If don't follow college baseketball that much... but after watching some video of Luke I get the same feeling I did when I first watched Brandon Roy. Not flashy... not super at anything... but very efficient. I admit I was not excited about Roy when he was drafted... so greatness can stare me in the face and I wouldn't notice it... but Babbitt seems efficient along the lines of Roy/Bonzi Wells/Zack Randolph... players that in their prime can just get it done somehow. Quote from one video "I don't want to be one of those players that puts up a ton of points, like in college, but has to do it in 30 shots" That seems to me to embody what our current team is about. Efficient. Selfless.
From what I read and hear, he is a very competitive team player. I like that attitude. He can also shoot pretty well, but is smart about it. My only concern is that he plays in a very poor conference against very inferior players and teams. His jump to the NBA is much greater than a player from a major confernece or even a good "minor" conference. To that end, I think players like that are hard to scout and it's easier for them to not be able to "make it to the next level" and they are in actuality jumping up two levels. But we shall see. I hope the kid makes good.
Also watched the highlights, and thought to myself... "Luke Jackson with an equally bad haircut" Babbitt is bigger, with a longer reach, but doesn't look anymore athletic to me. I definitely see the comparisons to Chris Mullin, and Mullin was a stud. Hope Babbit turns out to be more Mullins than Jackson, but to do so he's probably going to have to be a scrappy hustler type as he won't get by on athletic ability alone.
Babbit recorded the highest vertical leap of any forward or center at the NBA Combine and also had the 4th best agility time of any player regardless of position. How can you say he isn't a good athlete? He's an exceptional athlete.
I have the same concerns about the competition he faced, he was also not a great spot up shooter, but generated most of his shots off of pull up jumpers. He's going to have to learn to catch and shoot if Nate is going to run the same offense he has for the past ten years There seems to be a real disconnect between his combine athletic testing (especially agility and leaping) and the way he appeared to play in Nevada. If you go by his combine numbers he's one of the top athletes at the 3 in this draft (a full 8 inches higher on his vertical and a half second plus on his lane agility test than Adam Morrison for instance) but when I've watched videos of the kid he just doesn't make me think elite athlete, which is probably backed up by the fact that his straight line speed was pretty average to poor in the combine. He's an interesting case and I'll be very curious to see how he performs in first summer league and then maybe in spot minutes next season.
That's a good thing, imho. You look at Roy play, and he does not strike you as an elite athlete either - but then he uses it when he needs to. These videos of him breaking people's ankles with cross-overs show you that maybe he is just smart and knows how to use his athletic ability in a sneaky way, the way Roy does.
This has made me scratch my head as well. The so called "experts" last night liked his game, but all said he wasn't that athletic. Then I read that he has a very good vertcal, and was only .5 slower in sprints and lane drills and John Wall. The weekness all talk about his inability to handle NBA 3's, but the numbers appear to say something else.
First think i thought is Kyle Korver... Good shooter, piss poor defender, average athletism am i off on this assesment? Some people campare him to keith van Horn or Chris Mullin (NBADRAFT.NET) the latter of those twobeing high praise
But how will he fit in to this team? Clearly, we're committed to Batum at SF. Cunningham is a flat our SF stud and plays excellent defense. If Babbitt ends up being the #3 SF, which is very possible, it's a wasted pick unless we move him sooner than later. I mean, we've held on to Bayless too long and now he has no value in a trade.
As to comparisions, I'd be quite happy with a Chris Mullin, bad hair, acne and all. As to small colleges, do the names scottie Pippen, Kevin Duckworth, Terry Porter, and Jerome Kersey ring a bell? As to comparisons with Roy, I met a man who follows college bball. He saw Roy when he was at UW here to play Stanford and thought, during the game, Roy was not very impressive. Nothing he did stood out. But then he looked at the box score; Roy had something like 15 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals. It was like, where did all this come from? I just wish he did not have that name, reminds me of the novel Babbitt, one of the most unpleasant, detestable characters in all American fiction. At least he is not George Babbitt.
Translation: He's white, so he can't be "athletic". Gordon Hayward? Sure, there are athletic concerns with him. I just don't see it with Babbit. He tested better across the board than Martell Webster did at the NBA Combine. Another great thing about Babbit is he has large hands. These are some pretty cool measurements. http://www.nba.com/2010/news/05/25/combine.measurements/index.html
Good point. Just as the, literally, dozens of players with names like "Morrison" do as well. So the answer clearly is that players like Babbitt are indeed much harder to scout and do indeed have a less chance of making it in the NBA.
Well, last night Nate, Rice, Barrett and Antonio all called him a SF. He's been called a SF all last season. He's in the SF rotation. So, if it looks like a SF, walks like a SF, talks like a SF, smells like a SF and the coach says so- guess what? It's a SF.
Dante plays PF, he does not have the handle and range to really play SF. Two very different players, there - and if the Hobbit proves that he can score in the NBA - I would not be surprised to see Portland going super-long for periods, where Roy/Batum play #1/#2 on offense (and #2/#1 on defense) - with Bilbo playing the 3 next to LMA/Oden.
Seems to me after looking at stats and film - that we just drafted the American-born version of Claver. Similar players.
I hope the only time he breaks a sweat this season is when he is carrying all the vets bags to their rooms on roadtrips!
Dante is great, but a SF he is not. He was not in college and he was never really used as one in the NBA. Honestly, the more I look at Bilbo - the more I like this pick. This kid strikes me like a SF version of Stucky. Sure, he comes from a small conference - but he is a very good athlete and he scores with ease. Add the fact that he rebounds well for his position - and this could could become a much smarter, more skilled, better rebounding version of Travis Outlaw. That's a good thing.