That's definitely a concern. It can also be an issue of who is ahead of him in the rotation. The Blazers play Batum and Wes at the 3 a lot (We see a set of Wes/Batum, Rudy/Wes and Rudy/Nic at the 2/3 a lot) - so quite frankly, saying that he is not as good as Nic and Wes is reasonable and does not really tell us how bad he is. The other position he is supposed to play is the 4 - where he is behind LMA (duh) and Dante - who is not exactly stinking the place. So, while it is somewhat of a concern, it is too early to write the book on him. He plays one of the two positions where the Blazers actually had health and reasonable production so far...
At the very least we have to acknowledge the likelihood that if he can't even get 5 minutes a night, then he's probably not threatening any of those guys ahead of him on the depth chart -- and right now his advertised strength (shooting) is in pretty short supply. I think it's a safe bet he's sucking pretty badly. (and his negative PER in 25 minutes doesn't appear to recommend him much either).
If his limited minutes this season and his performance in Summer League are any indication then Babbit is Barely-Makes-The-D-League bad. Personally I think Babbit is like Samson. He should never have cut his hair. If he would have left it long he would be the next Mike Miller instead of the next Joe Wolf.
.. and I did that by saying that that's definitely a concern... But, it is also pretty clear that if a guy who was drafted at #16 can't crack the rotation after 14 games as a rookie behind 3 pretty good players in LMA, Nic, Wes and a pretty decent backup in Dante, maybe, just maybe, it's too early to declare him DOA.
So, should we trade Babbitt and risk him becoming the next Jermaine O'Neal? I mean, come on, it's been 14 games and the guy can't crack the rotation. What are the chances he'll ever be worth a damn? Everyone knows the suckage horizon for rookies is 15 games. If Babbitt doesn't blow up in the next game, we should just cut our losses and ship the guy out to anyone who will give us a late 2nd round pick. BNM
It's way too early to determine how he'll pan out. I said when we drafted him that he's making a much bigger jump to the NBA than most college players as he played in basically a juco conference- talentwise. He needs more time to get used to the speed and strength of who he now plays against. The D-league would do him a world of good. Maybe in his 3rd season we may get to better determine if he's an NBA player.
Maybe. Talk to me in a couple of years. Remember when people thought Sergio was an NBA player. And Bayless our next all-star? Turns out they weren't. We tend to grossly over evaluate players here. I'm not saying good NBA players can't come from the lesser leagues, but that if a player dominates juco talent that means very little to how he'll play in the NBA.
By all means, let's be patient with Babbitt ( and Claver, and Williams). It's not like the Blazers are struggling *now*. Oh....wait..... Outside of LMA and Batum, everybody on the team is mediocre, injury prone, or too old to be part of a rebuilding effort. They didn't have the luxury of wasting those 3 picks.
I dunno, I can see the complaint of judging a guy too early in his career to see how good he will be. I just feel like he's too much of a tweener to be all that effective for us. He seems like he'll always be too slow to cover 3s, and to small to cover 4s. And, to be a mismatch both ways, he'd need to be faster than most 4s, and stronger than most 3s, or bigger, and he just isn't. Like Outlaw was. Or, a guy like Beasley. Faster than 4s, stronger than 3s. So he is basically a bonus on offense, bad on D. With Luke, he doesn't look like he'll blow by 4s, or outmuscle 3s. With Dante, he at least could make attempts at covering some of the bigger 3s(Lebron, Carmelo, Artest, etc.), and he is pretty strong, and can hold his own against some 4s. Even has against some 5s.
I am in the 5 minute a night corner. That's all I am talking about. Maybe put him out there at he end of quarters to utilize his shooting, and help get him aquainted with the speed of the league
lol. Its funny how we always think alike. McMillan is notorious for not giving guys a chance that don't fit his "mold". Babbitt has talent, he can play the game. But, defensively he's garbage so he won't crack the rotation. You look at a player like Matt Bonner in SA and he thrives. His role on offense is to sit in the corner and chuck when they penetrate they kick the ball out to him and he's shooting something like 60% for the year. I have decided I really want to see McMillan go at the end of the year. I feel like X's and O's wise we haven't had a good coach since Dunleavy.
As I said earlier, I'm not asking for large minutes for Babbitt, just 5 minutes per game. Even a bad pick #16 rookie deserves that, to develop him. Bayless isn't a PG. That's why I said that even before we traded Bayless, we had no sub PG other than Johnson.
That’s stupid; players don't "deserve" anything. If he can help the team win games he should play. If he will hurt the team by being on the court his ass should stay parked on the bench. Did Adam Morrison deserve minutes? Did Sergei Monya deserve minutes? Wesley Matthews wasn't drafted, should he have stayed in the D-League all of last season? A coach should not have to play an inferior player just because they were drafted ahead of a superior player. Every year there are numerous first round picks that don't amount to squat. The draft is an imperfect science and even the best evaluators strike out from time to time. If Babbit is not ready to contribute on an NBA team how is 5 minutes of him getting abused going to help him develop?
If he has NBA level talent, the best way for him to learn is to play - even if he has to take some abuse along the way. IMHO, the problem goes beyond being "not ready to contribute." I suspect he falls into the "don't amount to squat" category. In which case, you are absolutely right - giving him minutes is an exercise in futility.
