Highly touted Highschool player, was co-MVP with Kevin Durant at the McDonalds All-American HS game, 2007 Pac-10 Conference Freshman of the Year, really good at volleyball apparently. But I'm not sure if he's ever made it to the final four though.
And more than that they saved money. Wafer would have wanted half the MLE. That comes down to 9 mil over 3 seasons. Instead Morey will wrap these guys up to a similar deal as Dorsey, 6 Mil with only 4 mil guaranteed. So almost 5 mil less than Wafer and they get 2 for 1 and upi to 4 years on them. The math makes sense but only if at least one becomes a serviceable player. Wafer became serviceable only because he got minutes with Tmac Artest and Battier all having down time. The question will any of these players be more valuable then Wafer. well personally that is an easy one for me. Because I considered Wafer a very good offensive player but very one dimensional, lacked creativity and Bball IQ, a blackhole, terrible on defense, very turnover prone and was a mental bonehead and almost primadonnai'ish considering he stood to gain so much to act otherwise. Our biggest weakness in the playoffs were his weaknesses. Now can either Taylor or Chase be an upgrade, I can not say. I have seen nothing of Taylor except for youtube videos and Chase I have seen more and thought he had everyhing I would want accept an instinct to go to the basket and play harder on defense. I don't know if ever will. The problem with both of these guys is they seem to lack defensive intensity but that might be more of a result of coaching than anything else. Both of their roles were more as offensive leaders. Especially Taylor who was depended on to score. They both have the physical ability to be effective on defense. Even moreso for Taylor who appears to have the athleticism of a Harden. Neither can go to the basket like Wafer but they also don't seem to make as many stupid plays when they do. As for Llull I did read up on him and watched all the Video I could because I heard he was playing well while Morey was down visiting. I liked this kid and now more I look at his game He is a Rubio light but perhaps with a lot more tenacity. he can pass and shoot and has size. he has hops and some quickness. ANd he is 21 with time to develop. I see him as a good investment at a low cost. There are some things that I think Morey still lacks. He is young and still doesn't have the negotiating skill of some more seasoned GM's but I think he is head and shoulders above most of the rest in evaluating talent. And if thinks these kids are worth 6 Mil then he probably is right. He started the process trying to move upi and that didn't come around but then he saw an opportunity and probably went to Les and said hey the Wizards will sel us their pick for 2.5 mil and this guy is better than a lot of first round picks and les Said ok. ANd then a couple of minutes later he say Llull was still on the board and did not want to pass up. And finally as a late surprise he saw Chase was on the board, who had right under Taylor and went to Les, man chase is still up there... he is a steal at that spot and could be great insurance for 1.5 mil what do you think... And Les says go for it. So the verdict is still out on these guys but I think all of them can make it in this league. And more importantly Morey must. He saw an opportunity to get 3 players that make sense for this team. Forget that he got them in the second round. Look at Landry he is better than at least half of the players drafted before them. Taylor may do better than that. And you can argue chase wasn't 1st round material but to 45th was a steal and a half. And Llull may end up being the best out of all. So spending 6 million is almost a no brainer.
It was good for Morey to get three players when we expected nothing ... one question, though ... what's with the fascination with shrimpy players? Undersized is the Rockets' middle name.
I am pretty certain there is another move to move some of our assets for a player we can use right now.
Budinger has a 40' vertical and could have been a national volleyball player. He's a great athlete that can shoot.
He's going to play the three. His average lateral quickness will be exposed by the elite guards/forwards but he should be fine with our sound team defense and with Shane and (hopefully) Artest guarding the main threats.
What you are looking for is that he has poor lateral quickness. He's a great run and jump athlete, but he doesn't necessarily have great agility - which also factors into athleticism. I don't know if he is quick enough to play the two - I think he is a standard, average-sized NBA three. However, I do think that if he played at a more famous school or was black, he would have gone higher in the draft. You can't tell me that he didn't drop at least 10 spots in the draft because he looks like a combination of Bill Walton and Larry Bird - and the last goofy looking white guy that got drafted (Adam Morrison) has done nothing in the L.
And Morrison did not possess even half of Budinger's. Although Morrison was tougher, especially mentally.
Dude no freakin offense, but Arizona has been a top 5 basketball program the last 2 decades or so. Just go look at the number of impact former Arizona players still playing in the league. That was a really really really really really really ignorant statement, sorry. As for the "black" thing, I'm not sure being a certain race matters or not, but I think the pale skin and curly hair has a subconscious effect
