Nicolas Batum Has Been the Anti-P.J. Tucker

In a good way, of course. (For now.)

Andrew Unterberger is a famous writer who invented the nickname 'Sauce Castillo' and writes for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez, as part of the 'If Not, Pick Will Convey As Two Second-Rounders' section of the site. You can follow Andrew on Twitter @AUGetoffmygold and can also read him at Billboard. 

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When the blockbuster Sixers-Clippers trade -- nominally known as the James Harden trade and/or the Halloween Miracle -- was completed four weeks ago, I messaged the Ricky's soon-to-be-newest team member Dan Olinger to ask him, "Are you prepared to be infuriated by weeks/months of Nicolas Batum starting over Kelly Oubre?" 

We had both been fans of the Kelly Oubre Jr. experience to that point, and had also both been avowed anti-P.J. Tucker guys, particularly during the regular season, where he had still been serving as the Sixers’ starting four through Philly’s first three games of 2023-24. And from my limited experience of Batum in L.A. -- colored by the inevitable frustration of attempting to find value in him as a streaming option on countless occasions over my past few fantasy seasons -- I assumed Batum would be roughly the same deal: a serviceably selfless veteran who would provide defensive value in certain matchups and generally stay out of everyone else's way, but who would infuriate with his inconsistent shooting stroke, lack of pop off the dribble and occasional washedness on D. It seemed he would provide the air of veteran savvy and a competency security blanket for Nick Nurse, but not a whole lot else — especially in the sense of stuff that actually shows up in the box score. 

Much to my surprise, Dan was not nearly as concerned as I was: "He does what PJ Tucker could only 'do' in theory as a connective forward, the passing from him is wonderful and the rim protection is good." He went on to predict that Batum would be "the smartest Sixers role player we've had in years lmao" and "a classic 'just finds ways to help out' role player."

I was skeptical, but he was convincing. And once Nico actually got here, it was clear very quickly that Dan was right: Not only is Batum one of the most helpful veteran additions we've had at any point during the Joel Embiid era, he is -- at least as far as mid-30s vets who score comfortably under 10 points a game go -- the absolute anti-P.J. Tucker. 

In fact, if I could define the Nicolas Batum experience simply and concisely, it would be that he Does Stuff. Certainly nothing particularly stunning, and nothing in obvious excess, but Stuff nonetheless: things that actually make his presence noticeable and notable when he's on the court. He completes entry passes. He switches on defense. He flashes to where he needs to flash to in order to bail out the ball-handler. He swats offensive rebounds out to the three point line. He deflects undetermined passes and lackluster dribbles. He contests in transition. And most importantly, he shoots: early and often, with a high, quick release that means that when he decides he's in a proper shooting position, the ball seems to leave his hands at nearly the exact same time it arrives there. 

Needless to say, none of this could really be said of P.J. Tucker, who most certainly did not Do Stuff. He would play tough, stout perimeter defense against a variety of frontcourt scorers when called on to do so, and he would shoot a wide open three when he had enough time to sing-rap the entire first verse to "Semi-Charmed Life" while loading up, but for the most part, his presence was defined by its invisibility. Tucker almost seemed to take pride in his lack of box-score prolificity; the only measure in an average stat line that could ever be used to point to his positive impact on a game was the plus-minus column. Batum scored 14 points Saturday night against the Thunder, which is not only more than Tucker ever scored in a game as a Sixer, it's also more than halfway towards matching Tucker's point total for the entirety of last November (26), in roughly 360 fewer minutes. 

Batum passes the eye test, the stat test, and even the advanced-stat test -- he rates well in PER and win shares, has a positive net rating while sharing the court with nearly all of his most regular teammates, and boasts an absolutely absurd offensive rating of 152 as a Sixer, while he and Embiid have the highest ORtg in the league among any teammate duo. The latter point is especially key: Between Batum's spacing, passing and defensive versatility Joel hasn't had a frontcourt mate who made the game this much easier for him since Ersan Ilyasova -- and I mean Ersan Mk. 1, back when we traded Jerami Grant for him in Jo's rookie year, not even Ersan Mk. 2 when we got him as a Hawks buyout guy again a season and a half later. 

Moreover, there just doesn't seem to be anything frustrating about Batum's game. He's not gonna shoot 54% from deep all season, so certainly we're due some stretches upcoming where he posts a few more 0-4, 1-6-type distance-shooting nights over the space of a week or two than we're comfortable with. But at the very least, he'll get them up: He already has five games of at least four three-point attempts as a Sixer; Tucker didn't have his fifth such game last year until about a week before the All-Star break. He's consistent, he's decisive, and -- particularly for a dude who turns 35 in a couple weeks, and particularly particularly in comparison with P.J. -- he's still pretty athletic. Matched with Giannis Antetokounmpo or Jayson Tatum, he may inevitably end up looking a step slow or a few pounds light, but he's never gonna look like he needs a rocket launcher just to get the ball to the rim on a layup. 

I can hear (sworn P.J. Guy) Spike's teeth grinding as I write all of this, so I suppose it's only fair that I also point out the other way in which Batum and Tucker may still end up being opposites: I have absolutely no idea if Nico can be what this team (particularly Joel) needs in terms of an enforcer and pump-up guy. The signature play of Tucker's Sixers tenure -- the and-one putback he scored against Boston in Game Four to tie the game late in regulation -- wasn't really about the play itself so much as Tucker's behavior after, as he hollered at Embiid to look the fuck alive and drag the team over the finish line. Mixed results on that one, of course, but the spirit was much appreciated: No one else on the team would or could have convincingly gotten in Jo's ear -- almost literally, physically inside his ear -- to try to wake up the beast in him. Joel needs that guy in the playoffs; so does the rest of the team, probably. 

Can Batum be that guy? Remains to be seen if he has enough of ce chien in him to demand that kind of accountability from the reigning MVP; only a handful of non-Tucker vets in the league likely do. It's the more intangible parts of P.J.'s game that will be hardest to replace, particularly in those most crucial moments. Batum may ultimately be afforded that level of respect by the rest of these Sixers (and Embiid in particular), but due to his slighter physical frame, less growly presence and relative lack of postseason success (eight playoff appearances and only three series wins), it just might not resound the same way. Hell, the Clippers are in need of all the veteran connective tissue they can get, and after three years of Batum, they had no major problem swapping him for Tucker for this crucial (potentially final) championship run of theirs; we probably shouldn't totally disregard the significance of that. 

But for this regular season -- and again, we're only thinking about the regular season this regular season -- there's absolutely no question about which dude is the one we want on this team. In barely 200 minutes as a Sixer, Batum has gone from a guy who some people thought would be less helpful to this Sixers team than KJ Martin to a guy who we're going to be absolutely desperate to keep out of any deadline deals for additional help. All last year P.J. Tucker asked for our blind faith, to trust that although we could not really see his positive contributions for most of the season, that they were indeed there. Batum simply asks us to look upon his Stuff and see that it is good.