This is not a slam on Nate, but his offense and Rudy are not a good match. Nate's offense is predicated on ISO's and little player movement. Rudy seems to flourish in a more motion based offense that allows him to create more. You all know my opinion on which offense I think is better, but the fact is, Rudy doesn't seem to play well in Nate's offense. And since that is the offense we have, Rudy should go.
Rudy needs to work on his fucking game. A quick pull-up jumper from 12-15 ft should be automatic for this guy. But it was not. Hell a pull up jumper in the key would be nice. When his feet are set he is money. (aside from dunking it) But too many of his shots are fade aways. He needs to adapt to the speed of the game or stop blaming others for his weaknesses. His floater in the lane sucks. Spend the summer working on your game instead of playing for Spain. International ball helps young players mature quickly. But they seem to peak a lot sooner too because they stop working on their weaknesses.
Rudy played very well in Nate's offense last year. This year, given an expanded role since Outlaw was basically gone, he failed.
I would say that GO in the middle for more games last year than this year helped yes. And him not having to be a starting 2 guard last year with a healthy Brandon there, helped with a little bit yeah.
Then why are you agreeing with Mediocre Man in blaming Nate's offense, when you seem to be saying that he can succeed in Nate's offense as long as Oden's a part of it? I'm confused--what's the bigger contributing factor to Rudy's sub-40% shooting: Nate's presence, or Greg's absence?
I did say in my first post in this thread I believe that he has been being used wrong. Nate used him more off of screens last year, but went away from that. That and of course a healthy Greg would make it easier.
He was healthier the year before and he played better with Sergio. But the bottom line is he is a back up 2 guard on most teams. He will never be happy.
So he was asked to replace an All NBA 2 guard and didnt meet his standards... yes he didnt do great in the playoffs, I'm not arguing that. But would you say he was put in a position to succeed? I wouldnt.
I'm not talking about the playoffs. I'm talking about the entire season. Rudy was worse last year than in his rookie season. The coach was the same. Blaming Nate for everything gets so fucking tiresome around here.
I agree with Rudy. I too am disappointed. But in Rudy's play and attitude not in his roll on the team. For fucks sake Rudy, stop talking to the paper about how you were wronged and start playing better. If nothing else it will increase your trade value so the Blazers can move you to a team you fit better with.
but its ok that we disagree... I'm not trying to be one who puts all the blame on the coach. I personally feel this team has outgrown Nate as a coach, and while I like him as a good coach to instill discipline in a young team. But this team is no longer in need of a drill seargeant to instill that into them. He has done a good job molding them, but I dont feel he is the coach to get them over the top.
Judging Nate's ability to get this team "over the top" by this year's playoffs as any sort of accurate assessment is completely unfair in my opinion. Plus, given what the players say, he's no longer a drill sargeant. You seem to be basing your opinion on Nate when the team was terrible. If I had to coach Zach Randolph, Darius Miles, and some talented rookies to try and win more than 21 games, I'd be a shitheaded hardass as well.
It's awfully hard to prove it, but I distinctly remember thinking that Rudy's shot opportunities were nearly identical to the one's that Nic had; a lot of corner and wing threes taken off of swing passes, or occasionally off of drives and kicks ... Rudy's chief problem was that he either wasn't hitting or he'd fart around with the ball, dancing in little circles in a vain attempt to get separation, Nic on the other hand started to show glimpses of being able to put the ball on the floor at times and take a pull up 18 to 15 footer or drove the baseline on a closeout. So forget about what he might provide if he were on the floor with more dominant post players for a second, he's an incredibly one-dimensional player and he regressed in a big way in his second year as an NBA pro, that's not on Nate, that's not on the offense, that's on him (minus the period of time when he was hurting with the back injury).
