Budinger's per 48 minutes rebounding is almost the same as Ariza's. He is not a worse rebounder than Ariza. I agree with the defense part. BB IQ, court vision. Have you seen him pass, especially in transition? He's a better passer than both Battier and Ariza hands down. He is a better finisher than Battier obviously, and I'd say at least as good as Ariza. He is a very good catch and shooter. He does need to be more consistent, hopefully after the rookie season. In summary, Budinger compared to Ariza, is smarter, a better all around offensive player, an equal rebounder, an equal athlete, and a worse defender. If Ariza can be an NBA starter, Budinger sure have the potential. He was just a rookie.
First off, good post, good points, good discussion hopefully. The league is about adaptation. Teams' defenses has to adapt to new players first, then it is the players' turn to adapt to the new defense. Budinger hasn't attacked the basket much because he hasn't had to. This is seen by his increasing efficiency as the year went on. After the allstar break he posted: 49.0 FG% 41.0 3PT% compared to pre-allstar shooting of: 40.3 FG% 34.2 3PT% This means that either teams have not yet adapted, and are still leaving him open, or that he is simply still effective shooting over defenders. Either way, there is no incentive to attack the rack when you are putting up stellar percentages like that. Now if Budinger has truly proven his abilities to the league, and teams start to crowd him next year, he will then have to adjust. But until then, or whenever his shooting loses effectiveness, it is the LEAGUE that has to adapt to him, not the other way around. Yet. The problem here is why do we have to be stuck in this mold? We don't. In fact Adelman's Kings were the other way around: SF- Great shooting, scoring, bad defense. Peja. SG- Good spot up shooting, great defense. Christie. Now as long as Kevin Martin is our starting SG, we will probably need Battier to balance out the lineup. But when Budinger and Lee hit their primes, Martin will be in his 30s, and probably willing to come off the bench as an offensive punch. That leaves a future of: SF- Great shooting, scoring, bad defense. Budinger. SG- Good spot up, great defense. Lee. Still balanced, just like the old Kings. Either way, whether Budinger can be our future starter will be wholly dependent on how he develops as a basketball player. Not so much how he fits some cookie-cutter mold of SG/SF roles.
Ahh finally some intelligent posts. As many have mentioned, and as Morey himself said on his post-trade interview, he likes the idea of having both an offense and defensive player at each position. However, this requires a keen eye on balancing the on-floor lineups, thereby limiting our versatility. For example I don't think it's reasonable to have a Brooks-Martin-Budinger-Scola-Miller lineup on the floor, as our defense and rebounding would be severely lacking. To my mind, this is why the resigning of Lowry and the addition of Lee are important as they both bring some skills on each side of the basketball. My concern is that with Battier's ever-deteriorating defense, Budinger will have to play a respectably sized role on the team THIS year that will require a more rounded game. There's a reason everybody wants us to trade for a superstar SF, as that is a position the Rockets seem most vulnerable at. However, I think most of these trades are a pipe dream, and realistically, our chances of landing a star level SF are slim at best. I am just curious to see if Budinger can develop a more all around game to warrant his additional PT. CXbby makes an excellent point about adapting. His increased efficiency really does show that he did not need to show a drive and dish, or drive and dive (draw foul) type of game last year. I hope that as he gets more PT, and more end game PT, and faces tougher defenses, we see more of that. As some pointed out, he is a much better ballhandler/passer than Ariza could ever be (although again, that is not saying much). Again, I don't know if this came across in the original post, but my main concern is obviously defense. My tepidity of Budinger centers around his lack of physical play, his poor footspeed (except when stomping on players faces... JOKE, not a cheap shot) and lateral quickness. Everyone that has chimed in with his "elite athleticism" has failed to address this concern.
While I lean towards the crash/Easy/CXbby view of Air Bud (nice post, CXbby!), I really enjoyed your OP, dingus. The moniker ain't bad, either. I can spell it and it's easy to remember, something increasingly rare here. My comment in the huge thread about the trade (52 pages by the time I heard about the deal) included saying that it was a vote of confidence in Chase and that it put a question mark around Taylor's future. You clearly have a different view of Budinger's future possibilites than I do, but you could end up being right and Bud could end up simply having a career as a very good backup, which is a steal for the Rocks, considering where he was drafted. I prefer to believe that he'll continue to improve and that his ceiling is governed more by how hard he is willing to work and just how good his motor is, then whether he has the physical ability to be a starter in this league. That's where we differ here. But hey, post more often!
As one of the biggest C-Bud supporters, frankly I was somewhat disappointed with his overall performance last year. His spectacular summer league play had me expecting much more. Which means that his disappointing summer league play this year suggests a break out regular season a la Aaron Brooks.
Battier does not have great lateral athleticism nor footspeed, but he is simply smarter than most everyone he is guarding, and has a greater attention to detail. I am hoping that Battier can help Budinger learn the tricks of the trade to account for his limits and accentuate his abilities. With the league the way it is called today, there is no such thing as a lock down perimeter defender, you just can't use your hands and the refs allow carrying now, it limits the defensive effectiveness. I believe CBud can develop his defense, he has to, if he wants to be a starter in the league, but as a 21 year old rookie last year, there was significant improvement all year long. The only thing stopping Cbud will be his "Will"....he is a very smart heady basketball player, and more importantly a "Quick" thinker, and with his jumping ability and shooting touch, that is going to take him a long long way. DD
Don't get me wrong, I'm a big CBud fan, but how is his defense underrated? He is not a good defensive player, I don't even know if he's an average defensive player. What is being underrated?
It is underrated in the sense that Ariza could not keep a man in front of him any better than Bud could. He is underrated by comparison because Ariza is not nearly the defender many people here make him out to be.
Chase's total rebound percentage this past season was 8.5%, better than any of Battier's 4 seasons with the Rockets. Chase averaged 3 rebounds in 20 minutes a game while Battier averaged 4.7 rebounds in over 32 minutes a game this season. The one factor that these stats overlook is Shane's ability to box out well enough to allow teammates to grab rebounds, which I agree Chase doesn't really have. But the raw ability to go up and get the ball, Bud is at or maybe even above Shane's level.
chase had a kinda tough start to the season, even with that he's rated at 1.31 points per possession. 1.31. that's absurd.
I have no idea why you would think that chase is a bad rebounder. While watching chase, who certainly had stretches were he was cold from the field, one of the things that struck out at me was that he's a really good rebounder. He wants the ball and he elevates. In general I think that his poor defense is more a bad reputation than anything else. People on this forum are high on chase, as well they should. He has a lot of physical tools, good skills, and seems to have a good head on his shoulders. He still has to actually get there and improve as a player (which is not a given), but there is that possibility and we should all be excited for that.
You are pretty intellectual guy with some basketball knowledge, you should post more in the forums bro.
Okay, I thank all of you for posting much more constructive criticism as the thread progressed. We all agree that we have faith that Budinger can develop more if, as DD said, he chooses to. With more playing time... hopefully 20+ minutes a game... what are the things you are most interested to see if Budinger can add to his game this year? I have made my desires perfectly clear (and no I'm not asking Chase to average 20ppg): 1. Defense, defense, defense. Quicker, stronger, faster. I don't want to see the mediocre threes of the league having big nights against the Rockets. Chase needs to stop dribble penetration (stay in front of his man) and be physical when he gets in the paint. I hope to see Budinger in the paint on nearly every loose ball. We all know he has good size and can jump extremely well, I'd like to see him use both of those... especially grabbing longer rebounds that our gravity riddled big men (Scola, Yao, and Miller) cannot reach. Many have pointed out that Budinger's stats show a decent rebound rate, and as we've all been schooled in the new Rockets regime: stats don't lie. If these stats hold steady under increased PT, I think Budinger would be a welcome addition (with Lowry) to alleviate some of the lack of rebounding in our backcourt. 2. Offensively, I want to see just how polished his game is. As Cxbby pointed out, it'll be interesting to see what kind of attention Budinger draws this year. I want to see if he can truly what the offense gives him. If Budinger is on the floor with Lowry, Lee, and Hayes/Hill... he is going to be asked to take on a little bit of our offense. He needs to be able to set up and shoot on Lowry's drive and kick (something I pray to God, Allah, St. Nick, and whoever else is listening AB would learn), create his own shot off the dribble using his size and vertical, and be able to attack the paint and create offense (either FTs or open shots for others) when the defender is playing too tight. I think what this thread has taught me is that I am most interested to see how Adelman manages the rotations. It seems that more than any year I can remember, each player brings unique abilities (near elite level) but also exhibits glaring deficiencies. How the lineups are assembled and compliment each other will be key to making a playoff run this year. It's exciting to think of the prospect of the Rockets winning on a nightly basis as a complete TEAM, and I wonder how their success will impact Morey's pursuit of an elite INDIVIDUAL talent.
I think the team is looking for him to create off the dribble and become a playmaker. It's what the team had him working on during the summer league. We know he can catch and shoot and play off Lowry, but Budinger is also going to have to become more of a focal point on the offense with Landry gone. I expect to see in every game a few offensive sets that starts with Budinger with the ball having to make the right decision, and maybe some pick-and-rolls with Hayes or Miller. Then if it proves successful, they'll gradually try to expand his role as an initiator of the offense.
Last season Ariza: 5.5 reb/36mins 8.8TRB% Bud: 5.3 reb/36mins 8.5TRB% Battier: 5.2 reb/36mins 8.2TRB% C.Lee: 3.8 reb/36mins 6.1TRB%
Other SFs last season Artest: 4.6 reb/36mins 7.1TRB% Batum: 5.5 reb/36mins 9.5TRB% Pierce: 4.6 reb/36mins 7.9TRB% Prince: 5.4 reb/36mins 9.0TRB% RJefferson: 5.1 reb/36mins 8.3TRB% Granger: 5.4 reb/36mins 8.2TRB% Budinger is no Lebron, but he's just about starter-level league average at rebounding.
