His playing in a small conference is a pretty big caveat. But LeBron James played only against high schoolers--at some point you have to look at the person and not just the competition he faced: Not much linear quickness--well, good thing this team never fast breaks. Excellent long range shooter--that's all we ask out of our small forward on offense. Phenomenal free throw shooter--that seems like something that'll translate. Quality rebounder for a SF--rebounding usually translates well to the NBA. Milsap was a great rebounder in a small conference, and he still is. Lousy defender--hey, he's a rookie non-lottery bench guy. You want everything? Besides, we'll always have a shotblocker behind him. Good lane agility and excellent vertical--sounds like somebody who can play in the half court. High percentage shooter-- after years of Webster, sign me up!
Yeah, I was watching those moves and it immediately created this scenario in my head: "Roy drives in the lane, drawing the double team. He drops it off to Aldridge for the midrange shot, but the defense has loaded up on that side. He swings it out to Babbitt. Defender lurches out to cover him. Babbitt takes one dribble to side step, and launches a completely uncontested three!" Obviously, he's got to also develop the quick release spot up jumper. But that little move he does in some of those videos seems like it could translate.
Technically, he is a lottery guy... The NBA Draft blurb has "Defensively he is intense, and uses equal amounts of energy on both sides of the ball..." So, at least you know he plays defense hard, even if he is not going to ever be as good as Martell could be in this department. For a limited time guy that hopefully rebounds well and scores - this is OK.
I don't want to come off like I hope the kid fails. Far from it. But he hasn't done anything in college that makes me think he will be an even fair NBA player. My biggest red flag? His college team, according to Portland, had two NBA level talents on it. Yet somehow that team couldn't even get into the NCAA tournament OR crack the sweet 16 of the NIT. That just sounds like a formula for failure.
My hope is that his high measureables can translate into having the athleticism to defend more than one position. If he can defend, say, both the 2 and 3, then he could get a lot of minutes backing up both Batum and Roy. Even if both guys play 35 minutes per game, that would leave 13 minutes a night at each position, or 26 for Babbitt (if he proves worthy of that many minutes). This would necessitate trading Rudy, but I think moving Rudy is in the works. It doesn't seem, either from his play or his mindset, that he's long for the Blazers. If he can defend well, knock down shots and create a little offense now and again off the dribble, he'll be a very nice addition. A championship-level reserve even.
But they played in a shit conference. Two NBA quality guys should get that team at least to the final game of the NIT. But they didn't.
That seems like a needlessly indirect way to judge Babbitt. Did Babbitt play poorly in the NIT? Was his play what kept them out of the NCAA Tournament? I'm not a big fan, at all, of saying "If he's so good, why did his team not do well?" If he played well, maybe his teammates simply weren't good enough for team success, even if you feel two good players "should be" enough.
Well, not really. They played in a conference that had 2 teams in the NCAA tournament. The Pac 10 only put 2 teams in the NCAA tournament. I'm guessing the rest of their roster was garbage. I watched NMSU get screwed late by the refs against Michigan State in a first-round game in person.
Babbitt against NCAA tournament teams last season, plus UNC because it was at UNC and he went against Ed Davis. UNLV - 14 pts/10 rb/1 assist Houston - 14 pts/ 17 rb/ 3 assist UNC - 15 pts/ 11 rb/ 1 assist BYU - 20 pts/ 6 rb/ 1 assist New Mexico State - 26 pts/ 11 rb/ 1 assist Utah State - 26 pts/ 12 rb/ 1 assist Utah State - 20 pts/ 9 rb/ 1 assist New Mexico State 23 pts/ 9 rb/ 1 assist 19.8 ppg/10.6 rpg/1.1 apg Team was 3-5 in those games. Not terrible, not great.
Seems quite great, to me, outside of the record (and I don't ascribe team record to individuals). 20/10 for a 40 minute game against quality opposition is pretty big-time.
I originally posted this in another thread where LittleAlex had posted he looked at Babbitt's stats last season against good teams, and how terrible those stats were. I wonder if he was looking at the right Luke Babbitt? Frankly, the rebounding is a surprise to me.
I give an A- for our draft. We are pretty much set now for the season: PG: Andre Miller - Jerryd Bayless - Armon Johnson SG: Brandon Roy - Rudy Fernandez - Elliot Williams SF: Nicolas Batum - Gomes/Babbitt - Gomes/Babbitt PF: LaMarcus Aldridge - Dante Cunningham - Jeff Pendergraph C: Greg Oden - Marcus Camby - Joel Pryzbilla And then we have D-Leaguers/Euro players: Petteri Koponen Patty Mills Joel Freeland Victor Claver I wouldn't be surprised if we dealt Pryzbilla or Miller(expiring), Rudy, Bayless, and pick for a solid Point Guard like Tony Parker. New lineup would be: PG: Tony Parker - Armon Johnson - Patty Mills SG: Brandon Roy - Elliot Williams - ? SF: Nicolas Batum - Luke Babbitt - Ryan Gomes PF: LaMarcus Aldridge - Dante Cunningham - Jeff Pendergraph C: Greg Oden - Marcus Camby - ? That would be a sick team TBH. I never understand when Blazer fans say we need a backup PF. Hello, DANTE CUNNINGHAM. I'd take him over most of the backup PF's in the league. He is SO solid in every part of his game. - He can shoot a jumper consistently every game. Great stroke. - He can jump. - Little small for a PF, but 6-8 is solid. Makes it up with athleticism. - Amazing basketball IQ. - Good passer. - Surprisingly good defender. - Showed a low-post game when given minutes. If there is ANYTHING that he lacks in, it's handling. But I really love this dude. I had the most confidence in him then any other player during the season.
I didn't consider any of those teams. I considered the top 25 teams and his performance in the NIT tournament only. Utah State, New Mexico and New Mexico state aren't worth looking at. The NCU game he did score 15 points on 5 for 18 shooting. Pretty much ass. The game against Rhode Island in the NIT game they lost he was 2 for 14. He played a good game in a loosing effort in their WAC tournament loss. It would have been nice to look at more games against good teams but Nevada didn't really play that many decent programs (only one game against a ranked opponent, North Carolina.) And no, I don't consider other WAC teams good.
Well, the NCAA selection committee does. 20/10 against NCAA teams. You said he padded his stats against bad teams. Those stats say you are wrong.
