Nicolas Batum was supposed to have a breakout season when the Trail Blazers signed him to that $11 million dollar contract. But instead his game started to stagnate. The team hired Terry Scott and he wanted the Blazers offense to go threw Aldridge, Lillard and Wes Matthews. Nic Batum ended up being the fourth option on offense; usually standing at the three-point line waiting for someone to kick the ball out to him.

It just wasn’t working out. Then, when LaMarcus Aldridge chose to leave during the summer, the Blazers decided to take the team in another direction. So they let the older players leave and traded Nicolas Batum to the Charlotte Hornets.

It seems that this might have ended up being the best situation for Batum. He needs to take another step in his development, and there’s no better place to do that then Charlotte.

The Hornets need offense, badly. They ranked 28th last year in offensive efficiency and 27th in points coming from three pointers. The team didn’t have any shooters, and nobody could score beside Al Jefferson and Kemba Walker.

This is where the addition of Nicolas Batum will end up helping the Hornets.

He is already being asked to step up on offense, as Steve Clifford the Hornets coach has said in an interview. “ Nic has always been a 3rd or 4th option. Now he’s going to be 2nd or 1st option” offensively.

He’s going to get more of a chance to showcase the type of talent he is. Instead of standing at the three-point line, he’s going to have the ball in his hands more.

Beside Kemba Walker, the Hornets don’t have anyone that can create shots for themselves. Nic can do that. He will also help with their terrible three-point shooting, seen as though he is a career 36 percent three-point shooter and shot 39 percent from three during his best shooting season.

This was a good addition by the Hornets because their getting someone that has all the talent to succeed. Now he just needs to put the pieces together.

Whether Nic Batum can take the next step in his career, is yet to be seen. But one thing is for sure; in Charlotte he’s going to get every chance he can to showcase the kind of talent he can be. Let’s hope he takes advantage of it.