When Nevada's Luke Babbitt declared for the NBA Draft back in April, ESPN's Chad Ford wrote: "Some GMs have him in the late teens to early 20s. Others aren't as convinced and have him parked in the second round. But given the number of GMs that like him, if he declares, he'll likely sneak into the first round." What a difference a month -- and the Chicago NBA draft combine -- makes. As Ford details in a Friday blog post on the NBA Draft blog, Babbitt's numbers in the combine's strength and agility tests prove he's more athletic than most have given him credit for. Couple that with an already rising stock the last few weeks, and he may sneak into the Top 10 in June's draft: "This year's combine darling? Nevada forward Luke Babbitt. Babbitt measured around 6-9 in shoes with an 8-9 standing reach. That doesn't blow you away. However, he had an impressive 6-11 wingspan and essentially measures up with Griffin (6-10 in shoes, an 8-9 standing reach and a 6-11 wingspan). But Griffin is way more athletic, you say? Not according to the combine numbers. Babbitt had a 37.5-inch max vertical, a 3.2-second sprint and an impressive 10.98 lane agility score. Griffin's numbers were 35.5, 3.28 and 10.95, respectively ... What about production on the court? Griffin clearly had Babbitt bested here. Griffin averaged 22.2 ppg and 14.1 rpg in 32 mpg his sophomore year. Babbitt averaged 21.9 ppg and 9 rpg in 37 mpg his sophomore year. However, Babbitt does bring two things to the table that Griffin doesn't -- 3-point shooting and ball-handling ability. Babbitt shot a blazing 43 percent from beyond the arc this past season and showed excellent ball-handling skills for a big man in the combine. Of course, Babbitt isn't as good of a prospect as Griffin was. That's why we've had Babbitt No. 12 on our mock draft for two straight weeks. However, we might have him too low. Based on what I'm hearing, Babbitt could be in play as high as No. 9 to the Jazz."
Babbit was extremely efficient shooting wise and tested great in athletic testing, which bids well for him. I'm excited to see where goes come June, then what the team plans to do with him. I could see Babbit becoming a Kleiza type player depending on how the team that drafts him, uses him. Edit: This was the first year the combine did shooting drills and recorded them, and Babbit definitely impress. On the DX boards, there's a college coach that frequently posts and he brought up that players should at least shoot 66% on unguarded 3pt shots and 80% on mid-range jumpers. Out of the shooting #'s, Babbit shot 84% from the college 3 and 76% on the NBA 3, which shows his range.
The more you look at Babbit, the more you have to seriously think he could be a big time scorer in the NBA. Babbit's shooting touch one has risen to the top over the combine, but if you look at his shooting %'s, he has been doing it for awhile now. You put Babbit in Utah next to a PG like Deron Williams, that will be especially beneficial for a guy like Babbit. Utah does like to get out in transition quite a bit, so if you have a guy like Babbit running the wings that can shoot or finish at the rim, you can't deny the excitement Utah Brass could have in the guy. People will always question his defense and whether he's a tweener or not, but having a guy like Babbit doesn't really seem like it would be an issue to Utah. Babbit reminds me a bit of Donyell Marshall with his versatility, and would probably be able to play with Paul Millsap or Andrei Kirilenko. Last year after the Brewer trade, you saw Utah change styles quite a bit, and you did see a style that featured a lot more 3pt shots being put up, so adding Babbit wouldn't be that bad of an idea if they want to build on the success they had with that style. Here is shooting stats from Draftexpress that breaks down their season shots into the %'s. If you look at eFG% on 3pt shots, Babbit truly is only behind Xavier Henry, which is impressive considering he was playing PF. If you ask me, in college, Babbit was playing similar to the way Dirk Nowitzki plays in the NBA. Not saying he's that good, but that's why ppl question if he can play PF or if he should go to SF in the NBA. With the modern day NBA, I don't think SF/PF tweeners are that big of a deal if they play with heart, and Babbit is a gamer.
