Nicolas Batum admits he didn’t expect to be in France – NBA Update
Nicolas Batum has revealed he never expected to be back playing in France so soon in his career.
The player was drafted into the NBA, as a shy 20 year old, by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 25th pick in the 2008 NBA draft. He has proved to be a very useful player for the Trail Blazers since arriving, but now
finds himself back in France because of the NBA lockout.
Batum played a waiting game in the summer for a while, looking at the prospects of an NBA season beginning on time, and when he didn’t believe there was enough credible evidence pointing to that, he decided to jump the ship.
Since then, he has joined the French side SLUC Nancy, and is the new star of the town. The player enjoys playing in front of his fellow countrymen, but admits he didn’t expect to find himself in the position he currently is. Batum
always had plans of returning to play in France, just not this soon.
"Maybe after I retired from the NBA I would come back and play one or two years in France and then retire from the game when I am 35,"said Batum, who played in front of 10 members of his extended family on this night, as reported
by oregonlive.com
However, now that he is here, the player is making good use of it. He has swiftly established himself as a crowd favourite and living in France, where he grew up, is an added bonus. So is the affection fans show him.
"They never get to see me play. That's also why I love being here.”
Batum also has a new role in the team. Whilst at the Portland Trail Blazers he came way down the pecking order, after the likes of Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge among others, he is the sole star in the team now.
And Batum has filled into the role seamlessly. Nancy decided to utilize him in a manner that would allow Batum to fully express his talent as a basketball player, not just as a guy used for support by the stars at Portland.
"He is a better player when he has the ball. We give him the responsibility as the go-to-guy during the length of the game. This is something new for him," said Nancy head coach Jean-Luc Monschau.
The coach said it was a conscious decision because they believed in his talent, and when he returns to the NBA this experience would only help him grow.
"We decided as soon as he signed to put him these situations: running the pick-and-roll and posting up. This way he can read the game and he has talents of scoring in different ways. They don't do that in Portland because they
don't ask him to. That is limiting his potential."
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