Should Charlotte be concerned with Nicolas Batum's EuroBasket debacle?
France hosted the 2015 EuroBasket tournament but didn't give their home crowd the results many expected. Spain won the gold while the French instead settled for a bronze medal.
Why did they struggle so badly? According to Sports Illustrated's Ben Golliver, Charlotte Hornets guard Nicolas Batum is partly to blame. Here's more:
The Hornets shouldn't look to trade Batum tomorrow, but this performance is a little concerning. Batum is coming off one of the worst seasons of his career, and Charlotte just traded a lottery pick for him.
If Batum's three-point shot is gone for good, it'll drop his value as an NBA player. He made only 32.4 percent of his threes in Portland last season. That number needs to go up or Charlotte won't be able to provide its interior scorers with the spacing they desperately need.
(h/t: Sports Illustrated)
Batum averaged 9.1 points (on 35.3% shooting) and 3.6 rebounds, he registered nearly as many turnovers as assists, and he hit just six of his 35 three-point attempts. His most memorable failing, going 0 for 3 from the free-throw line with a chance to tie Spain late in overtime, underscored ongoing concerns about the mental state of his game.
