Budinger odd man out as Solomon Hill earns playing time

Chase Budinger was one of three Pacers — Paul George and Monta Ellis the others — to have played in every game this season entering Saturday night’s contest against the Detroit Pistons.

In that 94-82 Pacers win, he never saw the floor. It wasn’t his fault, either. Third-year wing Solomon Hill has played so well that coach Frank Vogel said he couldn’t keep him out of the rotation.

“Solomon Hill’s been giving us something in the last couple of games when he’s been called upon,” Vogel said after the win. “I just wanted to get Solomon in there somehow. Chase was the guy that we had to pull out. It wasn’t anything that Chase had done.”

Budinger told me that Vogel informed him of his lesser role at morning shootaround.

Hill, who the Pacers elected not to pick up the team option on his fourth year for next season, finished with four points, five rebounds, an assist, and a steal off the bench in almost 17 minutes.

Most of all, he’s a defensive-minded player who raises the energy of the team when he’s on the floor.

“Defense and energy,” C.J. Miles said of his teammate. “It just changes the game. He makes game-changing energy plays.

“He does a little bit of everything.”

Hill was rarely used through the first 29 games, never playing more than six minutes in a game. Over the last four games, however, he’s averaged over 20 minutes per game.

From December: VIDEO: Solomon Hill on being in and out of the rotation

Does he feel like he’s finally in the rotation?

“A little bit,” Hill said confidently but cautiously. “I just got to make the most of my minutes. At any given moment, any team, I think anybody can really play for us and that’s a great thing. Glenn Robinson is always ready to play, Chase is going to be ready to play just like he is. I think we have a real flexible team.”

On one defensive play in the fourth frame, Hill blocked consecutive shot attempts by Stanley Johnson of the Pistons. Hill had four blocks through the first 32 games.

“Just got to keep it going,” he said. “Things like that energize the team and that’s what I’m there for.”

The Pacers used the No. 23 pick of the 2013 NBA Draft on Hill, a four-year player out of the University of Arizona. He brought maturity and focus on the defensive end.

With rookie Myles Turner back in the fold, Vogel doesn’t want to play more than 10. That means at the wing spot, it’s Budinger, Hill, and Glenn Robinson III fighting it out for minutes.

“Chase hasn’t done anything wrong,” Vogel wanted to make clear. “I really like what Chase does. He brings length on the defensive end, he pushes in the open court, he runs the floor really well and knocks down open shots.”