"Deceived" = bad translation. It can also mean "misunderstood," as in, he misunderstood them or they misstated. Only a short time ago Andre Miller was saying the same thing (that he had not been led to believe he would have a small role behind Blake) and now you all worship him.
In three pages of Rudy talk all I have read is comments about Rudy's offense. Defense is the problem. He can't guard anyone. He has the physique of a marathon runner when he needs bulk. He can't guard an NBA 2 or 3 in the post. He avoids contact and is amazingly soft on the glass. He may score 12 but he will give up 20. It transfers to offense because there are some games where he can't match-up on the defensive end and others where he is able to somewhat survive...inconsistent minutes dictated by his defensive ability...causes him to struggle with offensive rhythm. A coach's nightmare. I think it is obvious that he has an inaccurate view of himself from NBA standards because he is unwilling to take responsibilities for his shortcomings.
Not trying to be combative here, and generally would like to have a conversation about this. Why do you think he might change his offense?
Exactly. He can be a decent 7th man or 8th man, because a lot of bench guards are combo guards--too small to start at SG, too slow/shoot-first to be a PG. He does ok defending a lot of those guys during the regular season. But we all saw what happened when you insert him as a starter or give him too prominent a role in the playoffs. He gets abused, over and over. Particularly in a playoff series where the opposing coach has the time to focus on exploiting him over a series. And I love comparing him to Batum on offense. Batum not only shoots the ball much better, but he's much faster at making his decision. You pass the ball to him, he'll shoot, drive or pass it. He doesn't fart around with his dribble trying to create something. He keeps things moving. He's the anti-black hole. He's a good post entry passer and has the height to see the floor, so he has options. When you have Roy, Oden, Aldridge and Miller on your team, that's what you want in a guy like him. Even when Rudy is at his best, he's running off screens. That's a good trick for a few plays a game, but it's so transparent what we're trying to do that it's not nearly as effective as focusing the offense on Roy, Aldridge and Oden. But that's Rudy at his best. At his worst he's out at the three point line, the defender is up on him tight to defend the three (why wouldn't he be?), and Rudy is trying and failing to punish the defender with some sloppy half-assed dribble move that is going nowhere because he doesn't have the handle. Or he's passing it out to the top of the key to re-set the offense, effectively wasting anything productive the offense had done up to that point in the possession. I was a big fan of Rudy, but this year has really opened my eyes to all his limitations. I was hoping we'd have traded him last summer while his value was so high. (I never really saw him being happy behind Roy.) Now I really wish we had while his value was high. Because it's at an all-time low right now. I doubt we can trade him for much.
Because I think our offense was Painfully dysfunctional and Nate got to see this in relation to the Phoenix Suns who made offense look easy. I think it was the perfect storm/contrast for Sarge to experience in order for him to realize its time to switch things up. I mean our offense had flashes of brilliance's were it looked like PHX couldn't match up, but this was only when we actually moved the ball and played unselfish. The ISO game has become way to concentrated and B-Roy needs to get his teammates going first because he can always turn it on. I must believe Nate has realized it now. It was painfully obvious, and you could see it all over his face
I sure hope you are right. I keep going back to the fact that he really hasn't changed in 9 years of coaching. His belief in low TO's keeps telling me we will see little player movement again as well. My mind is shut to this, but hopefully he will prove me wrong and adjust the offense to have more player and ball movement. I would also like to see the team end up somewhere around 15-20 in pace and fast break points. It certainly was obvious to many people that there needs to be some adjusting, I just hope Nate is one of them.
I hear ya. But after this injury ridden season (including Nate) I got to believe that Nate knows we need more easy baskets. I don't know if that means more fast breaks, but it definitely means more ball movement and less B-Roy sacrificing his body each and every fourth quarter just to win a game against any crappy team!
You know this is not true. He was willing to change it when he was with Seattle. (And did) So for you who want adjustments, there is hope.
1) Running off screens should happen more often with other players (including Roy), I think it was December that he was playing with a "real" PG in Miller and had the highest efficiency of his career. If even a little bit of motion was present in our offense, it wouldn't be a 'trick', and our guards would have other options than Rudy running off screens if they had higher IQ/ran these plays a little more. 2) Most of the time Rudy was in this last year (especially towards the end) he was playing with Bayless, Webster, and no post presence. As bad as Rudy is on D (bad) Bayless has much lower defensive IQ, and on offense Rudy didn't have a PG who knew (or desired) how to pass, a 3 who could handle at all, or any posts to work off of. This forced him to be a ballhandler in the half-court (something he's not good at all at). Rudy should be played in an offense with motion, and always play with a dominant ballhandler (miller or Roy), we've never really seen him with extended time with Miller or Roy yet in his career.
Haha, and I think the opposite. I think since there were so many injuries, Nate will think everything will be ok once everyone is healthy. And yes Pinwheel, Nate did change for one year, and reverted right back. I am done with hope that he will, and hope he proves me wrong.
I can see the similarity but there is one huge difference. By the time he joined the Blazers Miller had had a pretty successful career as a starting point guard. Rudy hasn't ever done shit.
It's always hoopshype that's stirring the plot about Rudy by exagerating "quotes". Somebody's jealous.
