I want Rayan Rupert to start over Kris Murray (and/or Dalano Banton). Is that really an over-reaction, with what we've seen from Kris Murray? Murray is 23 years old, shooting 27% on 3-point shots. Do you want to keep giving him minutes and pray he can add 10% to his 3-point shot? Dalano Banton is 24 years old. He's shooting a career-high 30% on 3-pointers. Yay. His career average is 26%. As-is, these are not NBA rotation players. There's no reason to give these guys minutes over someone who MIGHT actually shoot 3-pointers at an acceptable level and be able to play point-of-attack defense, which is not expected of either Banton or Murray. The fact that Rupert is the 6th youngest player in the NBA plays a factor too. Rupert should make clear improvements, especially with his defense and 2-point shooting, with more playing time. What improvements are we expecting to see from Murray and Banton?
In addition to being very young and hard working, Rupert has some above-average measurements for Small Forwards in his draft class. This list is from measurements taken of 60+ participants in the 2023 NBA Draft Combine. The list is sorted by Wingspan for all positions. Sorted by Wingspan, you see positions of C, C, C, C, C, C, PF, then Rayan Rupert. The only point I'd like to make is that Rupert has good positional size to play Small Forward.
Rayan is also learning english and how to communicate with coaches, and it's possible that he's not plugging and playing super smoothly yet. There are levels to this, it'll never happen quite as quickly as maybe we want it to. This is a redshirt year, anyway.
Damn you Nate Macmil....er....Terry Stotts....er...Neil Olshey...er...Chauncey....er... I know, Jodi!!
Moreover, if the Blazers don't force overtime tonight, this franchise is unserious about their rebuild.
I don't know if this thread is for ironic takes only, but while I think Rupert getting heavy minutes is a great idea (regardless of whether it helps or win or he "deserves" the minutes), I don't understand why starting would be particularly helpful. Also, I'm not a massive Murray fan (it was a "meh" pick for me) but letting him play and shoot is smart, too. It's too early to write him off just yet.
I have no problem if Rupert plays 0 minutes or 48 minutes. I think in the grand scheme of things, I'm guessing it won't make a bit of difference.
I'm with Ed O and Tince here (and it makes me feel dirty to say I agree with Ed). That said, I'm also not super impressed with Murray, but fine with him getting minutes. I don't RR starting is necessary, nor warranted. He's had a few good games thrown in there, and sample size matters hugely. Not saying he's the same as Jake whatever his name was, but remember when Jake Whatever his name was had a good stretch of ball? (Some) People were saying how he should get more minutes, etc. Well, dudes out of the league now. Maybe RR becomes a star, maybe he becomes a starter, maybe a backup. Who knows. But he doesn't "need" to do anything but play the minutes he's given.
Sly made us get to the game early but it was worth it to watch Rupe warm up solo. Did some good things during the game but looked like a fawn out there.
That's awesome... Where a guy like Jabari Walker seemingly has a narrow range regarding his future productivity, Rupert appears to be the opposite.
The amount of Jake Whatevers this place has belabored over is crazy high. The large majority never pan out and I'm not sure any have gone elsewhere and had a ton of success.
Keep playing Camara, Murray, Walker, and Rupert. All of them. All of them have a long way to go to play regular rotation minutes on a playoff team. Good thing that the Blazers are in no danger of that until after at least next season.
