Why the San Antonio Spurs' Summer Should Start with a Swing for Nicolas Batum

Before anyone in the San Antonio Spurs organization worries about what to do with the 37th pick in Thursday's NBA Draft or looks at prospects who might be available in the 50s, where they select twice, they should make a phone call.

Maybe they already have.

It's a call that makes sense and could pay dividends for a roster in need of athleticism and youth.

Before R.C. Buford prepares to make predicted pitches to Antonio McDyess, Rasheed Wallace, or some other member of the 2009 free agent class, he should phone Kevin Pritchard in Portland.

The Spurs' priority this offseason, after a dreary first-round ouster at the hands of a vapid anti-champion in Dallas, should start with the player they wanted to pick in Secaucus last year.

I didn't need to see Buck Harvey's column in the San Antonio Express-News, after a 100-99 loss in the season's first week at the Rose Garden, to believe it.

Harvey said reports of euphoria in the San Antonio draft room when George Hill fell to the 26th spot were inaccurate.

Popovich loves Hill, and so does anyone else who watched him exceed expectations in a terrific rookie campaign.

He guarded Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant in crunch time and did a respectable job.

He brought some quickness and athleticism to a team overstocked with the kind of slow pokes you expect to encounter at a library.

The Spurs would not have won 54 games and the Southwest Division without Hill's inspired if uneven contributions.

In a late November win over the Chicago Bulls, Hill thoroughly outplayed Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose en route to one of several 20-point games and 11 rebounds.

All of this earned praise misses the point.

To squelch the heartache and unease after a first-round exit, the Spurs should look to the same place they did the last time they faced such tumult—France.

Then, the team that had relied on a sassy Cajun with limited talent for most of a decade as its starting point guard looked to a kid in Paris with a lot of it.

Tony Parker, the 28th selection in the 2001 draft, had been twice beaten in a practice tilt with scout and former Spur Lance Blanks.

Gregg Popovich once thought him too soft, reserved, and breakable to be an NBA fixture. Parker, too, admitted that Blanks', well, blanked him in those one-on-one sessions.

Then, the Spurs were looking to recover after a late-season injury to Tim Duncan whacked the quest for a repeat.

The Phoenix Suns had shellacked them in four games.

The Orlando Magic were trying to lure Duncan away to play alongside Grant Hill.

It was to be the Magic Kingdom dynasty.

There was Sean Elliott, too.

No one can argue that this summer is worse for the Spurs than that one.

The fruits of three critical months in 2000, though they did not lead to a title that season, paid off years later.

This time, Buford and Popovich don't have to worry about Duncan going anywhere—yet. His contract keeps him a Spur until 2012.

However, his knees, feeling the burn of a 12-year career and many postseasons, could go before then.

A nasty bout with tendinosis left Duncan a hobbled fraction of his All-Star self. With pain consuming his knees in March and April, he shot 43 percent, the lowest mark of his career.

A pair of items top this season's to-do list—getting Duncan some frontcourt help and finding a Bruce Bowen replacement.

The Spurs coveted French forward Nicolas Batum in last year's draft because they thought he could fill the latter need.

After a rookie season, in which he made the most of his rocky playing time, Buford and Popovich should know he can.

A pursuit of Batum would be a start, not the final piece to this evolving South Texas puzzle.

With Pritchard reportedly ready to make a splash in the free agent waters, the Spurs must at least get him on the line.

The Trail Blazers are shopping this summer, not next, when they will have to re-up Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge. Both college standouts have proven to be the best players to emerge from the 2006 draft and will command hefty paydays.

A roster overloaded with young talent can afford to trade a prospect for specialists and expiring contracts.

Who the Spurs offer would be up to both sides. Since Batum earns a rookie salary, a one-for-one or two-for-one deal would not work financially.

He makes close to $1.4 million and the only two Spurs with comparable paychecks are Jacque Vaughn, Ian Mahinmi, and George Hill.

Vaughn is wise but useless given his age, and Mahinmi and Hill represent the San Antonio's youth movement.

Still, Portland has options at the small forward slot. Martell Webster will presumably return next season at full strength. He could give the Blazers more in a playoff series than Batum's 1.8 points per game.

Pritchard, sources say, wants to make a run at Hedo Turkoglu.

Sometimes, a phone call that sounds ridiculous when rehearsed becomes the victory speech no one anticipated.

Of all the possible trades involving All-Star Pau Gasol, did you predict the one Mitch Kupchak pulled off?

To bring this discussion back to the draft, the Randy Foye-Brandon Roy swap provides a different kind of example.

Why, then, should the Spurs not call about a spectacular athlete who could provide a defensive boost the team needs?

In the first round against the Houston Rockets, the 6'8" Batum pestered Ron Artest. His defense was just as bothersome as Artest's sometimes wild offensive habits.

His wingspan allows him to make breathtaking defensive plays from the weakside. Like Bowen, he shoots effectively from the corner.

Unlike Bowen, he can power through multiple defenders and throw it down.

Batum's help defense, too, has drawn many compliments.

He runs like a cheetah and, at times, defends like a bloodhound.

Couldn't a defensive mastermind in Popovich and a sage mentor in Bowen turn "at times" into "all the time?"

Can the Spurs not afford to at least ask about a deal?

If only $1.4 million could buy a promise that Duncan's knees would not fail.

It's time to quiet the shhhhhhh...

The library boys need to make some noise, fast.

French noise.

Nicolas Batum noise.

For a team with a list of needs one offseason alone seemingly cannot fix, there's nothing like a quick start.