Nicolas Batum handles the art of rebound to perfection.
After five seasons spent with the Charlotte Hornets, including the last 18 months particularly disappointing and punctuated by the critics on his imposing contract ($ 27 million per season), the French basketball player has managed the great coup of this end of the year by signing with the Los Angeles Clippers, one of the best franchises in the NBA.
In the space of ten days, Batum, who will be 32 years old on December 14
,
therefore experienced the unpleasant feeling of seeing his contract cut by his former team, then the joy of landing with one of the contenders for the title of champion, who kicks off the season Dec. 22 against the Lakers.
As he was preparing to play his first training Thursday with the Clippers, he revealed to us the reasons for his arrival, confided his doubts of the past and testified his mad desire to resume pleasure on the floors.
How do you feel after packing your bags in Los Angeles?
NICOLAS BATUM
.
It's a big challenge that awaits me.
The last two years have been complicated, my fault, but there was also a management that was different from me.
I was no longer in the plans in Charlotte.
Sometimes you start to listen to others and you can tell yourself that there is no longer any interest in yourself.
We could believe, especially in France, that I was finished.
But when the news of the end of my Hornets adventure came out, I realized that my odds were still very, very high.
We decided to speak with six teams, when the list was much longer.
Have you been the subject of a diligent court of the best teams in the NBA?
It was not easy to make a choice.
Twenty minutes after being released my phone rang everywhere, I was not ready.
I had the coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, the Golden State Warriors and the Clippers in the same evening.
My situation has been followed a lot by the NBA world.
For the first time in my life, I had to decide and choose the team of my choice.
But I had the choice of the king!
Some players like Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Kemba Walker also approached me.
It is necessarily flattering.
What will your role be in Los Angeles?
I hesitated a lot between the Clippers and the Warriors at the end.
The coach
(Tyronn Lue)
knows me from Portland, he followed me a lot in Charlotte.
He expects me to be a "glue guy", a player who can take the pressure off the shoulders of Kawhi Leonard
(the Clippers star)
in about fifteen minutes.
It has been my role all my career.
I know I can contribute a lot defensively in several positions.
I watched videos of all the guys I'm going to play with to try to put them in good condition.
I'll do what I can do!
I never put 20 points per game, but after fifteen years people still haven't understood that!
Why, after going through the last two tough years, the whole NBA called me, ten minutes after I got kicked out of the Hornets?
Why ?
There must be a reason !
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You are coming off the worst season of your career (3.5 points, 3 assists on average).
Do you feel like you've made mistakes?
I tried to talk about my situation with the franchise.
In 2016, I may have been overpaid for what I am, but I was not responsible for it!
When I was offered this contract, it wasn't really the price I had in mind.
Afterwards, there were changes in strategy… When I was told: “Nicolas, focus three points, defense and encourage the young people”, it pisses me off to do it, but I'm going to do it anyway.
And they pay me $ 27 million to do this?
(
laughs
) I could have done more, but I don't see how because I am a player who respects the hierarchy, even if I do not agree.
In fifteen years of career, there are only 18 months where it went badly… You have to have the necessary perspective when judging my career.
Of course I can still play!
I am not burnt as I could hear.
We still feel that you were far from your optimal shape ...
I hadn't been on top for over a year.
Yes, I had a mini-blues.
And inevitably you start to think.
Even if you know who you are, you ask yourself questions and you wonder if people on the outside are not right after all.
You read the detractors, the negative comments… And you start to believe in this reality.
Did you think the NBA was over for you at some point?
Yes Yes of course.
And at 31, that wasn't necessarily what I had expected.
I was training, but psychologically, I couldn't project myself to Charlotte.
I was like, “What am I going to do there?
I stopped listening to people, I talked a lot with my family and my wife who gave me a boost.
Now was not the time to stop and the electroshock appeared in September.
I said to myself :
"You're not dead, you still have some under your feet.
I changed everything and trained hard every day for three months, it was from 7 am to 12 pm.
We did a lot of physical preparation, we worked a lot
(he insists)
.
7 am at the gym, training on the athletic track ... We had to go back and put aside what had happened.
I made mistakes, I let myself go, I could have done more.
Is it the most exciting challenge of your career waiting for you?
As we speak, I go to the training room.
Before I left, I told my wife that it was the first time I felt this good since I was drafted in 2008. I feel like I'm starting something over, starting an NBA career all over again.
It's like the first day of school!
And it's been a long time since I've felt that way.
There is a different mindset here and I want to feed off of it.
Could this change of team be a turning point in your career?
I don't know… I am told: “You are going to shut some mouths.
“But I do not care to shut mouths, I have nothing more to prove when I enter my 13th year in the NBA.
I don't have a Hall of Fame career, but I haven't gotten 3 career average points either.
Here, I am starting a new beginning, no one will talk to me about my contract anymore ...
You have a single goal: to get an NBA title ...
This is the reflection that I made with my wife indeed… I said to myself: “And why not?
The goal will be to go as far as possible and I want to contribute in my own way.
I especially want to take pleasure in the field.
I know very well that I will not play thirty minutes per game.
And I told the owner of the Clippers, I know who I am today and I know what I can do.