Chandler Parsons or Chase Budinger?

In watching the Houston Rockets lose tonight to the Milwaukee Bucks, a question occured to me: Why is Chandler Parsons playing so much instead of Chase Budinger? Budinger started the year in the starting 5, and has since been relegated to towel-waving sub in recent games. In looking at their stats, they seem to be much the same. So what's the difference in these two Caucasian forwards whose first names start with "C-H-A"?

Here are some of John Hollinger's PER stats on both players (PER is adjusted on a per-minute basis):

Chase Budinger, 6'7'', 3rd year

20.7 minutes/game

51% field goal percentage

9.5 assists/game

7.9 turnovers/game

8.6 rebounds/game

11.44 PER

Chandler Parsons, 6'9'', Rookie

23 minutes/game

48.6% field goal percentage

16.2 assists/game

8.8 turnovers/game

13.7 rebounds/game

14.66 PER

What's the difference between the two? And what has pushed Parsons into "starter" status?

First, Parsons passes more without costing much in terms of turnovers. Watching Budinger, he sees himself at the receiver of passes - and once he gets the ball, he's looking to score more often than not. That's not necessarily a bad thing; lots of players (cough Kobe cough) operate better within their team (cough cough Melo) when they're "the guy". However, unfortunately for Budinger, the Rockets already have one of those (ahem...Kevin Martin). As far as Parsons is concerned, he seems just as happy to set someone up as he is to shoot the ball. He hustles around the court, and he just gets open due to that relentless motor.

The other main difference between "Chandler Bang" and "Bud"'s stats is the rebounding rate. Parsons is two inches taller than Budinger, but Parsons knows how to make his size a huge deal when he's playing inside (offensive or defensively). CP plays like a power forward with the athleticism of a shooting guard. Budinger plays like the key is made of hot lava - he lives on the wings, and then only ventures inside on his patent-pending baseline dunks. He plays like a shooting guard with the size of a small forward.

One last comment on Parsons: in this, his rookie season, it feels like he's completely unaware of the stakes. He's playing like a 10-year old on a youth basketball team: hustling everywhere, taking the ball up the court on occasion, doing his post-game interviews with an orange-peel-smile. One of those may actually have been made up. However, this obliviousness is just making Parsons play with a joy and carefree air that makes him already one of the more clutch players on the team. Hopefully he can keep that aspect of his game up throughout his career.

All told, I think that Coach Kevin McHale is riding the hot hand, since Parsons has been on fire recently. However, for the reasons stated above, I think the right move is to keep playing Parsons as much as possible. He brings a relentless character to this Rockets team that they'll need to imitate if they hope to go far in the playoffs this season. Thankfully we can't get matched up with the Bucks until the Finals.