Good news for Cats fans who want to see Budinger back for his Junior year... Augustin decalred for the draft today and he's probably the 2nd best PG prospect and most certainly a lottery pick. My thinking is that if Budinger isn't going to be a projected lottery pick, he may come back. So all those other people that declare for the draft could bump Chase back... Probably waiting for Ty Lawson to decide, and maybe Psycho T...CB could be on the outside looking in
Projected Lottery picks (obviously depends of who wins the lottery and whose stock goes where)
I totally agree. For a month now I've been saying that Chase will not be a lottery pick, and with DJ Augustin entering the draft, his stock just took another hit.
Chase is a great player. I can see him as a less physical Luke Walton in the near future, but he would greatly benefit from at least one more year in the college game (especially under Lute) to develop better defense and more of a killer instinct.
Clearly he could use another year. I don't know about the Walton connection. CB is a much better athlete. Obviously we are biased to want him to come back though. The thing about Lute is though that his teams haven't played defense since like 2002. Clearly he aknowledged that by bringing in KO. I wonder how thsi team will do defensively... remember Lute Likes to play a lot of zone... which would be good an bad for this team. Good beacuse it should help on the glass... Wise and Jennings can run down loose balls and create fast breaks... but Bad beacuse it leaves open looks for 3 and it settles for complacency and also slows teams down... maybe thats a good thing though
What people have to understand is that Budinger's physical and natural attributes will only allow him to drop so far. He will excel in workouts because most of it will be one-on-one exhibitions, which benefit athletes with good ballhandling and shooting skills.
Hard to believe that Augustin would be picked ahead of him. I know the college media has made a lot to do about DJ Augustin and his point guard skills (which are legit for a player his age), but if you take the time to look at past drafts, how many players under six-feet tall were taken in the lottery? How many were taken ahead of a 6'7" shooting guard with the athleticism and skills that Budinger possesses? Augustin is listed at 6'0", but that listing won't fool scouts when they have a chance to measure him themselves. Once they do, Augustin's stock will drop a good 10-15 spots. When you draft in the lottery, you look for a player that can eventually contribute in a starting role. How many sub-six foot starting point guards are there in the NBA right now? I can't think of a single one. Augustin's great college play is victimized by his size, while Budinger's only helps his inconsistent play.
I think Budinger will come back, though, even if he were projected as a late-lottery pick. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think he'll find that enough people suggest he go back and work on defense and leadership so that he can be a top 5 pick. I think that, and the opportunity to excel next year on the college level, will draw him back to the university. But that's just a gut feel.
Great post, AZCATSFAN. I agree 100% with you on Budinger's pro prospects, regardless of what other underclassmen declare for the draft. However, I feel that Budinger will remain in the draft if he's in the top 20, and I think he will be, so I think he may be gone (and he's got a lot of people, including his dad, I believe, pushing him toward the NBA). I'd love to see him come back, but in recent weeks, I've actually lost confidence that it'll happen (while many others are gaining confidence because of the number of underclassment declaring).
Chase is more of a SF... probably not a Shooting Guard... No one can argue his upside.. I'm just telling you what the scouts say... I mean he had huge upside going into college... he was a top 5 talent 2 years ago...we love his athleticism... his lack of defense fits in to the NBA style... he lacks the killer instinct most of the time... that;s something Bayless has....Chase could pobably play with the Nuggets...
as for players 6 feet tall or under...how bout our very own damon stoudamire... salim probably is about 6 feet too if I remember corectly... obviously there's AI... how bout TJ Ford a fellow Texas grad... those are just off the top of my head... obviously few and far between...
Bottom line... Budinger probably goes somewhere between 10 and 20 probably... if he goes pro...
The lure of that NBA money is going to be strong. I know that even a low first round pick is going to be cashing bigger checks than I receive on payday. Still, going too early carries the risk of shortening an NBA career because few players get to develop while they're in the league. You're supposed to be ready now. If you're not, you end up bouncing around and might not see a real opportunity to crack the starting lineup. A lot of once-promising careers have disappeared this way.
I am biased toward the hope of Chase staying, but if he does, he has the chance to fill some of the holes in his game and position himself for a much higher draft slot next year among a talent pool that won't be so deep.
The thing about Chase is that he doesn't need the $$$$, that's why he came back last year. A lot of players leave early because their family is in dire need of the money. Not to say CB (or anyone for that matter) would like to make that kind of bling...If that makes anyone feel better, thats what we need to lean on... I'd be curious to hear what the word inside campus is...
Budinger is projected as a shooting guard in the NBA. He's not strong enough to defend most NBA threes effectively and his potential at that position is more limited than it is at the shooting guard spot. At the two his size becomes a big advantage in that league, especially considering the vast differences in the game, none of which are defensive inferiority.
I think Augustin is more like 5'10" than 6'0". I mentioned that already. I think you would be hard-pressed to find a sub-six footer that has made his mark in the NBA, much less many that have been drafted in the lottery. There have been a few taken in the first round over the years, like Nate Robinson and Speedy Claxton, but Stoudamire is the only that comes to mind that was drafted in the lottery. And if memory serves me correct, after the first five picks in that draft pickings were slim. This year's draft class is relatively deep and I would be surprised, despite projections of the opposite, if Augustin were to be drafted in the lottery or ahead of Budinger. Things change quickly once NBA teams get an actual chance to kick the tires themselves.
AI and Ford are better players than Augustin. I can guarantee that. He might be like Stoudamire, but all bias aside, he didn't really turn out to be any sort of great NBA point guard. I think his size hurt every team he played for. Augustin will be a nice pickup for some team if they do it with the right intentions. A team should try to get a future starter out of the lottery, and I don't think Augustin can be effective as one.
