LA Clippers: The Argument Against Nicolas Batum Starting

Nicolas Batum has been great for the LA Clippers, but his best fit long term will be coming off of the bench when Marcus Morris returns.

For the LA Clippers, Nicolas Batum has been a revelation. Picked up on a minimum contract after he was waived by Charlotte, even the most optimistic of us saw him as a low-risk upside signing, one that could be cut immediately if a better option came along.

I will fully eat my words on this one. Batum’s been much better for the Clips than I ever expected. He very nicely fills that “player who does a little bit of everything to help the team win” niche. He can hit a three, he can keep the ball moving, he can play some defense. He’s not elite at anything, but he’s pretty good at everything.

He’s fit so well, in fact, that some talk has started about whether he should keep his starting job, even after Marcus Morris – for whom he’s been filling in – gets healthy. The obvious substitution would be putting Mook into the forward spot that Batum occupies, but Jonathan Tjarks yesterday brought up the idea of moving Beverley to the bench and playing a Batum/George/Kawhi/Morris/Serge starting lineup.

And look, I’ve really enjoyed watching Batum playing alongside the starters, and he’s performed much better than I expected before the season started, but his best fit on this team is still going to be coming off the bench and playing alongside the second unit.

I still trust Marcus as a scorer more than I do Batum. Yes, Nic’s been on fire from three – as has the whole team – but I don’t want to bank on that continuing. He’s shooting 46% from deep right now, but his last five years’ 3 point percentages are 29, 39, 34, 33, 35.

He’s a low to mid 30% three point shooter who’s on an incredible hot streak right now, but I’m not betting on him suddenly shooting in the mid 40s. And when he’s not hitting the three, his value on offense will come from keeping the ball moving and making the right pass, while grabbing a couple rebounds.

That skillset is exactly what our bench is calling for. With three scoring guards coming off the bench in Lou, Luke and Reggie, we don’t need another high volume scorer like Morris. If we had a second unit of Lou/Reggie/Luke/Morris/Zubac, that’s 4 guys who are always going to be looking for their own shots, very little in the way of playmaking for somebody else. We need somebody who’s going to enable those scorers and keep the offense moving when it’s in danger of slowing down.

And really, with how effectively Ty Lue has been staggering our lineups, putting Batum on the bench isn’t banishing him from playing alongside our stars at all. It’s just taking our glue guy and putting him on a bench that could really use his brand of team basketball.

I’m not going to complain about this decision either way. Having six guys with a legitimate claim to a starting role is a good problem to have, and I trust the coaching staff to find the right combination. It’s just my opinion that that right combination is going to end up featuring Batum off the bench.