LOL at the hyperbole. Gotta love DD. I will say this though, whether his shot translates to the NBA is debatable. He is obviously stroking it in the summerleague. But what I really love about his game is the composure. He never seems to be in a hurry. Always under control. And most importantly, see plays 2-3 steps ahead, so he knows what to do next and is decisive about it. Other players, White and Taylor come to mind, will try to drive or pass, but have to awkwardly adjust once it is shut off. Budinger will either shoot, pass, or drive to create. And he knows exactly what he is going to do, before he even touches the ball. The sign of a confident and smart player.
The sign of a guy who understands the game at a much deeper level and is a quick enough thinker to react. Superstar players have that ability as do good role players like Brent Barry, whom Budinger reminds me of.... DD
It's also a sign of the type of game he was asked to play at the college level, IMO. From the very few youtube vids I've seen of Budinger's college games, the thing that stood out for me was the many different ways Budinger was used within the Arizona offense, and right now, I think that versatility is giving him an edge over other players in the summer league. In his excellent summer league thread, The_Yoyo mentioned that Budinger was the only player that the Rocket coaches were calling plays for, a situation that would highlight the positives of Budinger's game more than other players. If I were cynical, I'd even say they're trying to build up his trade value. Also, this is just a guess, but I think his reputation for tentativeness is partly due to his versatility; having too many options can prevent a player from being decisive when it counts. So it'll be interesting to see how he does in Adelman's offense, which is all about multiple options. Anyway, I'll be keeping an eye out to whether his versatility and BB IQ will be carried over to the real NBA. I believe they will, but it will take more time than it may seem right now when he's dominating the summer league.
Not hating, but man you sure flip-flop a lot. What happened to your "not impressed", all rookie sux Wafer is god stance?
I think you may be overvaluing late draft picks. Second round picks are a long shot to even make the rotation. You can even make the argument that some guy like Boozer fell into the second round BECAUSE too many GMs were gambling on "upside". Any GM would be lucky to draft one All-Star type from the second round just once in their whole career. I see nothing wrong with the Budinger pick. He is definitely one of the best players in the summer league and has already exceeded everyone's expectations. It is looking exceedingly likely that he will be an immediate contributor. He might be an All-Star one day. Again, anyone who said Boozer might be an All-Star during his first summer was probably roundly ridiculed. Yet he's one of the examples people are using to say Bud was a bad pick. You can't build a championship team by going for broke. More often than not, you will set the team back. Just draft well, get enough solid players and you can have enough assets to get the players you want. One of the guys may surprise you and turn into an All-Star (like Boozer). If anything, Boozer was a "safe" pick too. That's when you can make the bold moves without completely gambling the team's fortunes away. The Tmac/Yao era has not completely closed and everyone has to admit that Morey is sort of hamstrung by their injuries. We'll see what happens. If we build a good core of young tradeable assets but Morey never makes the BIG TRADE to get us that top tier player to put us over the top, then you may be right. We are not there yet though.
Negged for not knowing what you're talking about. Another thing you fail to realize is the fact that most 2nd/late round picks who become all-star calibre aren't drafted with high potential in mind, they are solid college players with a strong enough work ethic to revolutionize their game (Arenas, Boozer, Redd, Prince). Morey is accumulating high probability assets (or hitting singles at a high percentage, using durvasa's analogy), rather than taking wild swings at every Lou Williams out there hoping he can develop an all round game (hoping every fat kid turns into Ryan Howard). These assets can also be traded for all star level talent from struggling franchises. I made a thread about this earlier, look it up. I love your passion, but your arguments are always weak and full of whine using irrelevant data (similar to DaDakota).
Leebigez is one of the better posters on here. He's right way more than he's wrong. The examples that come off the top of my head are about trading Rafer and starting Brooks and criticizing the move to draf Dorsey instead of DeAndre Jordan soon after it happened.
http://www.nba.com/draft2009/prospects/112.html Check the vid on the page... he says he wants to mold his game like Tracy's.
Once again you're missing the point. You cant trade for every all star or all star caliber player. At some point, you have to turn water into wine. I brought up the spurs because they close, a small market team, and have done a pretty good job of recognizing talent. Of course Duncan is the ferris wheel, but they dont win the 3rd and 4th ring with parker and manu playing at all star levels. One guy was drafted as the last pick and the other was drafted in the 2nd rd. In fact, if only parker or manu doesnt pan out, they dont even get to the title game, but because they drafted players later that developed, thats why they have been able to maintain that high level. we watched this year as parker played at a all nba level along with the ferris wheel, but manu was out most of the year and they went out in the first rd. I'll give another team, the magic. They had the 1st overral and drafted howard which was debatable considering okefor was mr college everything. They also drafted a smaller pg in Nelson and they signed hedo for cheap and payed mega bucks to lewis. Nelson becoming a all star before he was injured was the reason why they had one of the best teams in the league and best records. Like i keep saying, its hard to trade for or sign a all star player all the time. Even when youre winning 50 games and is picking late, you have to pick a guy who can develop into a all star in 4 yrs or so to really become elite. Cxbby keeps bringing up how i view morey as a failure because he hasnt drafted a all star talent because he has been picking late and that simply isnt true. I'm just saying once this team is rebuilt and they maybe get their max or near max guy if that happens, one of his draft picks needs to become al star level or a player he drafted for. Very few championship teams haven't had this formula for success. If you just use the last 10 yrs, the only exception was the probably the celtics of a couple years ago. They drafted pierce, but traded for garnett and allen. Thats why i think the trading of that lotto pick hurt the rockets and are still hurting them. You hit that pick, whomever it was and the franchise is not flirting with the lux tax because that young guy would still be on a rookie deal and also you wouldnt have to trade assetts and picks for players on other teams. I never said it had to budinger,landry,taylor, but it needs to be brooks, whom i have a higher regard than most on this board for, or someone. Think about a team like utah and the talent they have. There are many people that think milsap is a all star caliber player and he's a 6th man. A loaded team like portland is offering him 8m per. If he was on the rockets, he'd be close to that all star player and be a starter, yet he comes off the bench in Utah. We need players that we draft that are good enough to be all stars either on the rockets or on another team. Thats when you know your gm is top flight.
I really just want to let this go, since so many here think you are a great poster, but you are now plainly making things up. Is this how you proceed with all your arguments? Once every point has been debunk- start fabricating things out of thin air? Maybe after reading this, some will reevaluate their views on your posting quality. First and foremost, the hypocrisy in your posting is disgusting. You use Portland, Utah and the Magic as examples of successful team building- which by the way I agree with. But lets see what think of the Rockets: So we get ZERO credit for taking the champs to 7 games, and for anyone even encouraged by our progress, they are labeled as pink shirt wearing metrosexuals who haven't had enough ass whippings. Well guess what? Despite all the allstars they've picked, despite all the talented young players they've amassed, Utah, Portland and Magic have won just as much as us, NOTHING. So if you have such a hard time giving credit to the Rockets, then by your own twisted logic, they deserve zero credit as well. In that case stop using them as blueprints for success, because we've done just as well. You seem to contradict yourself plenty: This is just patently FALSE. It's completely fabricated to support your own views. Out of the past 20, no 30 champions, how many have an allstar they drafted late 1st round, or in the 2nd round? San Antonio Spurs. That's it. One team. The reining champion Lakers don't. The Boston Celtics didn't. The Miami Heat didn't. The Detroit Pistons DIDN'T. You keep bringing up Prince who they drafted with the 23rd pick. Well the one year they won the championship, in 03-04, Prince was a second year player averaging 10 points and 4 rebounds. Not an allstar. The 3 peat Lakers didn't. The Jordan Chicago Bulls didn't. And the champion Houston Rockets did not. So which champion out of the last 20 years drafted all stars out of low picks? Please enlighten me. So one team gets lucky, and all of a sudden it becomes the golden rule? Give me a break, you literally just made that up. And please don't backtrack and say you meant drafting allstars in general, not just late picks. That was the whole point of the argument. Otherwise you wouldn't be complaining, because we have drafted an allstar. His name is Yao Ming. And he was drafted by the Houston Rockets in 2002.
Leebigez, let me backtrack a little and say this. I love your enthusiasm as well. And I mean that. Nothing personal because we are all fans of the same team. In that light, I view everyone here as friends. Kumbaya. I know. But one of these days, I must introduce to you another friend of mine. Common Sense.
The newly crowned lakers traded for a all star, which i said you have to do. The jordan led bulls drafted 3 all stars in jordan pippen and grant and added another through free agency with rodman. The pistons drafted zeke,dumars, and even lambieer made a all star game. The pistons of recent and the celts are the only teams that traded for their entire team on a rebuild. If you would read what is said , i said you either have to draft a all star no matter where you draft or trade for one that becomes one. It doesnt matter where you draft at unless you can be lucky enough to have the best player in the league. Whether you pick late 20's, Dallas, even though they didn't win the title, they got a all star caliber player in howard as the last pick or close to the last pick. It chouldnt matter even though the odds are better the higher you draft, but the one time the rox had a chance to get a all star talent player, they gave it away.
Leebigez, you are missing the most obvious one as an avid Rocket's fan. Rockets drafted Hakeem and Sam Cassell. We traded for Drexler in '95 and got another championship.
Lee, don't backtrack. Don't twist your words again. We are talking about late 1st round and 2nd round. If you want to talk about overall, we drafted Yao Ming, the best center in the league, and yes, an allstar.
How come nobody loves Sam Cassell? 24th pick 1993 draft 1994-95 Championship 1995-96 Championship 2004 All-star Tinman, you love Sam? Dontcha?
Damn Straight Sam was an All star! Who brought the Bucks to the ECF? Who brought KG to the WCF? Who brought the Clippers to the 2nd Round of the playoffs!!!?? Tmac couldn't do it, or wouldn't want to do it. Only Sam Cassell was EXCITED to be a Clipper! Sam loves basketball. he was clutch!
<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ioUhoBZq8Ak&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ioUhoBZq8Ak&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object> Sam destroying Bibby!
