That's why you are a Mexican league GM, BAMS! I hope he proves to be a great backup SF and everything we hoped Marty would become and more.
I agree. I think Nic is going to soak up about 36 minutes a night, Brandon will probably get a couple in small ball units and by the end of the season the rotation had better be whittled down to no more than 8 players.
He played for a team in the area he grew up... it isn't like he couldn't have played for better schools. If he was from NY and the only school to offer him a scholarship was Nevada I would worry. I doubt he gets any time this year unless we have as many injuries as last, in which case he might be a starter.
If Luke can shoot well in the NBA, then there will be minutes for him. Webster's minutes are up for grabs. Also, I expect to see Batum float around a bit more in the future, much more if Rudy ends up being traded. If Luke can hit his shot and defend decently and rebound anywhere near where he did in college, there will be a place for him.
Nic SHOULD soak up 36 minutes a night, but then again, he SHOULD of soaked that up last year as well.
Ah yes, could have included that other small college guy John Stockton, but I was sticking to Blazers. I am not saying he'll be good/great because he came from a small college, just that good/great players can come from anywhere.
Maybe. I'm thinkg to start Batum/Cunningham/Gomes clearly take the SF minutes. If we go to a small ball situation and move Cunningham over to PF then Babbitt may get some very limited time. But most likely there are some trades coming that will thin out the SF ranks that may allow him a few minutes here and there.
I think you guys are going to be surprised. If Stucky (selected 15) could get 19 minutes a game behind Billups and Hamilton in Detroit - I am almost certain that Bilbo, if he really delivers the goods, will get a bit more than token minutes behind Nic. With the impending Rudy Fernandez trade - I think we will see that Roy will play most of his minutes at the 2, especially if this kid can actually be a consistent offensive player in the NBA - I am going to guess around 12-15MPG for him, with Nic getting around 30, which would be a good thing. It will keep Nic fresh while giving him some more minutes than he got so far, Roy will not have to play out of position that much. With Nic going all-out on both the offense and defense - especially guarding the other team's best players - I would not mind seeing him get some rest. It's a long season - and the depth is useless if not used.
While I think Cunningham, in order to ever be an impact player, will have to evolve into a small forward, I agree that he's not quite there yet. Babbitt's a guy I like. He's a great shooter (and I don't use "great" willy-nilly) from the line and he can hit shots both mid-range and deep. He doesn't seem like a guy who is going to put the ball on the floor and get to the line, but we have Roy and Bayless and Miller for that, and we hopefully will have Oden down low, too. Babbitt might not be the clear-cut backup SF, but I think he'll get a decent chunk of minutes this year and really spread the floor in a way we all wished Martell could have done. Ed O.
I find it incredibly unlikely that Gomes ever dons a Blazers uniform given the nature of his unguaranteed contract and the fact that Miami and Chicago (and possibly a lot of other teams) would like to clear more cap room for free agency
He's going to be the next Larry Bird! Someone smarter than me and who's bball IQ I trust thinks he'll be a mix of Chris Mullin and Troy Murphy. Sounds good to me! With so many players leaving early (especially from the big schools/conferences), I dont think the talent level he played against is all that much worse then the talent that the big name schools/players faced. College basketball is much different now than it was 10+ years ago. That's evident by the fact that the smaller schools are now more frequently making deep runs in the tourney.
One thing I noticed about Luke is that like Roy... he likes to be or for whatever reason... isolates a lot. Also like Roy with his moves and spinning... he can't pretty much find a way to get a shot off. I did read that he doesn't finish particulary well on the break... which is bad news for translating to the NBA... for at least the 1 or 2 times per game we run.
What coach? The 82games.com breakdown shows he played almost no minutes at SF. He played PF. If by coach you mean Rice - he is maybe a Golf coach now...
Luke Babbit, on the rare times he played against good competition, sucked. I was hoping to see that his numbers didn't change much but that simply wasn't the case. Another knock on Babbit is that he isn't a catch and shoot guy. He has to put the ball on the floor and dribble into his shot. A lot like Travis Outlaw actually. He may be able to out jump the dudes in the combines but I doubt he has the same hops as Trout does. This means he is going to allow the man defending him to get set before he shoots. Not the best plan in the NBA. Watching his highlights it's clear that his release is too slow to get off the shots he was putting up in college. He is going to have to learn to shoot from a standstill and defend an NBA quality small forward. If he does that he might end up being a decent pro. If not, he is a wasted pick.
I'm not saying none of that is true, but I trust that our scouts have a higher basketball IQ than any of us and are confident in his abilities to perform at the next level. I'm sure they would have noticed all those things if they where major issues.
I am also going to argue that Babbit's role on this team as a 4th or 5th player when on the floor is going to be a lot different than when he was playing as the #1 guy. All he needs to do to really be useful for this team is hit the open shots. With all due respect to this kid, with Roy, LMA, Oden, Miller (or his replacement) and... on the floor (not to mention other scorers like JB, Camby and the like) - he is going to get many open looks. As it seems that his handle is a lot better than 'Tell's - and he is good in Iso situations (where he will be in these cases) - I think he has a good chance of doing exactly what we hoped Webster would have done.
I like that he is a pretty good passer. You can put a guy like that on the floor and he can spread the floor and feed the post. He seems to have good feel for the game. (high basketball IQ what ever) He also seems to be like BRoy where he plays under conrol.
I guess then there's a difference between being athletic and playing athletic. The videos I watched, was a whole mess of slow methodical step back jumpers. He'll be able to get those with his heighth and long reach, but from what I watched he isn't blowing by anyone and getting to the hoop I'd say he's poised to be a specialist in the league (Kyle Korver), instead of a head of the rotation player like Mullins was. ....Nothing wrong with that by the way, assuming his specialty is shooting and he becomes very proficient with that!
But if he didn't play SF, like at all, what does that make him? An SF that's not an SF? Or maybe he's just not an SF.
