The Layup Line

Draft Storylines I: Nicolas Batum and Bill Walker

Each year there are a hand full of story lines that make the draft worth watching, and this year is no different. Most of the attention is focused on the first few picks of the draft, and especially on what Miami might do, whether wildly speculative or realistically measured. I think of the draft as the end of Act 1 of a player’s career, with most careers concluding in Camus-like anticlimactic fashion, dying before they lived.  But for some players, Act 1 provides the backdrop for something remarkable.  In those cases, it’s nice to have watched from the beginning, happily bouncing from one plot point to the next as the story unfolds with a satisfying mixture of fulfillment and expectation.

It is in this light, that I’m watching Nicolas Batum and Bill Walker. Both players are lottery talents that have fallen out of favor with GMs.

Bill Walker’s stock has fallen because of a rash of knee injuries, the most recent of which prompted many to assume he’d pull out of the draft. But he didn’t, which is interesting in itself. Who will draft a wing with dodgy wheels, and does his camp know something that we don’t? Bill Walker’s game is reminiscent of young Vince Carter in terms of his ability to finish at the rim. I’m eager to see which team has the guts to take a chance on him and whether he can capitalize on his talent while avoiding further injury.

Nicolas Batum is an exceedingly athletic 19 year old French swing who’s ceiling projects into the Josh Howard territory of great complimentary role players. Batum wowed everyone this time last year at the Nike Hoop Summit but has seen his stock slide because of an underwhelming pro campaign in Europe—-as prevalent as this criticism is, it strikes me as odd given that Batum is 19 and has played heavy minutes with good production on and against quality European teams, but I digress. Batum has gone from a projected lottery pick in 2007 to a late teen, mid-twenties selection this season. Well, until last week.

Reports from Toronto and New Jersey suggest that Batum may have cardiac issues. He’s in Cleveland today undergoing tests to confirm or insubstantiate those reports. For any player this is serious chatter, but with Batum it takes on scary dimensions. Henry Batum, father of Nicolas, was a French basketball star who allegedly died of an in-game heart attack. Although, it should be noted that Batum’s agent, as well as Henry’s widow, deny those reports. We should know the specifics of his heart condition, or lack thereof, later today. For Batum, anything less than a clean bill of health is problematic because it will affect  his ability to receive insurance coverage and, therefore, the willingness of teams to draft him, first or second round.

I’m cheering for both these kids. I’d like each story better if it ended in success.