Delfino was a gunner for the Rockets, but he was actually known more for his athleticism and physicality during the earlier parts of his career. He never was a high volume or high efficiency scorer or shooter. He's more of a versatile guy who plays annoying defense, rebounds, and do stuff in the flow of the offense. The Rockets just happened to have asked him (and the rest of the team) to take an ungodly number of 3s. He took a lot of 3s before, but never near the rate at which the Rockets asked him to do so (9 3-pointers attempted per 36 minutes with the Rockets, his previous high was 6.4 3-pointers attempted per 36 minutes). His low career FG% is also a little bit deceiving. Players who take a high % of their shot from the 3-point arc tend to have low FG%. 36% or 37% from the arc is pretty good, but it drags down your FG% when 50 or even 70% of your shot attempts come from beyond the arc. He is by no means a particularly efficient offensive player, but his FG% made him look like one of the least efficient players out there, which he is not. A guy like Thomas Robinson, for example, may look like he has a higher FG% (43%) than Delfino, but he is much less efficient because he almost never shoots 3s.
Because teams don't realize how abundant the market is on good 3pt shooters who aren't Novak on D. Budinger's a career 36% 3pt shooter. Rockets players with better 3pt% last year include salary dumped Toney Douglas, salary-dumped Garcia, random foreign pickup Beverley, and $3mil/yr Delfino. All of these players shot 37.5% from behind the arc. Also I think teams pay for youth even with these role players, despite history showing that players like Budinger(and Lee before him) are very unlikely to further develop their games after year 4.
Budinger, when healthy, last year really showed well in Minnesota. He's definitely a player for the right team. If Minnesota is running Adelman's system affectively this year with a healthy Kevin Love, Kevin Martin, and Budinger back healthy.... this team might give other teams alot of headaches on the offensive end. Still not sure they are a playoff team, but can win over 40 games and threaten to steal the 8th seed.
He clearly hasn't made a career of consistent numbers, but there was a good while when AB had limitless range and supreme confidence. He was right on the edge.
Seems like a lot of white dudes get typecast as shooters by people who are unfamiliar with their play. Both Budinger and Parsons still get called "three point marksmen" by a lot of away team broadcasts. Often times what they actually bring to the table doesn't get mentioned. I always thought of Budinger as an off the ball player. Runs through a lot of screens, runs a lot of curls, and likes to catch and shoot around the free throw line extended zone. Pretty good at running baseline cuts for easy shots around the rim. On the break, good at catching and finishing at full speed. On the ball, his drives are right hand dominant and has good elevation to get off layups and dunks. Decent handle for a 6'7" dude. Average/below average first step quickness for a modern day NBA wing. Predictable with the ball, and doesn't create his own shot well. Good fit with Adelman. On defense, he has okay hands, but his foots speed and lateral quickness sucks. Seems like he used to get crossed a lot with the Rockets, and burned pretty bad in the fast break.
Chase Budinger visited the Sun Village(link) in Duchang, Jiangxi, on August 29, 2013. (source) more pics Spoiler
You can't always look at percentage to determine how good a shooter is. You should well look at volume of shots taken. That's why people consider Kobe, Deron Eilliams to be better shooters because they take more 3 pointers than Lebron or Paul.
Could be pry away Rick from Wolves and have him design our offense? Have Les and Adelman talked at all since his departure?
