Rockets Signings

The Rockets announced the signing three of their off-season acquisitions in the last week. In keeping with team policy, Daryl Morey refused to discuss the terms of the contracts with Jermaine Taylor, Chase Budinger and David Andersen (see previous post).

Jermaine Taylor brings offensive skills with him from the University of Central Florida in Orlando. He was third in the country last year in scoring with 26.2 PPG. He was C-USA player of the year, among other college honors. I know, big numbers, but he did it at a "directional school", as Jeff Van Gundy used to say. He meant that the player was a big fish in a small pond. Granted, UCF has a small basketball program, but it is - believe it or not - the fifth largest university in the country, with over 50,000 students. So he's hardly been in West Podunk for the last few years. One interesting note, he majored in Interdisciplinary Studies. Does anyone know what that is? The big question on Taylor is, can he play NBA defense? He certainly wasn't known for it in college.

Chase Budinger had a great Summer League recently and was a major reason the Rockets went undefeated. He was a three-year starter at Arizona before declaring for the NBA draft. Taken in the second round by Detroit, the Rockets bought his rights minutes later. Budinger is an athletic wing man with a mixed bag of skills and a good all-around game. His weaknesses are that he doesn't have good defensive lateral movement and is not a "go-to" scorer.

So the Rockets added depth to the shooting guard/small forward position with two second round draft choices. I like getting excited about new players, especially ones that can score. I hate that I have to temper that excitement by reminding myself that players drafted in the second round are drafted in the second round for a reason. They are not saviors. Fortunately, the Rockets have one of the best coaching staffs in the league and with a little luck, they can make these guys into players that can at least fill a role on a good team.