Chase Budinger is a tall wing who can push the ball up, shoot threes and dive into the paint for putbacks and rim attacks. If he flies under other teams’ radar during the summer free agent shopping spree, the Bulls should take a look.
Chase Budinger, a 6-7, swingman, averaged only 9.9 points last season, 5.2 rebounds per 36 Minutes for Phoenix as a late season pick up. His previous team, the Indiana Pacers bought out his contract to add guard Ty Lawson in time for a play-off run. Budinger was miscast in the Pacers offense because Frank Vogel preferred giving rising star, Paul George more playing time. But in spite of this, Chase had games where he showed that he was still the same wingman bomber he was for the Houston Rockets, his first NBA team.
Bulls reserve, Cameron Bairstow reportedly has a back problem that may be career ending (degenerative disc), so the Bulls have one slot available on the roster for an able big who can run the floor–Chase Budinger can do a lot more than Cam, and people might be forgetting that he was among the top 4 high school phenoms, along with Greg Oden and Kevin Durant–a class that produced 16 NBA first round draft picks.
Budinger had his knees repaired (suffering the same ACL injury as Derrick Rose) while with Minnesota in 2012 to 2013, but he still put up good numbers when he came back for the TWolves: playing in 67 games and finishing strong with 14.4 points and shooing 41.5 percent from the 3-point line in his final 17 games. Indiana liked what they saw and traded for him. But as the 2015-2016 NBA season started, Paul George had breakout games and Chase’s playing time was reduced in favor of the young All-Star.
Chase can be a part of the Bulls 2nd unit (which should be an 8-deep offense-defense mix) Bench Mob as one of the shooter options. If you watch the games where he shone, Budinger can really light it up from three-point range and he does attack the rim as a high-energy player. He plays passing lanes well enough to grab a few steals. If he passes the Bulls physical, he might just be a perfect fit for the Bulls in free agency as secondary wing bomber after Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic as the primary scorers next season. If Chicago will be moving both Jimmy Butler and Tony Snell out, Budinger would make a solid replacement for either at the wing.
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Chase Budinger was one of Flip Saunders‘ favorite players–which might count in Fred Hoiberg’s book.
Budinger might be another Bulls steal in this year’s summer free agency because he doesn’t really fit any team and may be undervalued. There is space on the Bulls for a wing player his size who also has high-energy tenacity on offense. Chase has a very high basketball IQ and is a very unselfish player with nice passing skills who can spell either Mirotic or Doug if they have poor shooting games. He certainly won’t be locker room poison, and he’ll make the Bulls guards look good because he may be a better catch-and-shoot target than either Snell or Butler. Joakim Noah may enjoy passing to him as a lob target or as a set shooter from range.
Chase Budinger earned roughly $5 M in his contract year for the Timberwolves before being traded with the Pacers. The Phoenix Suns picked him up for around $200,000 towards the end of the season. If Chicago trades Jimmy Butler with Minnesota for Ricky Rubio and some assets or switch draft picks with them, they get a good chemistry player in Budinger paired with possible recruit, Rubio in the second unit.
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Look for the Bulls next year to put together 2 to 3 Hoiball starting teams configured for specific match-ups that still play pace-and-space, and Chase Budinger might be a perfect fit.