Blazers see big things ahead at small forward for Luke Babbitt

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http://www.portlandtribune.com/sport...78148873015600

Luke Babbitt walks into the sunshine at McCoy Park in New Columbia, participating in his first community endeavor as a member of the Trail Blazers.

The summer-league Blazer players are taking part in an afternoon of activities with kids from the mixed-used housing project in North Portland, and Babbitt is among those serving lunches, signing autographs and mixing with the public.

It’s interesting to watch draft picks Babbitt, Elliott Williams and Armon Johnson mingle easily, both with the kids and with their new teammates. At some point in their NBA careers, most players become jaded to public appearances, and some are downright rude about it.

These rookies may get there some day, but possibly not.

“These are great kids, Trail Blazer type of people,” assistant coach Kaleb Canales says.

Babbitt is the one Portland scouts are placing the heavy bets on to make a difference on the court as well as off of it.

The 6-9, 220-pound small forward from Nevada, taken with the 16th pick in the June 24 draft, seems to have impressed those around him through the first few days of summer-league workouts.

“Great court sense and feel for the game,” says Canales, who will run the Portland entry in the Las Vegas Summer League. “You can see he’s going to be a real good shooter. He’s trying to soak everything up with our system and terminology, which can be a little overwhelming. But he’s a phenomenal kid who works at it hard.”

If you’re a Blazer fan, you may already know Babbitt averaged 22 points and nine rebounds as a sop re, shooting 50 percent from the field, 41 percent from 3-point range and 91 percent from the foul line.

You may not know that the lanky lefthander was recently selected to the five-player all-Western Conference team for the 2000-2010 decade, a pretty good honor in any league. And that he has a 7-foot wingspan. And that, at the Chicago pre-draft workouts, he demonstrated a 37 1/2-inch vertical reach and ran a lane-agility drill in 10.98 seconds. Compare those numbers to the No. 1 pick of the previous year, Blake Griffin, who has 35 1/2-inch vertical and ran the lane agility in 10.95.

Blazer assistant Bill Bayno says Babbitt can create shots for himself.

“He runs the floor well and he can shoot the ball,” Bayno says. “He’s athletic. He gets up on his jump shot.”

Is Babbitt a natural small forward?

“I think so,” Bayno says, “more of a 3 than a 4. We’ll keep it simple for him right now playing one position, and that will help him. Once we get to training camp, we’ll see if we can swing him a little bit like we did with Travis (Outlaw).”

Defense will be the biggest problem, at least at first.

“But coming off the bench, he won’t be going up against starters, and I know he’ll work on his lateral movement,” Bayno says. “We’ll see how he guards some of the summer-league threes. That will be a telling sign.”

Armon Johnson – the Blazer second-round pick who was a teammate of Babbitt at Nevada and has been pals with him since grade school – says Babbitt will meet the challenge.

“Now that people keep saying that, he’s attacked that and worked at it so much,” Johnson says. “I don’t think he’ll have any problem with defense at all. He’s athletic enough that he can be a pretty good defender.”

The Blazers aren’t getting Babbitt to be a Shane Battier, anyway. They’re going to need his shooting and scoring off the bench, and it’s clear he has a pure stroke that he has developed since, well, grade school.

“It’s just repe ion,” Babbitt says. “Ever since I was a kid, I was out in my driveway shooting. It’s not that complicated. I love basketball, so I was always playing. I hardly went a day when I wasn’t playing shooting or playing pickup wherever. I was always looking for a game.”

Johnson calls Babbitt a gym rat. The sinewy southpaw likes that tag.

“One thing that can help get you to this level is a love for the game,” Babbitt says. “You’re not going to make it this far unless during the offseason, you’re putting in the work. I’ve never even come close to getting tired of it.”

Babbitt is a family guy who grew up in Reno and spurned the likes of Ohio State, UCLA, Arizona, California and Washington to sign with hometown Nevada.

“It was a tough decision, but it was a real solid program, and it was right next door,” Babbitt says. “I went back and forth. Originally, I committed to Ohio State and wanted to get away from home. Then I decided I wanted to play for coach (Mark) Fox.”

Babbitt’s father, Bob, is an aerospace engineer. Luke opted for a business major at Nevada, earning a 3.51 GPA and Academic All-America honors as a sop re.

“I’m not going to play basketball forever,” he says. “Even if you have a long career in the NBA, you’re still going to have to work for a large part of your life. Education has always been real important to me.”

I didn’t tell Babbitt that, if he gets to a second NBA contract, he may not have to work for the rest of his life. But I like his at ude.

He says he “sort of” followed the Blazers last season.

“I’ve been a fan of a lot of their players,” Babbitt says. “A couple of years ago, my trainer gave me a DVD of Brandon Roy and told me to study it. I’ve always liked his game. And I’m a fan of (Nicolas) Batum. Just the whole team is fun to watch.”

The Blazers have Babbitt pegged for backup duty behind Batum at small forward. They gave up Martell Webster to get him. Plenty of eyes are going to be on the kid next season, evaluating his performance compared to what Webster would have offered.

“I don’t feel any added pressure,” Babbitt says. “I’m just coming in trying to help this team win. I think I can do that.”

Johnson laughs when I ask him if Babbitt ever got himself in trouble.

“Luke? Nah,” Johnson says. “You’ll never hear that about Luke. His family has great morals. He’s a good person. He and I both don’t do too many things outside of basketball.”

I ask Jeff Pendergraph, Portland’s second-year forward, for an appraisal.

“Good kid, smart kid,” Pendergraph says. “But he has a lot to learn from now until the season starts about how to play. Me and Dante (Cunningham) and Patty (Mills), that’s what we’re here for – to get our rookies ready for training camp, so when it comes, they’ll hit the ground running. We’re going to take care of our own.”

I’m sure Babbitt will appreciate that, as well as the opportunity to play in the NBA.

“It’s something not too many people get to do,” he says.

By October training camp, you’ll see a new Luke Babbitt, by the way.

The long-haired member of the Wolfpack shorn his locks a couple of weeks ago to a buzz cut.

“I’m growing my hair back out,” he says with a sheepish grin. “I don’t know why I did it, but I regret it already.”

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Luke "larry bird" babbit