to knuckle push ups). Having an incomplete roster that year we won't have the full support needed to compete into playoffs?
But will we make it to the 2013-2014 Playoffs? Possibly, having both Pekovic and Kevin Love healthy in the court at the same time will make the team win games. With the original Lineup we are the 10th seed in the Western Conference with a 40-42 record. Here is the look of the projected 2013-2014 Starting Lineup
Bench Role Players
PG - Ricky Rubio JJ Barea
SG - Corey Brewer Shabazz Muhammad
SF - Nicolas Batum Luc Mbah a Moute
PF - Kevin Love
C - Nikola Pekovic Gorgui Dieng
Are you loving the line up? I got to admit it with this lineup I must say the Timberwolves are only 1 key player away for being a contender in the West. With this lineup we could have reached 6th or 7th seed winning 50 games or more. With this lineup Kevin Love would not ask for a Trade to Cleveland.
2012-2013 NBA Stats
Nicolas Batum - 14.3 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 4.9 APG, 1.2 SPH, 1.1 SPG 38.5 MPG
Andrei Kirilenko - 12.4 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.5 SPG, 1.0 BPG 31 MPG
Honestly there is no much of a difference between the production of both players are making, the big difference is Kirilenko is making the same production at a shorter time in the court. Also one of the major difference is shooting in which the 3P% of Kirilenko is .292 and Nicolas Batum is .372 which is a big difference that will obviously help the Timberwolves in their shooting problem.
So will we make it to the 2012-2013 with Nic Batum around? My answer is no, even if Batum was a better shooter than Kirilenko, Kevin Love was injured in the rest of the season (due to knuckle push ups). Having an incomplete roster that year we won't have the full support needed to compete into playoffs?
But will we make it to the 2013-2014 Playoffs? Possibly, having both Pekovic and Kevin Love healthy in the court at the same time will make the team win games. With the original Lineup we are the 10th seed in the Western Conference with a 40-42 record. Here is the look of the projected 2013-2014 Starting Lineup
Bench Role Players
PG - Ricky Rubio JJ Barea
SG - Corey Brewer Shabazz Muhammad
SF - Nicolas Batum Luc Mbah a Moute
PF - Kevin Love
C - Nikola Pekovic Gorgui Dieng
Are you loving the line up? I got to admit it with this lineup I must say the Timberwolves are only 1 key player away for being a contender in the West. With this lineup we could have reached 6th or 7th seed winning 50 games or more. With this lineup Kevin Love would not ask for a Trade to Cleveland.
We Won't have Air Canada and Towns
To be on a positive mindset if Kevin Love did not ask for a trade we won't have Andrew Wiggins the 2014 1st Overall NBA draft pick. Cleveland know that we won't give up our franchise player without a promising player in exchange for him. It turns out to be a good trade and right now we have two #1 Draft Picks playing together in a team that can lead some time in the future. It is one of the right timing as well for KAT as Kevin Garnett was the one who mentored him in his rookie season it turned out to be well for him as he grew his game on another level.
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