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AG's Wildcat Report - Dispatches on the Wildcats, from Anthony Gimino

Trade could be good for first-round ‘bust’ Jordan Hill

by on Feb. 18, 2010, under Sports
Jordan Hill takes a shot (with Chase Budinger on far right) against Stanford last season/Tucson Citizen photo

Jordan Hill takes a shot (with Chase Budinger on far right) against Stanford last season/Tucson Citizen photo

Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill, who both left Arizona last year after their junior seasons, have been reunited with the Houston Rockets.

Hill, the eighth pick in the NBA Draft, never found his footing with the New York Knicks — was that his fault or the fault of a poorly-run franchise? — and was part of a three-team, eight-player trade at the trade deadline on Thursday.

Hill will go to the Rockets, who nabbed Budinger in the middle of the second round with the 44th overall pick.

Hill and Budinger were in Tucson last weekend during the break for the NBA All-Star weekend, hanging out with their former teammates.

“I think it’s great,” UA junior forward Jamelle Horne said of the trade. “I think they’re going to have a great time. They are truly blessed to be together in the NBA at the next level. I think they will be good together. … Or they could be really bad together.”

That last part was a little joke — perhaps a reference to too much partying? — but the early change of scenery should be good for Hill. He played in only 24 games with New York, averaging 4.0 points and 2.5 rebounds.

He already has garnered the “bust” label from Knicks fans, who would have liked point guard Brandon Jennings (or a few other players) at the No. 8 spot in the draft.

With his relative lack of basketball experience, Hill still has lots of upside, and playing time should be more available with the Rockets. It took him a while to adjust to Arizona; his learning curve could be similar in the NBA.

Budinger, who slid further in the draft than everyone expected, has been more than solid as a rookie, considering where he ended up in the second round. As a bench player, he is averaging 8.3 points, 2.9 rebounds and is hitting 34.4 percent of his 3-pointers.

He has scored in double figures in five of the past seven games.

Now, he has his ol’ UA buddy with him.

The Arizona Wildcats have sent so many players to the pros in the past 20 years or so that it’s not usual when there is more than one Wildcat on an NBA roster.

The question is, how many players have been teammates at UA and in the NBA?

Our sports partner, WildAboutAZCats.com, lists three four cases:

–Steve Kerr and Jud Buechler (Chicago Bulls, 1994-98).
–Steve Kerr and Sean Elliott (San Antonio Spurs, 1998-2001).
–Brian Williams and Jud Buechler (Chicago Bulls, 1996-97). Yes, Kerr was on the team, too, but Kerr and Williams were not teammates at UA, like Williams and Buechler were for the 1989-90 season.
–Mike Bibby and Michael Dickerson (Vancouver Grizzlies, 1999-2001)

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 18th, 2010 at 7:11 pm and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: , , , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  • Doug

    This must be a joke right? Im not a Knick fan, AU fan, but why are you calling him a bust? He only played 10 mins a game compared to Jennings 25-30. Wow, Seriously, get some better writers. This is a horrible article.

    • Anthony Gimino

      Read a little closer, Doug. I’m not personally calling him a bust. But having followed his coverage … like I said, that is the label he had picked up from the New York media and many fans, who were unhappy with his selection from the start. That’s why “bust” in the headline is in quotes … you know, like how people use finger quotes.

      I’m not sure citing Jennings’ playing time is a good argument for you. He’s playing more because he’s playing better than Hill. But, again, as I wrote, Hill has a lot of upside and is still relatively raw. He started slowly at UA before catching fire; he could do the same in the NBA.
       

  • oldwest2

    Actually i think the biggest BUST for the New York Knicks is the acquisition of the coach Mike D’Antonio, he’s stubborn, bullheaded, all his teams play offense only for the most part, he rarely teaches his teams to play hard nose defense on the defensive end of the ball. He has a great admiration for European ball players, not to say that is totally bad we know there are a lot of great players now in the NBA from Europe.
    He left the Phoenix Suns because he thought management was interfering with his coaching, yes the new GM Steve Kerr wanted maybe a bit of defense put into the Suns stun and gun approach.
    Me i am not so sure it was Jordan being a bust as much as it was the coach not giving him a full chance to perform or show his skills, look lately at what Mike D has done with Nate and a few of the other players at the Knicks, buried them deep on the bench. Make no doubt about it the Knicks want one big name player and will trade there soul for it and throw all the existing team under the bus to achieve it. Now if they were to actually obtain Lebron James, well it could be worth the throwing the whole existing team under the bus scenario.

  • oldwest2

    Just to follow up, I am aware of the Knicks trade that sent Nate to Boston. I personally am not a great big fan of Nate Robinson’s but i think Jordan is much better off at Houston under Rick Adelman who actually knows how to develop young talent and Nate is certainly better off in Boston under Doc Rivers who also knows how to develop young talent, just take a look at Rajon Rondo’s career.

  • STR

    Hope this works out for Hill.
    Gotta love the NY media labeling him a bust and arguing that they should have taken Jennings instead. Jennings scored 55  against Golden State once. Golden State probably plays less defense then the Knicks. How is Jennings faring now that teams are guarding him? His % has dropped each month and now includes a 1-12 gem as of this week. Yeah but Jordan is  a bust and really really couldn’t shoot 30% from the field if you gave him 10+ shots a game….

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