The Layup Line

Nicolas Batum Receives a Promise from the Spurs?

It’s being suggested that the Spurs have promised to draft Nico Batum at 26. In exchange for that promise, Batum’s camp is not, at least by appearances, releasing recent medical tests which are said to confirm that his heart is healthy. Without those test results, most teams could not afford to draft Batum in the first round. In other words, Batum and the Spurs have cleverly manipulated the draft process to allow Nico to fall to 26. Many consider him a lottery talent.

One dot, which others have missed, that connects Batum in a continuum to the Spurs is the role of Ian Mahinmi and the Austin Toros in all this. In the weeks leading up to the draft, Batum has repeatedly said that his strong desire is to play in the NBA next season, and the timing is right because he is not struggling under the onerous burden of a hefty buyout or contractual commitments.

Keep this in mind as you consider that his countryman Ian Mahinmi just completed a banner year playing for Spurs D-League affiliate Austin Toros. Mahinmi began the season as a raw prospect, having taken up the game at a late age. By the end of the season, Mahinmi was a force and, in the past week, David Thorpe said he has developed into a solid rotational player. Trumping Thorpe, one Eastern conference executive recently said that Mahinmi is a future All-Star.

Mahinmi and Batum share the same agent.

Despite his desire to play in the NBA next season, I suspect many league executives were planning to draft and stash Batum. Not wanting this to happen, Batum is probably all too eager to let the Spurs groom him within Popovich’s system, whether in Austin or San Antonio. On talent, there is no reason Batum can not meet or exceed Mahinmi’s success as a rookie and then enter the Spurs rotation in 2009, just as Barry and Bowen prepare to exit.