If you had to pick three players from our Summer League team...

...plus Elliot Williams, what three would you pick?

Cunningham's pretty obvious. And I want to see Williams. So who else? I think I'd pick Armon Johnson over Pendergraph or Babbitt.

 

Babbit is going to make the team by default IMO. We have to have at least 3 SF types on the roster. By having Babbit, you have one small one (Mathews) one normal sized (Batum) and one large one (Babbit). That allows the coach a lot of flexibility.

 

I'm not sure if you're being serious here. I'm guessing not. But anyway, that's not the issue - I'm asking what are the best three. We can always trade our surplus for a third string SF if we need.

 

Babbit, Armon and Dante - but I like Pendy as well - he is not a great NBA player - but he is still valuable and useful.

 

Babbitt, Armon Johnson and Cunningham for me as well.

We have to keep Babbitt, because he'll be the back-up to Wes Matthews after we trade Batum for Chris Paul.

 

1) Cunningham: We saw flashes last year when he was pressed into duty, but he looks like he'll be a player. He seems to have added some ability to put the ball on the floor and attack the hoop which is absolutely essential if he's going to pick up spot minutes at the three, and it will keep defenses honest, being a credible double threat to either pick and pop, or drive a little.

2) Johnson: I like his willingness to defend and although I think he's got some bad habits that will have to be corrected (the goddamn jump pass!) he seems to have an NBA body, NBA quickness and I just like his sense of pace and control ... he definitely seems to have a role-player's mentaility which is probably what you are looking for in a backup point guard. A couple of knocks though. His jumper outside of fifteen feet looks to be pretty suspect, and even though his court vision looks to be OK, he's got a lot of work to do if he's going to be running an offense.

3) ???: I'm not sure I can put Williams here based on the fact that I've never actually seen him play a single minute, and I don't feel comfortable putting Babbitt or Pendergraph here either. But if pressed I'd probably guess Williams based on his freak athleticism and the fact that he supposedly has some nice upside, a close second would probably be Babbitt. I can't tell if the achilles thing has slowed him down, and even though I'm dubious about his pro potential, he did show some nice flashes of creativity, seems to have a good basketball IQ, and he finally stroked it with confidence in the second half last night which was good to see. JP on the other hand is a stiff; nice guy, hustles, rebounds OK, has a nasty streak, but holy balls is he clumsy and rigid on offense, and not really all that effective a defender in the post -- he made Patrick O'Bryant look like a polished low post scorer.

 

Dante, JP and Johnson in that order!

 

Cunningham, Johnson, Babbitt by default

 

Glad we don't have to keep any of them.

 

any links for todays game

 

Gotta go with Dante, Armon and Babbitt as well.

Pendergraph probably has a leg up on a roster spot, but I wouldn't mind seeing Ebekwe get a look during training camp. If Luke Jackson could get a spot on our preseason roster a couple yrs ago, then I'm sure Ebekwe could get a shot.

 

Pretty much how I feel as well.

 

Another vote for ABC (Armon, Babbitt, Cunningham) from me.

 

This.

 

Babbitt, Cunningham, Johnson,..........Pendergraph is getting his butt kicked.

Babbitt has plenty of skills to be a pretty good player some day. I think he'll disappear to the end of the bench for a year and a half only to reappear as a contributor to the Blazers' imaginary dynasty. Some will say he lifted weights during this time. But the truth is he was just hanging out with Channing Frye's old crew.

Cunningham is starting to look more and more like a small forward each day.

Armon will single handedly win five games for the Blazers next season, because one hand will be tied behind his back.

 

Which games?

 

I've watched parts of three games and those are the three guys I'd go with... though if I'm ordering it I might switch Johnson and JP. Babbitt has looked lost in too many aspects of the game outside shooting for me to think he's going to be getting PT any time soon.

Has anyone else noticed that Dante looks a bit leaner/less muscular?

STOMP

 

I thought that about Dante as well. If Williams is considered granted the Armon, Babbit and Cunningham it is.

 

If the Glove has any pull, Johnson will be the guy. A friend of mine said GP spent the entire night talking up Armon to Nate.