It really comes down to 2 things: how bad is his back, and how bad does he want out of Portland. Either of those issues could be good reason to move him this summer, before his value drops any further. The sad thing is, he could be a productive player on a contender - but only if he is willing to accept a realistic role.
The great talent evaluator Pritchard praised Rudy to the high heavens during the year he stayed in Europe, so we all got high expectations. If Pritchard had kept his mouth shut to the media, we wouldn't be disappointed now. For a late 1st, he's what you expect--barely adequate at a couple of things, lousy at everything else, potentially improvable at everything. But he's not improving, probably because McMillan won't mold his system around his players except Roy.
18 min. 0-1 FG 0 pts He's not exactly helping his stock right now. Nate rarely runs him off screens anymore. Has anyone else noticed this?
Anybody think a Rudy Fernandez for Ramon Sessions swap would work? Both guy's stock is down, both have their warts but it might be something that helps the Wolves coax Rubio out of Spain and it would give the Blazers a fairly productive pass first point guard who does much better in a pick and roll system instead of that bastardized version of the triangle Rambis is trying to install.
Part of the problem for Rudy this year, is that he needs a good passing PG to get him the ball. I'm afraid that, at least for some years, Bayless won't fit that description. I also think that Rudy is playing below his abilities for some reason. He is a better player than we have seen in the last 3 weeks. He should be worth more though, than a mid level first round pick. It will probably need to be in a package with someone else, such as Joel or possibly Martell. This summer might be interesting.
Just like it killed Sergio's game... I agree that Rudy's skills don't fit best into our system, however he's just not playing well for whatever reason. It's not all the system.
Rudy is following the same career path as Sergio. His first year he played like he had in Spain. Then McMillan filled him full of inhibitions and "don'ts" and he went downhill. He can't unlearn them now.
Let's face it...Rudy's a prima donna bitch. He came here with all this hype, hundred people met him at the fuckin airport, pdx has been suckin the guy off for 3 years. He's not that good. I, for one, was super stoked for him to come over, especially after the china olympics. Ya I know he has flashes where I don't wanna trade him at all, but for fucks sake those are becoming rare. Whatever the reason, he sucks now. And if the reason is him wanting out, then he's even more of a lil bitch. Lets just hope he plays well in the Finals so we can trade him while his value is high.
Give me Jeff Teague for Rudy any day of the week. But, I think Atlanta's thinking the same thing, I think this is the last year as a starter for the seriously washed up Mike Bibby. I also think the 76ers are looking to go forward with Jrue Holiday as well. If only we could've given Utah a 2nd round pick for Maynor
I would tell Rudy we are picking up his options for the next two years whether he likes it or not, and that we are going to sit his ass and ruin a major portion of his career unless he buys in, pulls his shit together and starts to play hard.
Frankly, I think Rudy is still hurt and not playing well with the injury. He just isn't the same player he was last year prior to the back injury. But even fully healthy I don't think Rudy can be a starter on a playoff team. He is just not strong enough to defend guys like Roy, Wade, Kobe and the like. If Rudy can't accept the fact that he needs to work extremely hard to get to the level he thinks he is already at, then perhaps he should go back to Europe. That way he can pretend he got screwed in the NBA and he really is awesome. He didn't come back from the summer break with anything new in his game. He didn't look any better or start doing anything different (outside of his made of fail, absurd floater "La Bomba"). It takes hard work to make it in the NBA. I don't know if Rudy has that skill or not.
I noticed last night that they were trying to have Rudy run the offense for the 2nd unit, I'm guessing because Bayless can't pass the ball out of a paper bag. I'm wondering if this new experiment has thrown him off a little more.
There is no excuse for missing wide open jumpers. Rudy has got plenty of looks where he is wide open, caught the ball in stride, and just bricked the shot. Get it done. Quit making excuses.
Oh please. My expectations got sky-high only after Rudy played so well in the gold medal game against the USA in 2008. Last year, as already mentioned, Rudy set an NBA rookie-record for 3s while playing on a 54-win team. Do you have some sort of Kevin Pritchard Tourette's?
That's great news for Paul Allen. You're as prescient at prognostication as Pritchard. When he gets canned, how much will you be asking for? We already know you're better at not trading, because who isn't, and now we know you're his equal at failed talent evaluation.
Team's realized that if they sagged off him and dared him to shoot the jumper and didn't touch him on the way to the hoop they could probably cap his layup or he'd miss the pull-up J as likely as not. In other words, teams adjusted and took away his one strength.
