This is one of those catch 22 situations. Folks want the Blazers to run more. Then when they do, and they are taking their lumps learning how to run, how to get the timing down, and learning from their mistakes, the same folks who want them to run more can't stand them doing it because of the mistakes they make while doing it. Let them take their lumps. This is a lost season IMO anyhow, so the best thing that can happen is to learn from it, and get better at the weak parts of their game. Rudy is trying to push the pace, and all of the young Blazers are trying to learn how to run. It's not going to happen overnight, it takes timing, and learning about how fast players move, and how to space. The facts ar they are going to fuck up for a while doing it. Have some patience, sit back, take our lumps, and watch the team grow.
We could trade Roy for another superstar (C, PF, PG?) today, slide Rudy into his place and be a much stronger team overall. One that does not move at a snail's pace.
Like I said, Rudy's the next Drazen Petrovic. We'll trade him to a shitty team for some vet and he'll turn into an allstar because he'll have the green light. He'll look amazing in an open offense. At LEAST 20ppg.
I could see that. I'm far from the bashing of coaches many in here are. But Rudy is one player who I dont think has been used right. Often I see him sitting in the corner.. and I could understand that for guys like Martell.. But Rudy is so lanky and agile he should be running his opponent silly w/o the ball like Rip Hamilton does/did.
Like Sergio, Rudy was a great fancy passer in his first couple of months, but Nate took that out of him.
"Rudy Reality..." Rudy is a great energy guy off the bench plus he is a clutch three-point shooter (with a flair for the dramatic). He had a huge positive impact on the game last night and as usual, made some big plays (to go along with a couple of miscues). "Senior Chaos" is a pretty good description.
I couldn't disagree more. He was impressive there at the end of the 1st quarter last night. The way he was running the break, finding the open men. He was beautiful to watch. I think he was the only that followed thee "Get the rebound and bust out...". If more of his teammates would have listened to Nate, they probably would have won by a good ten to twenty points.
I agree. He was just about everywhere at the end of that quarter. Steals, passes, finishing the break. If Blake could aim a little lower... Blake actually sends nice alley-oop passes - but it is usually to LMA. I think he forgot that Rudy is not that tall with that pass...
I never saw Drazen Petrovic play, but this is ridiculous. Rudy will never be an all-star and he will never average 20 PPG.
On this team he won't. But I don't need him to be an all-star. Just do the little things and help my squad win a ring is all i want.
Petrovic was nothing fancy, just a good shooter who could drive, too. The only reason he did well after he left the Blazers was Bill Fitch, who in my opinion is the 4th best NBA coach of all time. Petro went to a bad team, the Nets, and was driven to play his hardest by hard guy Fitch. Players never especially liked Fitch (Ralph Sampson hated him when he coached the Rockets) but he made them lose their bad habits. He made good players out of bad ones. The first one I remember like that was Jim Chones, who was the 2nd best college center after Walton till he jumped ship to the ABA and deserted his college team in midseason. Anyway, Fitch got him a couple of years later in Cleveland. Okay, to skip a lot of memories, because no one except me cares about history, Fitch just made Petro put his nose to the grindstone. Petro told a reporter in Europe that when he got 20 in an NBA game, he worked as hard as he would in Europe to get 50. The NBA was that much harder. He was only with the Nets 2 years, averaging 20 ppg on a mediocre team, before he mysteriously died while his country was in conflict. Seems to happen to any potential leader who is a unifying force in a polarized nation at war. Another story I remember was the first month Petro was a rookie with the Blazers. He said that when he went for the basket in preseason practice, someone jumped in front of him and stopped him. This happened a few times. He thought, "I am out of shape or something. I must try harder." He kept blaming himself for a couple of weeks until he realized that it wasn't him. It was the quality of the NBA. Anyway, to tie it back to what you said, Rudy might average 20 under Fitch, but he'd have to really sweat for it.
Petro was a vastly better player than Rudy - both in Europe and in the NBA. That does not mean that Rudy can not better on a team where he is featured more...
Petro was maybe the slowest 2 guard I've ever seen... feet stuck in the mud slow. Dude couldn't guard anyone at all but he could shoot coming off a pick. I once watched him working out shooting deep 3s with a ball boy for about 45 minutes where he had many stretches making 50+ shots in a row. Dude could shoot with anyone. I don't see it as that big of stretch of the imagination to say that if in the right situation Rudy could average 20 points a game... if you project his rookie numbers out to Roy type minutes he wasn't that far off (per 36 he's at 14.7). STOMP
