Pistons Interested In Budinger

[dd24]

[QUOTE]The Minnesota Timberwolves are shopping forward Chase Budinger in trade talks, league sources told Yahoo Sports. Among talks with several teams, the Detroit Pistons and Houston Rockets have shown an interest, league sources said. Houston is reluctant to take on the $5 million player option Budinger

[Aussie Dunker]

Budinger is a slight upgrade over Singler - has great athleticism and is very proficient from beyond the arc - but I agree, depending on what we have to give up I wouldn't bother for such a slight upgrade.

[Nastradamus]

I think he's a solid upgrade over Singler or Butler. I'd trade Jerebko for him, as I assume Minny would be just fine getting an expiring deal for him.

[Aussie Dunker]

Man jerebko looks reborn under SVG ^^ Stretches the floor nicely off the bench - I say we need him more than we need budinger as he is the only stretch big we have...

[dd24]

I agree. I'd like to keep Jerebko. If it seems like he won't be a factor in the rotation then we can move him but right now I would say SVG is going to use him a lot.

[Nastradamus]

To me, SF is too much of a weakness now. Get Budinger in there and give all the big man minutes to the big 3.

[dd24]

SF is definitely our weakest position. If the Pistons made that trade it would still be their weakest position and they would lose a good stretch 4.

[Aussie Dunker]

Smith, Moose and Dre are all CLEARLY superior player to Jerebko - however none can stretch the floor like he can. He gives SVG versatility with our rotations - he is valuable to us - and he looks very much improved since last season...

[Nastradamus]

If they use Jerebko as a stretch 4 though. it implies Smith is seeing a decent amount of time at the 3.

[dd24]

If they use Jerebko as a stretch 4 though. it implies Smith is seeing a decent amount of time at the 3.
I wouldn't say so. There's plenty of room to split between Jerebko, Monroe, Drummond, and Smith. I don't think anybody is implying Jerebko should be playing 30 minutes per game lol. He's just going to be that stretch option the Pistons have this year.

[Nastradamus]

There are 96 minutes at the 4 and 5. Monroe and Drummond are going to get somewhere between 60 and 70 of those. That leaves 26-36 minutes. Josh Smith will play about 30-35 mpg. If Jerebko is part of the rotation, he's going to get a solid 15-20 mpg.

[dd24]

I would expect around 20. Smith is going to end up playing some SF. It could just be 5 minutes per game but it sounded like SVG was going to have him there some. That frees up an extra few minutes per game.

[Aussie Dunker]

From what I have heard it seems as though Josh Smith will actually be starting at SF - and will then move to the PF spot when one of Dre or Moose gets first rested.. I think Jerebko will get about 15-20 minutes per game - I also think we will see some lineups in which we play Dre or Moose at C with both Smith and Jerebko at the forward positions...

Think of pretty much a carbon copy of how SVG used Anderson - except obviously not as good - but Jerebko will split time between PF and SF purely stretching the floor...

[dd24]

I don't really see how SVG has a choice other than to start Smith at SF. It's a problem that he inherited that there isn't an easy fix to. If they are going to have any chance at keeping Monroe he needs to be the starting PF and he's going to need playing time. I do agree that Jerebko will be used like Anderson, and yes he isn't as good. But I do think Jerebko can be effective. I've said it before, it's a mediocre team so I'm not expecting a well balanced product out on the court. That's just not how this team is built. For stretches though SVG will be able to rotate players to hopefully put them in spots where they are most comfortable at.

[dd24]

Didn't Jerebko play SF some when he was a rookie?

[Aussie Dunker]

^^ Yeah he has played SF quite a bit actually

I think Butler is going to be a huge influence as a veteran leader on this squad - he has league wide respect and even if he scores 0 points in 20 minutes, you know he is still going to be doing everything he can be out there... I like guys like that - I would not be surprised to see him start at SF if called upon

[dd24]

I don't think Butler has much left in the tank. Otherwise he'd still be going for a championship with a contender. I would hate to see him go scoreless in 20 minutes.

[Aussie Dunker]

You would hate to see anyone go scoreless in 20 minutes, but I'd say Butler would do more than just about anyone on our roster in those scoreless 20 minutes in terms of intangibles...

He doesn't have much left in the tank - this is true. But he still plays hard D and can shoot pretty well from deep - combine those two things with his leadership and knowledge of the game, I think he can kind of play that role that we thought Chauncey would play for us last year...