Charley Rosen's Close Look: Kevin Durant vs Shane Battier

You'd expect Budinger to struggle against Durant, but letting him shoot 7 for 7 in limited minutes is...not good.

Chase is in danger of entering Steve Novak territory.

 

Why do you think he has a better chance of defending a talented scorer at SG than SF?

 

I agree, he has let his offensive slump erode all the improvement on D he made last year.

I think it is all mental, and if he can't get himself out of it, someone will pass him right by.....

Got to be tough to play in the league.

DD

 

true story... i hear this player score on him all the time...

 

You beat me to it. I think talented SGs would destroy Bud as much if not more than SFs.

Try imagining him guarding Kobe or Wade without hurting yourself. At least he can stay in front of most SFs.

 

Here's the thing...Battier contributed some on the offensive end while going all out on D. Chase...well no D and ill-advised shots. T-Will is about to get his chance.

 

Terrence, it's time to take Bud's minutes.

 

Budinger has been getting lit up by some bad team's bench scrubs too on a consistent basis. Not just DUrant.

 

More proof that defense is more about knowledge and attitude than it is about athleticism. Sure, it helps if you're a great athlete, but in C-Bud's case, all that natural ability is doing nothing on the defensive end.

 

So Charley Rosen confirms that Battier is a great defender, but that he does not enough to keep his matchup busy on the other end of the floor.

Nothing really new there.

 

Defense on the perimeter has much to do with lateral quickness and quick hands + wingspan. Chase doesn't have much in those departments.

Vertical explosiveness, i.e. the kind of athleticism Chase has, is pretty irrelevant when defending wing players.

 

Jawad Williams.


End thread.

 

I saw Chase this morning on my way to work.

He seems like the silent type

I got a pic though

Spoiler

 

Rosen just crucified Chase Budinger

 

To tell you the truth, I am really disappointed in Chase. I thought he would be a very good role player. Now he's looking more and more like the second rounder he's supposed to be. It is understandable for a shooter to be in a slum, you can call it the sophomore slum or whatever. But to not improve or even regress on other aspects of the game is unacceptable.

 

Not only can he not guard him.. The Rockets would be better off putting K-Mart on him.

The real question is Chase Budingurrrr Fool's Gold? Someone with all the talent.. (Athleticism, Shooting Ability,Vision) who just can't get it done. Yes he is an NBA Caliber player but if we keep waiting for him to develop into something better like his talent suggests.. it could significantly hurt the rockets in the process.

His defense against Durant was worse than expected.. and I expected very bad. I would argue no one on the Rockets team could have done worse..

/End Budingurr rant.

 

One thing I was excited to see is that TWill has been watching videos of Shane. Shane...Battier. How many young NBA players have 2 minutes of Shane in their library? Maybe only in the background of a Lebron/Kobe mix. The matchup of a willing TWill and Shane's eagerness to pass on his knowledge first hand will create a very nice player. ADD to that that most of the learning will be when they are both talking next to each other on the bench...and who will be on the floor?

"Did you see that guy blow by Chase? What he should have done was..."

 

If someone with athleticism could develop something close to shane's defense, they would be one hell of a defender.

 

Chase is the classic tweener. Not a tweener in size, but a tweener in ability to defend. He's not strong enough to guard sf's and not quick enough to guard sg's. That turns a player into a really bad defender. If he was stronger, he's big enough to guard sf, but his lateral quickness is not good.

 

Chase so far seems like he will only develop into being an off the bench scorer during his career.

He is still very young and has some talent, so of course the jury is still out. But his ceiling seems to be only that he could only become a decent defender at best potentially. He's a one trick pony, who loses his worth when he's in a slump. You know he's bad, that whenever a ball handler sees him defending him, opposing teams immediately call for a clear out and isolate him.

If you could see some development from him it would be one thing. I mean, if you could see the guy adding another specialty like racking up rebounds or assists or steals, attacking the basket.. something to add on to his game. He seems like he has not improved at all in the off season and so far in his second year.

IMO, TWill has to become the backup (and maybe take over the starting postion) once he has a grasp of the offensive and defensive schemes.