Draft Express and the small forward prospects

Matt Kamalsky/Draft Express checks in with a look at the small forwards available in the NBA draft and we'll focus on Paul George and Luke Babbitt exclusively. The following are excerpts from analyses of George and Babbitt  -- go here for the complete article.

Situational Statistics: This Year’s Small Forward Crop
Matt Kamalsky - Director of Operations
Draft Express
June 12, 2010

...Paul George looks the part of a lanky athletic two-guard with immense promise, but his confidence ,the work he’s put in this summer, and his tremendous productivity as a freshman look much better than his situational statistics from last season.

The first thing that pops off the page when looking at George’s numbers is his high turnover percentage. The Fresno State product coughed the ball up on some 18.8% of his total possessions. He seldom gave the ball up in spot up situations, as he often just took the first available shot, but he turned the ball over on 30% of his one-on-one opportunities and 25% of his transition touches. Obviously, his ball-handling ability will be something that he needs to refine in order to reach his potential as a player...

and

...Luke Babbitt’s touch made him a highly capable scorer in almost every situation last season and speaks to his high skill level.

The highest usage player in our ranks at 20.6 possessions per-game, Babbitt’s 0.97 overall PPP isn’t terribly impressive. His lack of great overall efficiency stems from the fact that he ranks last in transition points per-possession at a dismal 0.90. His lack of great leaping ability is clear in that metric, but his 0.98 PPP in 18.1 half court touches per-game is highly impressive, as are his low 12.2 turnover percentage and his 8.4% shots fouled mark. ..