Jason Quick has an article up describing the possibilities of Nicolas Batum being in the starting lineup on opening night. He spends a fair amount of time on Roy's assessment of Batum (positive) and makes a fair amount of hay from the fact that Nic hasn't left the starting lineup since Martell went down. That latter clause, however, weighs more than all of the others combined. The reality is we wouldn't be talking about this at all if Martell wasn't injured and even if Batum does get the nod it's unlikely he'll remain a starter for long once Martell returns.
It doesn't sound like Roy is too thrilled about the prospect of moving to small forward himself and it doesn't sound like Coach McMillan is overly eager to move Rudy in there either. Outlaw either hasn't performed well enough, doesn't fit philosophically into the first unit, or is too valuable to the second unit to move into a starter's role. It's to Batum's credit that he's played well enough to make himself a viable alternative. But maybe the take-away point is that we don't have as many viable alternatives as we assumed?
--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)