Allen Crabbe will look to make his voice heard at the next level (bigstory.ap.com)
In the heart of the country, Ben McLemore and Victor Oladipo have been making their presence known. Down south, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has been fighting to be included in the upper echelon of shooting guards in the 2013 Draft class. And out west, Allen Crabbe has quietly put together a very well rounded resume that could either help him sneak into the first round, or fall out of everyone’s mind completely. Yet with numbers like 18.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.6 apg, and a third-round appearance in this year’s NCAA Tournament against future Final Four bound Syracuse, some teams are probably hoping Crabbe will simply free fall into their hands. Still others may be looking at Crabbe with more doubt due to other intangibles that can’t be simply analyzed by the numbers.
Combine Measurements
| Height w/o Shoes | Height w/ Shoes | Weight (lbs) | Wingspan | Standing Reach | Body Fat (%) | Hand Reach | Hand Width |
| 6′ 5.25″ | 6′ 6.25″ | 197.4 | 6′ 11.25″ | 8′ 7.5″ | 4.65 | 8.25″ | 8.5″ |
Combine Results
| StandingLeap | MaximumLeap | Bench Press(185 lbs) | Three-quarterCourt Time | Lane AgilityTime |
| 30.5″ | 36″ | 10 reps | 3.32 sec | 10.67 sec |
Strengths
In his time at Cal, Crabbe has steadily increased his scoring output each year: 13.4 his freshman year, 15.2 as a sophomore, and 18.4 his junior season. Even more impressive has been Crabbe’s consistency in his numbers; his field-goal percentages (.45%, .43%, .46%), three-point percentages (.40%, .40%, .35%), and free-throw percentages (.80%, .84%, .81%) all suggest that Crabbe is a well-rounded scorer who knows when to take his shots. Crabbe also enjoys the benefits of an almost 7-foot wingspan, something that allows him to bother opposing players and could help him impede passing lanes at the next level. His all-around length will impress NBA general managers, and could be a major factor in getting selected earlier rather than later.
Weaknesses
While Crabbe has been a huge benefactor on the offensive end, he has been far from a leader on the defensive end. While Crabbe’s numbers are respectable from this past season (1.1 spg, 0.7 bpg for a shooting guard), his focus sometimes waned and led to defensive breakdown’s for the Golden Bears. For someone who has a near 7-foot lateral frame, Crabbe didn’t seem to give as much effort as the next guy. His defensive “effort” (or lack thereof) sometimes led to lapses on the offensive end, as well. If a discouraging series of events occurred on defense, Crabbe would seem lost in his own thoughts on the next possession for Cal, as if he were using the time to analyze what had just happened, rather than contribute to his team’s current situation. This seemed to mess with Crabbe’s psyche on the court, and would throw him off of his game.
Final Analysis
There is no doubt Crabbe can score, rebound, and run the fast break with the rest of them. But if Crabbe gets discouraged or, even worse, bored on defense so easily, it may be a long and troublesome rookie year for the man out of Cal. Crabbe will be an intriguing prospect, as some franchises could view him as a long term project; others might begin to work him in as a sixth man right away based off of his offensive skill set. Whatever the case may be, Crabbe will have to try and convince GM’s and coaches that his motor is always running, especially on the defensive end; if he can do that, Crabbe could end up making plenty of noise at the next level.
Projection
Late-first to early-second round
For continued coverage of the NBA’s rookies, keep visiting NBA Rookie Class. Also, stay tuned as we begin to look towards the next year of rookies and the 2013 NBA Draft!
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