Although hampered by some recent Achilles soreness the last couple of weeks, Nicolas Batum has still had a solid two months for the Hornets. Since the end of January, Batum is putting up 11.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.1 steals across 26 games, which also includes a season-high 31 points and seven three-pointers against Indiana on Feb. 2.
Batum will be tasked with covering fourth-year veteran, Bojan Bogdanović, who has had a fantastic first season in Indiana after signing with the organization last summer. The Croatian is putting up career highs in scoring (14.3 points), rebounding (3.4), assists (1.5) and three-point percentage (40.3 percent), the latter of which ranks 10th amongst NBA small forwards.
While these two players indeed play different positions, the Hornets will likely use small forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist on Indiana’s All-Star shooting guard, Victor Oladipo, which should leave the Europeans paired together. The rangy Bogdanović is certainly capable of getting hot quickly and Batum will need to be locked in defensively on closeouts in order to prevent him from doing so.