When I was young, my mother would occasionally give an opinion of one of my contemporaries. The highest praise they could get was to be called a "good kid." This meant that the young person had qualities of character that she admired.
Of course, you could be an adult and still be a good kid if you were young enough and had enough going for you. I am 100% sure she would have called Nicolas Batum a good kid.
I've read and listened to the interviews and watched him grow as a player and as a person in front of our eyes. It's been a real treat. He's smart and funny and he has a great attitude. Recently I heard that a bunch of the Blazers had joined Twitter. It is not my thing but one day I checked out Nick Batum's page (do you call them pages?)
Here's a couple of his comments: "We had a win,I have a good day,live in a good city,have a good family,know good people,have a good girlfriend.I can say I have a good life."
Then after his foundation had a charity dinner a couple of weeks ago:
"Amazing dinner, thanks to everybody,teamates,coaches,volunters,friends.My mom,sister and I thank everybody for tonite...PDX you r the best."

Nicolas Batum is a great young man. He's 22, folks, and, from what I can see, he's handling his life extremely well. As my mother used to say, he's a good kid.

I know everyone gets worked up with Roy, Aldridge and Oden, but we should give some credit to Miller, Camby and Batum who've been keeping this team competitive throughout (I know Camby's hurt, but think if Aldridge was our only post player.)

Maybe the curse of Bowie over Jordan is finally lifting.

A very thrilling 0.9 second...unbelievable.

What a thing of beauty is a well executed play. Batum makes it look so simple, but with an exclamation point - a win with attitude. Blazers seem to be gaining Mo at the right time. Anyone still remember a time before youtube. Bravo

I agree with Bill's comment and feel safe in saying that in terms of the NBA, Nick became a man last night. Two clutch free throws and the impressive finish on the alley oop in less than a second. Awesome.

Batum's response to being a hero: "That was the easiest lay up I had to make...nice passe Dre."
No mention of the free throws. No mention of the way he deceived the Spurs with his intentions before cutting to the hoop.
No mention of catching a pass above the rim with a win on the line.
This young man's attitude is gold.

Sorry to have to compare Batum's post game interview with Roy's interview earlier this week when he helped win the game. That game, especially at the end was a team effort. But listening to Roy it was "I". I like Roy but his humble meter needs to go more to the right.