Would someone please explain the playoffs for me? Game 1- he can't hit wide open shots. It gets worse in Game 2 and only when we are completely out of it, does he come alive in Game 3. Then he bombs Games 4 & 5. Once things look grim in Game 6, he comes alive again. So what happened? Why wasn't he there for us when we really needed him? Why didn't he bring it throughout the series? I know, with the exception of MARIS, everyone in here wants/wanted him gone after the way he played Games 1-5. WHAT HAPPENED? It couldn't be stage fright. Ask MARIS. He'll tell you about all of Rudy's playoff experience. Look at how Rudy played in the Olympics. Why did he vanish in the playoffs for us? Was he doing it on purpose? Was he pissed at Nate? What the fuck was going on? I want answers. And how do we proceed from here? I pretty damn sure that if/when we trade him, he will light us up for 40 on whatever team he lands on. But why won't he do it for us?
You don't have to be "sandbagging it" to play badly. Unhappy and disinterested will do it. An undefined role will do that.
A major loss of confidence in your shot because you've never gotten exactly right after having had spinal surgery will do it. So will putting too much pressure on yourself to do well because you know that you finally have the starting role and you're on a major stage and you know everybody, including your entire country, is watching.
I have given up on Rudy. I agree he will have occasional big games if we trade him, but I don't care. Him or MW have to go and since we have MW for 3 more years at 4 mil each I would rather keep him. MW's frame is much more NBA ready and his upside is greater. MW actualy gets rebounds and blocks some shots where Rudy just shoots and flops and throws up little floaters in the lane that don't seem to go in much.
I don't buy any of this. He was playing badly before the injury, and after the procedure he said he was in no pain almost immediately and he's been on as big or bigger stages than the first round of the playoffs and performed just fine. He definitely lost confidence, but the injury and the stage don't seem to be the main culprits.
Look, I'm not trying to play apologist for Rudy and I really don't care if he's on the team next season. That said, I do think that there's not much of an appreciation around here for how tough of a position he was thrust into. Playing without pain is not the same as playing with confidence. I don't think Rudy ever regained the confidence he had last season before Ariza slammed him to the ground. And, on that point, I think that's where the injury first occurred. Rudy aggravated it earlier this season, but I think that he was not right and trying to play through the back pain up until he finally had the surgery. True, Rudy's played in big games on an international level, but I also think that the pressure of trying to fill in for Roy in an NBA playoff series got to him to some degree. Up until that time, all the Blazers had been asking him to do was to come in and make himself available for spot-up 3s. Suddenly he was in a position where they would have liked a lot more out of him, but neither he or his teammates were used to him playing that role.
Rudy is a streak 3-point shooter without a handle. I'm not sure why people are surprised that he's rendered ineffective in a series where the opposing team's can spend time breaking down tape.
You say you're not being a Rudy apologist, but you then go on to list multiple reasons to excuse or explain away his bad play without ever pinning the blame on Rudy. Whatever the reasons, he's a professional athlete and he makes a lot money to perform no matter what might be going on in his head ... if he's tentative because of the after effects of the injury, but is no longer physically hampered (which appears to be the case) then that's his responsibility to sort it out. So no, I don't 'appreciate' the position he's in.
Well, golly, I'm glad you explained that to me. If you want to play the blame game, which seems to be the popular thing to do around here right now, then fire away. All professional athletes go through slumps. Rudy's been in a massive one. From his standpoint, it certainly wasn't helped by his teammates or his coach. He's a catch and shoot guy. How many times when he was the starter did you see a play run for him that could help him get it going?
By Brian T. Smith: I didn't want Rudy on this squad next season anyway, but now I really don't want him around.
The blame game? He played like shit, he has to own that -- there's no "game" at all. Rudy's a big boy, I'm sure he can handle some fan he's never met pointing this out on an internet forum.
I've no doubt that Rudy couldn't care less what we say about him on this board. I suspect that he's not real happy about the way he was used in this series, particularly as a starter. That said, I really am not a huge Rudy fan at this point and I'd be more than happy to see him get a new start somewhere else. What I don't get is the, "What have you done for me lately?" attitude that seems to prevail around here. Whenever one of our players hits a rough patch, it's like a pack of wolves on the board. Just very strange behavior from my viewpoint.
I agree that that happens a fair amount, but is that really what's happening with Rudy? It could be more of "What have you done for me ever?" He did have a solid (not spectacular) rookie season. Then he had an awful sophomore season. Is that a slump, or is it having trouble sustaining what he did in his rookie season? Which is the aberration? The thing is, Rudy is pretty close to his prime, as far as age goes. Rather than deciding which season better represents him, it's more valid, IMO, to incorporate both seasons into one sample. His NBA career, so far, has been underwhelming. Rather than being quick to turn on Rudy, I think people actually stuck with Rudy longer than was necessarily warranted (as opposed to, say, Bayless) due to his Olympic showing and highlight dunk over Howard. So, I'm not sure that this is a case of people being unwilling to allow a slump. I think Rudy still hasn't done a lot to show he actually is a valuable NBA player. I'm not saying he won't, though I have my doubts based on my amateur scouting (I've posted plenty about his lack of ball-handling being a fatal flaw to his game), but right now what reason do people have to think positively about Rudy as an NBA player?
Give Channing Frye a call and he'll explain to those of you who appear to be clueless why Nate can't get the performances out of Rudy that he was already legendary for worldwide. That said, he's still far and away our best guard after Brandon. How many more seasons do we bring successful players with established talent here, only to watch them rot away from mis-use and/or non-use?
I agree Nate's offense sucks and doesn't do much to create for Rudy (et al.) but it's a two way street, he's gotta be able to do more than just loft step back threes, and without a left hand and limited ball-handling skill with his right he's incapable of creating enough space to get those threes off and get a shot in the midrange, but maybe more damning is that he's such a poor defender, that unless he's scorching hot from outside he's often not worth the minutes he sucks up.
