Houston's Small Forward problem

Chase Budinger was supposed to be the started this year. But in the NBA when you start off cold from the field, average 2 rebounds a game, and aren’t a great defender, you tend to lose your spot. Not only did he lose his spot, he also fell out of the rotation entirely for a few games. Chandler Parsons took over the starting spot after 7 games and while he hasn’t been a great scorer he has averaged 5.3 rebounds a game, 1.3 steals a game and 0.6 blocks a game to go with 6.7 points a game on 43% shooting. While these numbers are not great for fantasy, the steals and rebounds and help if you are in need of a small forward. Occasionally Parsons will also go off for double digit points but I wouldn’t count on it.

Budinger for the last two games has been back in the rotation. He has been much  more aggressive on offense than he was at the start of the season. He has put up an average of 20 points in the 2 games on over 50% shooting. He has also gone 6 of 10 on his 3-point attempts in the 2 games combined. However, his rebounding numbers are still very inconsistent. While he gives you hope that he can be a good rebounder, grabbing 8 rebounds in the first of these two games back in the rotation, he only grabbed 2 rebounds in the second game.  This season he has grabbed 5 or more rebounds in only 5 of his 17 games. These are not promising stats for anyone who wants to pick him up. On the upside though, he does hit 1.3 3-pointers a game, and is at 1.2 for his 3 year career, so this number will stay intact. While he can give you the occasional offensive outburst, Budinger is also only averaging 8.6 points a game for the year and 9.3 for his career, and has not averaged higher than 9.8 points a game.

I would recommend picking up Parsons over Budinger. The first reason is that Parsons is the starter and will usually get 25+ minutes a game, while Budinger is coming off the bench and his minutes could be inconsistent. Secondly if Budinger has a bad shooting game, he has no other stats you can rely on. With Parsons he can still give you rebounds and steals if he doesn’t score, and he usually doesn’t score. So what you’re left with is rebounds and steals vs 3’s. I’d take rebounds and steals.