New Orleans Pelicans Year in Review: Luke Babbitt
Luke Babbitt signed a two year extension with the New Orleans Pelicans in the offseason, and while the franchise had made a bevy of questionable decisions, it is hard to criticize the Pelicans for resigning Babbitt.
When Luke Babbitt reflects on his 2015-2016 NBA season with the New Orleans Pelicans, he may look back and realize he missed an opportunity. The missed opportunity for Babbitt can be traced all the way back to November. It was in November that the Pelicans were looking for consistency at the SF position after the injury to Tyreke Evans and the uncertainty as to whether or not Quincy Pondexter would return was growing. It was then, in November, that Gentry turned to Luke Babbitt for five games to see if he could provide capable floor spacing at the wing spot.
These five games were important in determining Babbitt’s future with the franchise, but why? If he is going to have a role in the NBA, it is as a catch and shoot floor spacer not the shot chucking behemoth we saw at season’s end. That was the role Babbitt was asked to fill in November, and he failed to do so.
Babbitt played very poorly in those five November starts shooting 37.5% from the field and 31.8% from behind the arc. While it may be unfair to completely to hold that poor 5 game shooting stretch against Babbitt, it was clear the coaching staff lost a bit of confidence in him by relegating him to an end of the bench role, and he typically only appeared in mop up duty.
After playing 12 games in the month of November, he only totaled 14 games played from December to March. When his games played decreased, his playing time naturally followed suit. After averaging 19.5 minutes in November, he only averaged 5.2 minutes per game in the combined months of December, January and February. It appeared that Babitt had been lost in the shuffle, but once the plethora of injuries continued to mount, Babbitt found himself with one more chance to prove that he could carve out a role on the team.
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With the New Orleans Pelicans well out of the playoff race and with very little to play for, Babbitt saw a major uptick in minutes to 22.6 per game, and more importantly, he was able to get his shot back on track by shooting 43.8% from three in March. His defense would remain a net negative, but that is to be expected; at least Babbitt showed that his one valuable NBA skill still remained. Babbitt’s hot shooting carried over into April. In 6 games, he would shoot 52% from three and average 15.3 ppg.
Finishing off the season with a hot shooting stroke might have made the coaching staff forget about those horrendous five games in November, but it is important to remember that Babbitt was playing with nobody’s for the latter part of the season and the “someones got to score” shtick may apply to Babbitt. Going forward, the Pelicans need to identify where Babbitt rests in the pecking order. New Orleans will have a lot of wings under contract next year (Dante Cunningham, Alonzo Gee, Bryce Dejean-Jones and Quincy Pondexter).
Next: Year in review: Norris Cole
It is hard to argue that Luke Babbitt is better than any of them. Naturally, Babbitt may be best suited as a small ball power forward (like a pseudo-Ryan Anderson), but with the added three ball to Dante Cunningham‘s game and the fact that Cunningham is better in every other facet, he may be the player more suited to occupy the backup power forward role. Despite having one more year on his contract, Luke Babbitt’s future in New Orleans is not any clearer than it was last offseason, and that is a problem for a player who needed to make a lasting impression.