The Hawks are set to begin training camp on Sept. 26. Starting today, I'll be previewing one player each day leading up to camp (in alphabetical order).
Luke Babbitt
Position: PF/SF
Height/Weight: 6-9, 225
Age: 28 (6/20/89)
2017-18 salary: $1.97 million
CARMELO projected value: $2.7 million
How acquired: 2017 free agent (minimum)
OFFENSE
Provided by
:
Generated 9/4/2017.
The Hawks can use the 2016-17 Heat version of Luke Babbitt: a three-point specialist who shoots a lot of threes. The Hawks cannot use the 2015-16 Pelicans version of Babbitt: a three-point specialist who strayed from his bread-and-butter.
Babbitt, the No. 16 overall draft pick out of Nevada in 2010, has earned his keep making threes. But in New Orleans, two-point shots made up 62 percent of Babbitt’s total field-goal attempts and he made just 43.3 percent of them. His effective field-goal percentage dropped to a career-low (excluding his rookie season) 49.8 percent.
From an efficiency standpoint, two-pointers just aren't Babbitt's thing. He's shot 40.5 percent on two-pointers for his career. Since Babbitt entered the league in 2010-11, only four players who played at least 4,600 minutes during that span shot a worse percentage on two-pointers: Steve Blake, Matthew Dellavedova, Ricky Rubio and Derek Fisher.
Last season with the Heat Babbitt went back to firing 3-pointers on 75 percent of his total shot attempts, for a career-high total 210 attempts, and made 41.4 percent of them. His eFG% climbed back to 55.7, second-best of his career. Throw out Babbitt’s rookie season of 2011-12, when he was at the end of the bench for the Blazers, and he’s shot 41 percent on 3-pointers.
That’s not peak Kyle Korver-level shooting—Korver shot 45.2 percent on threes from 2009-10 through last season—but then Babbitt isn’t making Korver money ($7 million). Babbitt could end up being a reasonable facsimile of ex-Hawk Korver as a (longer) 3-point shooter who can spread the floor (though, unlike Korver, he hasn’t offered much else offensively).
DEFENSE
Provided by
:
Generated 9/4/2017.
Defensively, I think Babbitt will be adequate. He hasn't produced many blocks or (especially) steals but he's an OK rebounder. And Babbitt's defensive Real Plus-Minus in 2016-17 was his best mark as far back as that metric goes (2013-14).
Babbitt played the four extensively for the Heat--he's stout enough to do so and his relative lack of foot speed isn't such a liability. It’s likely that Babbitt benefited playing for a coach (Erik Spoelstra) and organization that stress defensive discipline. He will be in a similar situation with Mike Budenholzer in Atlanta.
OUTLOOK
FiveThirtyEight.com's CARMELO projection says Babbitt will provide $2.7 million of value in 2017-18 while playing 1,045 minutes. This is in spite of the fact that CARMELO puts Babbitt in the "scrub" category (harsh). That shows you how valuable good 3-point shooters are in today's NBA.
Babbitt likely will see most of his minutes as a reserve small-ball four. If he can take and make threes at his normal clip while also being a solid defender, Babbitt can be fine as a rotation forward on a rebuilding team.
About the Author
