The Chase Continues

Budinger shows best is yet to come with final summer league performance

Jason Friedman
Rockets.com

Houston - If you assessed Chase Budinger’s 2010 summer league performance simply by the numbers found in the box score, you’d likely walk away feeling slightly disappointed with the end results. His scoring dipped from where it was a year ago, while his shooting percentages took a major hit, standing in stark contrast to how he had set fire to the Sin City nets in 2009.

But as far as his coaches were concerned, the second-year swingman showed them everything they wanted to see.

After watching Budinger day in and day out for the last 12 months, the Rockets know precisely what the 22-year-old Southern California native brings to the table. They’ve seen his silky-smooth jump shot and borne witness to his advanced basketball IQ. So when Houston’s coaching staff saw Budinger struggle with his stroke this week, it elicited little more than a collective shoulder shrug.

They were far more interested in Budinger’s overall growth and development as a player. They wanted to see him display an improved understanding of both individual and team defensive principles. And they were also eager to find out if he could handle more of a playmaking role, especially when operating out of the pick-and-roll – something he struggled with during what was an otherwise very successful rookie campaign.

The final analysis: no matter what the numbers say, Chase Budinger is leaving Las Vegas a far better player today than he was one year ago.

“Chase was good,” said Rockets assistant coach R.J. Adelman when asked for his analysis of Budinger’s 2010 summer league performance. “Chase didn’t make shots the way he planned on, especially for a guy who’s worked so hard all summer on his shooting but we know that’s an aberration. He’s a shooter, he’s going to make shots. He just had one of those weeks.

“The rest of his game is what we were more interested in seeing. He defended. He had some tough matchups and he really guarded and he put his commitment in on that end, and that’s something that we as coaches feel is probably more important than shooting because we know the shooting is going to be there. Then we also put the ball in his hands to see if he could be a playmaker and he showed us he can. He can pass it, he can get separation and he can do more than what he showed during his rookie year, and that’s all positive.”

Yet while kind words from the coaches are great, there’s still no better positive reinforcement for most players than seeing the ball actually go through the hoop, which is why Wednesday’s summer league finale went a long way in helping to ease some of the frustration Budinger had been feeling throughout the week. The University of Arizona product was at his high-flying, sweet-shooting best against the Nuggets right from the opening tip, scoring Houston’s first 12 points on his way to notching a game-high 24 on 9-of-14 shooting from the field. Budinger attacked with a plan and purpose from beginning to end, asserting himself the way many – including himself – had expected to see after watching him burst onto the NBA scene as a rookie last season.

“I personally didn’t think I played very well throughout the whole week,” conceded Budinger. “My (shooting) percentages were low and I felt like I could have gotten more rebounds some games as well, so I’d give myself a C. There were games when I should have been more aggressive. The coaching staff got on me some games for it.”

Yes, if being too unselfish is a basketball sin, it is perhaps the only hoops crime of significance for which Budinger must seek pardon this week. There were times when he deferred to teammates too much, rendering himself invisible and ineffective in the process. When on the attack, however, there was simply no ignoring his presence and impact, which is why Houston’s coaches continuously implored him to stay aggressive, contrary though that might be to his laid-back, Southern California demeanor.

“You have to prod him a little bit because his personality is that he just wants to fit in and doesn’t want to step on toes,” said Adelman. “He’s a guy who plays great with great players because he just knows the game. That’s why he made an immediate impact on the league because he’s so far advanced basketball IQ-wise. But in this setting, he’s got to turn it up a notch and try things. Even if he fails, we want to see him try just to see what he can do. You kind of have to force him because it’s not really his nature but as the week went on I thought he got more and more aggressive and it culminated today when he really made all the big plays for us.”

In the end, then, Wednesday’s game offered hope for those who harbored concerns about Budinger’s progress. For Chase himself, it served as sweet relief. But for the Rockets’ coaches and staff, it simply proved what they already knew: that the best of Budinger is still to come.

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