If Batum gets that kind of contract its tying up a lot of resources to a player who in my opinion won't live up to them. He's good but people have been predicting a true breakout season for him for awhile now and he just hasn't showed that. Didn't even always start last year on a pretty terrible Blazers team. He has great length and can shoot the 3 and a lot of people love him and see him having a tremendous ceiling. I personally don't see him getting past being a really good role player. To me that contract is inflated. He's easy to fall in love with but that number is very far from what the Blazers were hoping to keep him at and for good reason. I'm not really a betting man but I bet if you sign him for 46 million you will look back at it later and wonder why you signed him to such a huge contract.
I read that article too about the disputes between the Blazers and the Wolves. The shit about Roy being a point of contention is nonsense though. Yah they're bummed they have to pay out the rest of that, of course. However, Roy would have been picked up by another team if the Wolves hadn't been there.