5 Second Rounders Who Will Make A Difference
By Gerald Narciso
Dime
There is something about second round players that I just really like. Maybe it’s because they come into the league hungry and with a big chip on their shoulder for being overlooked. Most play with a sense of urgency because unlike the Draft’s first thirty, there is no guaranteed paper. Last year, second rounders like Luc Mbah a Moute, Mario Chalmers and DeAndre Jordan made some noise. Here are five late round rookies who are going to GMs pay for passing on them.
1. DeJuan Blair, Spurs: Many were shocked when this big man from Pitt slipped all the way to the 37th pick. In the summer league, Blair gave everybody a preview on what he can do by averaging 16.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. His toughness and soft touch should be a good fit with Gregg Popovich’s system. Blair has the potential to be the next Paul Millsap.
2. Chase Budinger, Rockets: With his size, athleticism and shooting touch, Chase was destined to be a lottery pick. But leading up to the draft, scouts and GMs started questioning his toughness, leadership skills and ability to put the ball on the floor. Like Blair, Budinger impressed in the Summer League averaging 17.8 points, while shooting a ridiculous 72.7 percent from three-point land. With Yao out, the Rockets will definitely welcome another scorer.
3. Jodie Meeks, Bucks: Scoring 54 points in game in college didn’t stop scouts from hating on Meeks’ game. The former Kentucky Wildcat was labeled as being too small for a shooting guard with poor shot selection and a lack of a handle. Meeks had a good showing in Vegas, but still has a lot to prove. Lucky for him, he plays on the Bucks so the opportunity for burn will be available. If he proves to be a good three-point shooter on this level, he could have a job for years to come.
4. Sam Young, Grizzlies: Just like Blair, his teammate at Pitt, Young was a projected first rounder. A third team all-american, he was one of the best players in college basketball last season. Young has a Kobe-like work ethic and is a great athlete. He had some big games in the summer league and will find himself in the rotation come fall.
5. Taylor Griffin, Suns: For the past two years, Taylor has been buried in the shadow of his famous younger brother Blake. But those who have seen Taylor play knows he has some game himself. He is a hard nosed player who rebounds and blocks shots well considering his size. Griffin reminds me a little of Matt Harpring the way he plays.
He had me until he threw Taylor Griffin out there. He'll have about as much impact as Stephen Graham did.
Harpring's a terrible comp. He was an all-american coming out of Georgia Tech who averaged 19, 19, & 22 PPG his last 3 years. Taylor Griffin? His career high was 6.5 last year. Harpring also averaged 8, 8, 9 RPG during that same span. Griffin - despite being a guy who was basically asked to do nothing but play defense and rebound - just set a career high of...5.
Last edited by K-State Spur; 09-18-2009 at 02:16 PM.
Sam Young will be nice.
How many shots did Chase take for Houston? That's a crazy shooting %, even for SL.
I watched a few of Houston's games, and Buddinger was indeed taking lots of shots, I dunno the numbers, but he wasn't gun-shy. He was just nailing everything. If I had to guess, I would say he was averaging 4-5 3 point attempts a game.
He only took about 2 threes a game.
Fair enough, I thought I remembered a lot of his points coming off of threes. Regardless his percentage was insane.
8/11 comes out to 72.7%.
Yeah, you can't knock him. He was making most of them.
Hope the Grizz give him some minutes. Playing behind Rudy Gay would be difficult though.
That is not the problem. He still ain't gonna see the ball even when he is on the court with all the ball-hogs on the team.
Budinger was on fire in the summer league. Looked alot like Dirk out there, but then again, it was only the summer league =P
You are correct. He went 3/3, 2/2, 1/2, 1/2, and 1/2 from three-point range in his five summer league games, for a total of 8/11 (72.7%).
http://www.nba.com/summerleague2009/...chase_budinger
Anthony Tolliver shot lights out in the 2008 SL. It didn't carry over.
Law of averages doesn't justify Chase Budinger being a 75 percent shooter. There's just no way. His real shooting percentage will play out during the course of an 82 game season not a 5 or 6 game summer league.
Ask George Hill.
I'm going to go out on the limb with Manu4Tres and predict that Chase Budinger will not shoot 75% for the year from the arc.
The Moment I read the thread le I knew it was DeJuan Blair.
Look for Griffin to be a Najera-type player. He will hustle, frustrate opponents, rebound, pass well, and can stroke the outside shot. He has a high basketball IQ.
When SA drafted Blair, my immediate thought was "Duncan got his Rodman, minus the psychoses!!". Blair is like a giant bad/missed shot eraser for your bench.
Pretty sure I woke up the neighbors on draft night. I haven't been that excited on draft night since the Spurs drafted Duncan (that being said, I also hadn't previously heard of the Spurs' pick since the Duncan draft either).
Here's an interesting question for the off-season doldrums:
Who else do you think, beside the Spurs, DuJuan Blair would have been a perfect/scary fit on?
Memphis? New Orleans? Cleveland? Boston?
Only 16 days until we see what the Spurs have. I cannot wait.
Lakers, and they dumped a pick that would have allowed it. I guess they were gun shy after all of Bynum's injuries.
You have to consider, the draft in general is a gamble. Everything is a gamble.
A lot of teams draft players that have the raw ability to wreak havoc but are not yet, nor may they ever be, quite there physically; a lot of teams also draft these "potential" picks too high (Grizzlies, I'm looking at you).
Brandon Jennings has the physical skills, and the body, but his at ude is a BIG "if" hanging over his future. Again, drafted very high; he was a calculated gamble.
You see foreign guys crop up all over that have played very well professional overseas and teams are hoping their skills convert. Jian Liang (sp?) a good example. He's a gamble, but again, a calculated one.
So then you look at a guy like Blair, a guy with the skills, the body, and the at ude that will directly translate to the NBA. His health issues provide the gamble. So let's say you get 3-4 years and a good role player out of him, isn't that worth it alone?
But teams get scared by the Bynums and Odens of the league. They had health risks, and it doomed them. But Bynum was also a risk; only 18 when he was taken. Oden was receiving AARP checks before he graduated high school.
It amazes me that people passed on Blair.
And I'm so happy they did.
If Blair hadn't of fell to our first pick then didn't Pop or RC say they would of used it on McClinton?
I think they said they were looking at DeColo and McClinton at 37. Sweet that we ended up getting Blair AND both of them.
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