I thought that McGrady was already out of the picture with the Bulls when they signed Bogans. Notsure how TM signing with the Pistons has nay bearing to the Blazers. I don't want Prince or RH.
If I remember the sequence of events correct, an insider in Chicago said that a trade was due to happen Monday, 8/9, with Portland for Rudy. They then signed Bogans and that rumor was said to be in question since that would put them 3-deep at SG. But then the insider said the trade was still on the table for Rudy regardless of the Bogans signing. The rumor that Chicago signing McGrady would also be an obstacle in the way of Chicago trading for Rudy. So now this opens up the possibility that something will happen with Chicago and Portland since it was already reported something was in the works and that the Bogans signing didn't impact that deal in progress.
Rudy can only help this team if he is willing to. If he is going to give it his all as a Blazer and not cause locker-room issues, then I would gladly accept him remaining on the team. But, I just don't see that happening. I understand Rudy's perspective, but it makes it very difficult for the Blazers to do anything but trade him.
We can carry only so many SG's. As it stands, we now have 5 and 4 of them have (to varying degrees) proven they deserve minutes. We can always try and play them out of position, but that's a consistent failed experiment. While I think Rudy can still be an asset, it is apparent that Vulcan has chosen to go with Matthews.
Just cause you keep saying it over and over and over, won't make any more true then it has been. Shooting guards on the Blazers roster who have proven they deserve minutes: Roy Matthews Rudy I count 3. Miller is a PG. Bayless may or may not ever develop into a full-time PG on offense, however, he is a PG on the defensive end. On this team, he is the backup point guard. He is NOT a 2. Batum is a 3. Babbitt is a rookie. Doesn't matter. Williams is a rookie. Doesn't matter. Johnson is a rookie. Doesn't matter. Patty Mills might as well be a rookie. Doesn't matter. Maybe you are looking at some other team's roster?
Bayless is a guard, period. He is better than Rudy, so he should play ahead of Rudy. So that is 4 SG's who deserve playing time, and another, who is a first round pick, that probably should get time.
I'd agree with Masbee on this. Defensively you need a PG and a SG to handle their respective opponents. Bayless is a PG and shouldn't be playing at the SG spot on defense. Rudy is a SG who shouldn't be playing PG on defense. So we only have 3 SG's who should be playing that position outside of some extreme roster adjustment. We do have a 4th SG in Williams who isn't even close to Rudy in production or rights to playing time, so he's really the one who is getting stinted by us keeping Rudy on the roster.
