Nice piece from Brian T. Smith http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/jul/30/promise-turns-into-the-rudy-situation/
Supposedly part of the pitch to get him over here were certain promises by KP and Tom Penn -- mostly about being given playmaking responsibility and finding ways to put the ball in his hands -- so the roots of this debacle can probably be traced there ... but the responsibility for this experiment failing lies mostly with Rudy and the fact that he is incapable of guarding point guards, bringing the ball up the court, dribbling with his left hand and an inability to get any kind of separation or penetration with the bounce. We end up with two failures to accurately evaluate a player: Failure by management to recognize certain limitations in Rudy's game and to project talents on to him that he doesn't possess (at least at an NBA level) and failure of the player to recognize his own weaknesses and try to address them but also to accurately assess his own role in his dismal second year. What a mess.
So, then....he'll botch up any reasonable trade options due to his stated future (playing time / status) demands? In that case, he may just end up back in Europe. Good riddance.
I sort of expect to see it happen in two years when his contract runs out, that is unless he turns into the "star" that I believe he thinks he is and then gets paid NBA "star" money. Of course it's all conjecture on my part, but Rudy strikes me as having a "big fish in a little pond" mentality; it's easier for his ego to blame Nate and his system (which admittedly probably isn't a great match for his particular skill-set) than it would be to admit that he has certain deficiencies in his game and his physique that will need to be addressed before he can become the player he thinks he is at this level.
The, there's this.... http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ba...ry-to-trade-for-Rudy-Fernandez?urn=nba-259071
All that says is how he was doing compared to other rookies that year. As a player he was pretty average. He was an improvement on the teams 3 point shooting. That was about it. The other thing I would point out is the team handed the ball to Rudy to try and make plays plenty last year and all he did was fuck up. So this bullshit about him not handling the ball is a crock in my view. Go back and watch the Phoenix series, there were stretches of horrible play while he was the main ball handler, and IMO, if he hadn't have played, we might have still been playing in the playoffs. He was that bad. In fact he was so bad, that I question whether he threw the games intentionally.
This was written three years ago by draftexpress.com's Jonathan Givony: What's different? He's got some skills, but he didn't really address his weaknesses and NBA teams scouted him enough to know what to do to beat him or blunt his effectiveness.
I thought those who said BROY should be our PG were all crazy, because just like most SG's he just does not have the handles to do it full time. Having said that, he has 10 times the ball handling skills that Rudy has.
Rudy's problem is his head. May or may not be a coincindence that Sergio had the same problem. Their perception of how good they are doesn't match the reality. Rudy could be a very good role player with his ability to do certain things well... but he game regressed last year... he just about forgot how to penetrate and shoot a layin, his passing wasn't what it was the year before. His abilities didn't change... but something in his head did. I just don't have a big spot in my heart for someone who seems more concerned about how good he looks over how good the team plays.
Being brought in as B-Roy's Right hand man by KP didn't help his perception. But I agree Rudy needs some Paxil
Because: Average NBA Player >>>> Average NBA Rookie An average NBA player has a PER = 15.0 Rookie guards that play ate least 1000 minutes with a PER above 15.0 are pretty rare. There were only three during Rudy's rookie year: Derrick Rose - 16.0 - Rookie of the Year Rudy Fernandez - 15.5 Russell Westbrook - 15.2 So, he was the 2nd best rookie guard (as measured by PER), right behind the ROY winner. BNM
I still remember him dunking against Dwight Howard and scoring like crazy in the Olympics. It's a shame he doesn't want to stick around and help us win.
He wasn't scoring like crazy in the Olympics. The guy wasn't even in the starting unit for Spain. He played well, with some flash, but he wasn't putting up huge numbers.
It's not ego. He's in a hurry because he gives up around $3M evey year he plays here instead of in Europe.
Brandon Roy wants him here, says he helps the team. Good thing you guys are too smart to fall for that nonsense.
