Battier can be the Sensei, but Budinger is clearly the starter.

Couldn't they just share the load at SF, somewhere around 24-27 minutes for Chase and the rest to Shane.

It's not really who starts the game, it's who finishes...

 

Using the argument that "well, this new starting unit mostly sucks on D, so why not let is COMPLETELY suck on D" is not quite the best way to make your point.

Several "better" players have come and gone through the Spurs' organization during their reign as consistent title contenders/winners. Throughout (the better part of) that reign, they still started Bruce Bowen at SF, even when Bowen was only getting around 5 ppg.

Defense matters.

Especially when you're talking about an elite TEAM defender like Shane Battier who can at least partially make up for the inevitable and numerous defensive shortcomings of pretty much every other starter.

Agreed that Chase Budinger is quickly proving himself deserving of a great deal of playing time and is already clearly the better offensive option. But Shane's defense (which largely doesn't show up in the box score) is much more important to the starting unit right now than Chase's offense.

 

yea and why don't we put bud against kobe or lebron or wade or melo or dirk... i'm sure he will slow them down

 

Budinger will be better than Shane and already is on offense today.

There is no hurry to get him into the starting lineup....and Lowry needs finishers like Budinger in the 2nd unit.

We have enough offensively oriented players in the starting lineup that we can afford one defensive guy in Shane.

DD

 

Budinger is clearly a far superior offensive player.

Battier is clearly a more experienced and better defensive player, even in decline.

What suits which unit best and how to distribute minutes is up to coach.

This much is likely certain: every step forward that Budinger makes defensively will mean less minutes for Battier.

 

Lee is not as good as a offensive player as I thought he would be. He is not bad he is just not as good as chase is on that end of the floor.

That means we need a lights out perimeter scorer playing with the second unit.

Chase can fill those shoes off the bench.

Brooks , Martin , Yao, Scola all have one thing in common, they can all drop 20+ points any given night. The only way to capitalize on that ability is to have 10+ shot attempts a night.

Shane can get by on 4 or less shot attempts a game and still be able to help the team in many other ways.


As long as our starting lineup is made up of martin brooks scola and yao shane will have a place there.

If chase was in our normal starting lineup there would not be enough shots for him to be effective at what he is best at. Scoring.


BUT! If Chuck has to start at center or power forward Chase MUST start at the three.

We cant afford to have 2 players on the floor that cant punish there defender on a consistent enough bases to not make them think twice about leaving them open on double teams.

 

I agree with DD, i like the way we have our lineups already, its all balanced out defensively and offensively. I think lowry can use c-bud way better than AB could. Btw, Ish Smith is looking very solid this preseason, his ballhandling is nasty. Now we still need another 7 footer with some meat and then i say we could be contenders.

 

No....it isn't

 

The more I think about it, Brooks, Martin, Budinger, Scola plus a still-recovering Yao would be nightmarishly bad defensively.

Even in decline, Battier puts most of his energy and focus into defense and if nothing else, can direct the guys that tend to go through lapses (Brooks, Martin, Scola).

I think the best thing would be to continue starting Battier and bring Budinger in with at least one other defensive-minded player (Lowry, Hayes, etc...).

 

I would support bat to bench

 

knee-jerk thread anyone?
this is the PRESEASON- i'd bet Battier is just takin it easy on these games. he's a vet, not gettin any younger, and is NOT gonna kill himself to perform during games that dont even matter.
i love Bud as much as the next fan, but doubt Battier is gonna be god-awful during the regular season. if he DOES show serious decline, then maybe we'll revisit this.

 

If you wanna start Bud, you need to start Lowry.

If Brooks is starting, Battier makes more sense.

Martin is a no-brain starter as are Scola and Yao as long as Yao is healthy and improving.

So it's Brooks + Battier or Lowry + Bud. Personally, I'd be cool with either one but I don't see Adelman taking Brooks out of the staring lineup so...

 

That's what I'm thinking. Amazing offensively, but porous on defense. Battier is also a better passer.

It's just hard to pair Martin and Budinger. Martin is so weak defensively that I think they'll almost always need Battier or Lee to play alongside him.

The second unit of Lee-Budinger-Lowry will be one to watch though.

 

This.

It's about units, not individual ability. Part of the magic in basketball that makes it so different than baseball.

You've got to have balance, and starting Brooks, Martin, and Bud together gives you a very dubious parameter defense. Also, Chase adds a nice offensive spark to the second unit, one you need when surrounded by Lowry, Lee, etc.

 

Agree with everything else but not sure about the part in bold.

I think Bud has far better court vision. Battier is largely just "safe" in his passing game. Budinger makes plus, PG-like passes all the time. It's rare for Battier to make those kinds of plays but you see it from time to time.

The more I think about it, I'd have to say that Bud is the better passer by a pretty wide margin actually. He may actually be the 2nd best passer on the team after Ish and tied with Lowry. Miller may be right there, too.