Charlotte Hornets: Why Nicolas Batum will have a career year

After three years with the Charlotte Hornets, the 2018-19 campaign will be Nic Batum’s biggest make it or break it season of his career.

Nicolas Batum has been with the Charlotte Hornets for three years now. Nic initially joined the team, following a trade that sent Forward Noah Vonleh to the Portland Trail Blazers, and him to Charlotte. While with Portland, he averaged 11.2 points, 3 assists, and 5.1 rebounds per game.

When Nic was sent to the Hornets, the coaching staff initially saw him as a guard. During the 2014-2015 season, Nic replaced an injured Michael Kidd-Gilchrist at the three spot. At that time, Batum was more comfortable playing at the three spot, since he that position most of his career with Portland. During this season, Nic’s shooting percentage was the highest it has ever been with the Hornets; at a whopping .42% from the field.

Batum is entering his fourth season with the team, and it is unclear what his future will hold with the team. Based off of a tweet from July 6th, Batum tweeted in response to a fan asking about his position; it is clear what the plan is for the ten-year veteran. Coach Borrego is planning on making Batum the starting small-forward for the upcoming season.

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Nic fits the small-forward position a lot better than Kidd-Gilchrist. It can be noted that he is also pretty good at handling the basketball, and he is always looking to get the assist. It is hard to be a traditional shooting-guard when you are passing the ball too much. With Nic switching positions, this opens up the possibility of Malik Monk or Jeremy Lamb, earning a starting spot.

Interesting Statistics

With 366 made threes as a Hornets, Batum has a chance to pass Raymond Felton and David Wesley in all-times three’s made. This would put him in the top five, but he must make twenty-five more threes.
He currently holds the tenth spot in all-time assists with 1,208. If Batum can get another 398 assists this season, he will pass D.J. Augustine, Dell Curry, Brevin Knight, Larry Johnson, and Baron Davis; earning him fifth place for all-time assists with Charlotte.
Batum has averaged 13.05 career points per game as a small forward.
As a Hornet, Batum has averaged 14 points, 5.7 assists, and 5.8 rebounds per game.
He has had 5 triple-doubles and 33 double-doubles with the team.
Per ESPN, he had his highest scoring efficiency in the 2015-2016 season, with 1.198 (He played small-forward).

Prediction

With Batum at the starting three spot, this allows the Hornets to become a more perimeter shooting team. The Hornets have lacked a small-forward who can shoot from the perimeter for many years now. If Batum starts at this spot, it will open up the Hornets offense and will spread out opposing defenses.

I predict that if Nic remains healthy to start the season; he will average 16.9 points, 6.7 assists, and 6.2 rebounds per game. This is a logical number because Batum has almost averaged these numbers in the first two seasons with the Hornets. There will also be more weapons on the team this year for Nic to play with; not to mention his good friend Tony Parker.

It is unclear what the Hornets plan to do with Kidd-Gilchrist since the Hornets plan to start Batum, and also have a very talented player in Miles Bridges. I personally feel that Bridges will learn better behind Batum for now, and will eventually have a larger role with the team.

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It is also important to note that Nic brings more experience to the starting small forward spot, and the Hornets last made the playoffs when Nic started at this spot. The Hornets potentially have a dangerous starting lineup in this upcoming season. If Batum has a good year, it will say a lot about the playoff race for the Hornets.