Budinger and Donte Green have almost Identical Numbers.

Right now I can't say whether Budinger or Greene is better, but I wish them both the best in their careers.
Greene will have more playing time if he keeps being a starter, while Budinger comes off the bench and has to compete with Ariza. Alot depends on what moves the respective GM's do this summer. Look at Gilbert Arenas, he spent many years in the west not getting much playing time and then things opened up when he moved to Washington.

 

Wow, I'm hearing A LOT of Donte love from respectable posters. Sorry, but I don't think he's close to the type of player most of you think he is or project him to be.

I sat directly behind the Kings bench on Mar 3 @ Houston. Westphal, Elie, and one other burly asst coach spent a third of the game trying to tame, instruct and get Donte's attention (even though he only played like 10 minutes that game!). I remember during one time-out Westphal pulls Donte & Tyreke aside and tells them directly, "Don't gamble, and good shot selection the other way." What does Donte do? He plays the passing lane, gives up an easy basket, and bricks an ill-advised shot less than a minute later.

I just kept thinking in my head, "what a waste!!"

He clearly has all the physical tools, but he's looking at a short-lived career if he doesn't get his head screwed on soon.

This comparison is a prime example of how midleading stats can be. I put Budinger a whole tier, maybe 2 above Donte.

 

You may be right, but as a PROSPECT, Donte has the talent to be a very good NBA player. Height (6-11!) and shooting ability from the SF spot is at a premium in this league.

That said, I could definitely see the possibility that his immaturity causes him to flame out like you say.

THIS is why, if I'm a team with a top 3 pick, I would NOT take DeMarcus Cousins. Better to take Wall (better prospect), Turner (more versatile) or Favors (similar talent but more mature) instead of Cousins.

 

it's ok. U forgot about two major things dm has done young grasshopper.
What about the kyle lowry trAde. And even better got us Kevin Martin and 2 potential lottery picks and if that wasn't great enough he got a Jordan hill, whose sky is the limit. All at the cost for a washed up mcgrady a landry who IMO is At his peak and our beloved Brian cook.

 

Landry was a lot to give up. I doubt hill will be ever as good as landry.

 

John Lucas III showed us he is capable of being one of the greatest PGs ever in the summer league.

I would not read too closely into all that. I learned my lesson.

 

Uh . . . the Rockets also got this guy, his name is Kevin Martin. He's a legit 20 ppg scorer and addressed the Rockets' biggest hole, the SG spot.

Seriously, though, Carl Landry was the price to get Kevin Martin.

Taking Jared Jeffries's contract (and, to a much lesser extent, Jordan Hill's contract) off the Knicks' cap for next year was the price to get the 2011 pick swap, the 2012 pick and, yes, Jordan Hill.

 

WCF's say hi!

I guess you missed us last year.

Maybe you were in the timeout chair with Von Wafer!

 

Artest trade was worth it to make our playoff run. Couldn't have done it without him, but Ariza is a better fit now.

Budinger could end up being better than both...just needs to learn some D!

 

Donte Green's downfall, as compared to Budinger, is his turnovers and fouling. He's averaging almost twice as many turnovers and fouls as Chase is. In addition, he already has a year of experience ahead of Budinger, and I'll bet Budinger will be better in his second year than Green was.

The rest of their stats are pretty close though, yeah. I suppose Green has more blocks (4 more inches), but his PER is actually a lot worse than Chase's.

 

Why do you doubt that? What tool does Landry have that Hill doesn't?

Height? Nah, Hill's taller.
Athleticism? Nah, Hill's more athletic.
Shooting touch? Hill's got a great one, if you haven't noticed.
Speed? Hill's faster.
Youth? Hill's younger.
Toughness? Well, yeah, no one matches to Mandry on that statistic.

Everything else is simply experience with Landry. Personally, I think Hill is better this rookie season than Landry was. Sure, Landry is better than Hill right now, but he's in his third year and is 26. Hill is a rookie and is 22, yet has every tool that is necessary to be as good as Landry, if not better.

I just don't see why people doubt Hill can become as good as Landry. It's way too early to make that call, and indicators are pointing to that he could be even better.

 

Donte Greene also has a year on Budinger. Greene was not anywhere near budinger's level his rookie year. I'm also I'm looking for Chase to improve next year.

 

I do think Landry's faster( one of Landry's main weapons is that he was too quick for many PFs to guard) and we have had concerns with Hill's hands after all. All the same, point still stands. If Landry can improve a ton over his three years with us, why can't Hill?

 

Donte came out after his freshman year at Syracuse. Chase played three full seasons at Arizona before coming out after his junior year. That time also included Chase participating (to some extent) in the pre-draft process before pulling out of the draft after both his freshman and sophomore seasons.

Of course Donte was not going to be as NBA-ready as Chase.

 

Bud fell in the draft because of his ties to volleyball, not because he's white.

And comparing Hill to Landry, I see Landry as stronger and more explosive....and he really had to be given his height. As well, Landry's skill set is much more developed then Hill's is currently. I'm not sure Hill will ever have the post up moves that Landry does, but I don't think we'll need that. He might not get the strength and explosiveness either, but he makes up for it with height and athleticism...if that makes sense.

Just looking at offensive rebounds, Hill will get it because he slid in between two guys and his length got to the ball first. He'll gather himself for the put back (because he got knocked around) and eleviate with a hook shot. Landry will use his strength to get position for the rebound. He'll use strenghth and explosiveness to power it back in for a quick dunk before a defender can contest. Two different methods for getting the job done. Both effective.

 

While some may discredit Morey for not "finding" Brooks, Budinger, Landry, etc, I think its more encouraging that Morey listens to his staff members and his couch when making decisions. There are two worst case scenarios for GMs:
1) they think they're smarter than everyone, make decisions on their own whim, and usually fail.
2) they listen too much to their subordinates, there is no clear direction, and the team just meanders.

Morey seems to be the perfect balance between confidence and humility.

 

*coach

 

Good post.

And in addition of choosing your staff well and listening them, a good quality, which Morey probably has in spades, is the ability to interpret data.

I'll rather have this new type of basketball executive any day over the "Hey I played D1 ball, I know a good player when I SEE one" - approach

 

I definitely noticed Donte Greene's numbers being similar to Budinger. Inthe King's dunk practice thread on the Dish, someone there called Greene a scrub but his numbers were identical to "scrub" Budinger. I wanted to call him the Kings' "Black Budinger", but that site meme's gone on enough on its own.

Plus Von Wafer brought some attitude bordering on craziness that was a jolt to the team. It feels better to be talking about almost beating the Lakers, than talking about ANOTHER first round exit again.

Trevor Ariza is already getting all kinds of pressure. Imagine if the Rockets DIDNT pass the first round again, and Ariza was COUNTED on to take the Rockets OVER the hump. Half the board would be in suicide watch.

 

Or Joe Alexander was the swing-and-miss strikeout example to halt the "white hype" approach.

Just because an opinion is a little extreme and not favorable doesn't mean there isn't any validity to it.