Via the Los Angeles Times:
Clippers teammates were gathering in the key and coaches were talking in a circle at midcourt, but Nicolas Batum was in no hurry to leave his courtside chair and begin shootaround on a late November morning.
Only weeks from his 34th birthday, the wing turned his eyes toward the empty upper deck of Portland’s Moda Center and his memories of the younger version of himself that spent his first seven seasons with the Trail Blazers.
“It’s a special place,” Batum said. “I grew up here.”
Growing up in the NBA requires absorbing often painful lessons. Growing old in the league, however, is reserved for the few who can put what they’ve learned into action. Batum, with 1,006 games on his resume including the regular season and playoffs, counts as a survivor, a longevity he traces to the first, and perhaps the most enduring, career lesson he took in weeks before his first official game.
The Clippers are 19-14 this season, which is the 5th best record in the Western conference.
Their leading scorers so far in 2022-23 are Paul George at 23.4 PPG, Kawhi Leonard at 15.3 PPG, and Norman Powell, mostly off the bench, at 14.8 PPG.
