Chase Budinger

Corey Brewer – Minnesota Timberwolves

Brewer comes from the George Karl-era Nuggets, and Karl’s teams make their players look good. This is particularly true of hitherto overlooked wing players – see also, Dahntay Jones, Gary Forbes, Greg Buckner, DerMarr Johnson, and, up to a point, Arron Afflalo.

Twice gifted away for essentially free, including once by the very Timberwolves that just gave him three years and $14.1 million to come back, Brewer broke out into an average two-way wing with Denver, which is not a pejorative. Average is enough, and his contract would be an acceptable overpay for an average wing had Karl’s Denver done it.

However, it is a significant ask that Brewer remains an average player now he’s removed from Karlball. Brewer was a perfect fit in a Nuggets system that masked his weaknesses, particularly offensively, where he lacks consistent finishing abilty from any shot other than the dunk and offers scant little ball handling. His transition offense translates to any team, but it cannot be the weapon it was with the Nuggets, and the defense is merely good, not exceptional. Minnesota would like to think they’ve given third wing money to a quality, proven third wing, but the quality is not proven, and this is a significant enough amount more than Ray Allen or Danny Green money. He will earn almost the same amount as Chase Budinger, the man he is set to back up, yet even in his best year, Brewer has never been as good as him.

Unguaranteed or partially guaranteed final seasons are becoming quite the trend in the NBA, and they are quickly replacing team options. In fact, there are only 11 team options in the entire league, belonging to Chase Budinger, Jermaine Taylor, Andrew Bynum, Sam Young, Andres Nocioni, Hakim Warrick, Goran Dragic, Pooh Jeter, Francisco Garcia, Solomon Alabi and C.J. Miles. In contrast, there are so many partially or fully unguaranteed contracts in future years that I can't be bothered to go through and list them all. And considering the length of this post, and all the things I could be bothered to do, that should signify something.

Chase Budinger

Budinger doesn't really need to be here. He proved himself last year as a rotation calibre player and accomplished scorer, who was sorely overlooked in the draft. He could stand to defend better and get to the line more, but he makes shots and doesn't make mistakes. And he's got three more years on his contract. So I don't think he needs to be here all that much.