One
of the newest, and it seems least known, members of the Portland Trail Blazers
is rookie SG Allen Crabbe. If you followed the PAC-12 the last three years then
you know Crabbe has been one of the best shooters in the entire conference.
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| Photo Courtesy of Oregonlive.com |
Throughout
college at the University of California he shot 38.2%. His only sub 40% year
was last year at 34.8%. Although his 3-pt % was low last year his FG% was the
highest it’s ever been at 45.9%. He averaged 44.6% over his career at Cal. Overall
scoring he averaged 15.7 PPG, and his highest average was his last year when he
averaged 18.4 PPG. Also, don’t overlook his Free Throw shooting, he never shot
below 80% at Cal.
His
Freshman year he was the PAC-10 Freshman of the Year. Sophomore year he was
named to the All-Pac-12 first team. Finally his last year, 2011-2012, he was
named to the first team again and voted PAC-12 Player of the Year, and he was
recognized as a third team All-American by Sports News and the National
Association of Basketball Coaches.
A
bonus for the Blazers is he isn’t just a stop and shoot player like Luke
Babbitt was for so long. Crabbe will fight and scrap with the big guys down on
the block. During his time at Cal he averaged 5.7 rebounds a game. He also
averaged a little over half a block per game.
Crabbe
can also fight with the guards; he gets about 1 steal a game, so look for him
to be clawing at the ball when he gets playing time. At 6’6” he will be a
challenge for some guards, but he also provides offensive potential.
There
is a jam at the guard position for the Blazers so we’ll see how many opportunities
Crabbe gets this season. He has great potential and he was worth the trade
during the draft. In case you forgot, the Cavs picked Crabbe first and the Blazers
traded them two second round picks to get the Cal product.
After
watching Crabbe the last two years from an opponent perspective, I’m excited to
be able to root for him. He has always been a prolific scorer and a decent
defender. We’ll just have to see if Crabbe brings the same attitude and swagger
he had at Cal.