Chase Budinger re-signs with Timberwolves, giving Rick Adelman a shooter that fits the system

Chase Budinger signed a three-year, $16 million contract with the Timberwolves, and he’s useful because he is a favorite of coach Rick Adelman.

by Mike Prada

Jul 2, 2013, 10:17 PM UTC

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The Minnesota Timberwolves secured free-agent shooting guard Chase Budinger quickly, agreeing to a three-year, $16 million contract that has a player option after year 2.

This deal is comparable to the four-year, $22 million contract the Wizards gave Martell Webster (Webster’s fourth year is partially-guaranteed). Budinger is younger and doesn’t have Webster’s injury history, but he also hasn’t put together a year as good as Webster did in 2012-13 for Washington. Once you account for the partial guarantee, the two deals are functionally similar. Both players are somewhat-limited shooters that signed quickly when other shooters were still available, but are probably worth more to their current teams than to another one.

Timberwolves fans react at Canis Hoopus

Nevertheless, I grade Budinger’s deal slightly higher for a couple reasons. For one, Budinger has some upside to improve and is much less injury-prone. At 25 years old, Budinger’s career was on an upward trajectory until a serious knee injury derailed him last season. Two years ago, as a member of the Houston Rockets, Budinger hit 40 percent from three-point range, 48 percent from the corners, per NBA.com, and 48 percent on threes in transition, per MySynergySports.com. He also showed flashes on the glass and attacking the rim in transition.

And it’s worth noting that Budinger did all that while playing for Rick Adelman, who will likely be his coach in Minnesota next season. Sometimes you can’t divorce the player from his team. In this case, Budinger is a perfect fit for Adelman’s corner offense and is therefore more valuable to Minnesota than he would be elsewhere.

Budinger’s limited defense and shot-creation abilities mitigate this deal somewhat, but overall, it’s fair value for a player the Timberwolves wanted to keep anyway.

GRADE: B-