There has been a lot of talk about moving Rudy to the SF so that we can have him on the court, but what about PG on defense, and SG on offense? Rudy seems to be one of those guys with an incredible "motor". He is constantly moving, he is quick, hustles, and is very pesky. His length might give PGs some problems too. It seems that Rudy may be better suited to guard PG's that Roy, and Roy is no slouch. But some of the concern is that chasing little pg's around would wear Roy down. If Rudy can adequately guard PG's then our rotation problems are greatly reduced. Roy becomes the full-time PG, and Blake may quickly become the odd-man-out. 1) offense: Roy@PG, Rudy@SG. defense: Roy@SG, Rudy@PG 2) offense: Roy@PG, Bayless@SG. defense: Roy@SG, Bayless@PG We know Bayless can guard PGs, so if Rudy can also, we always have a defender for the opposing PG. This leaves us with a SF rotation of Webster and Outlaw. Blake comes in to give Roy some rest, and would be paired with Rudy at SG to keep some decent size in the backcourt.
I haven't seen enough to tell, but do other PGs have the strength to guard Rudy? It's a 2 way street. I think the Blazers can get away with it for limited minutes, and they might even be able to take advantage of it on the other end of the floor. -Petey
It depends on the PG. He can't guard quick guards like Parker or Paul. He may have better luck against Deron Williams or Jason Kidd. What will distinguish Fernandez from Roy is that he doesn't need to conserve his energy. from what I've seen from Rudy, he has a Nash-like motor. He is in constant motion. He can go all out for 15-25 minutes a game where Roy clearly conserves his energy.
True but nobody can defend Parker or Paul. And I get the feeling just about anybody will be able to guard Jason Kidd this next year. If we do go big in the backcourt with Roy & Rudy, I could see us going to a zone defense and take advantage of the length we'll have on the court.
I actually think Bayless can guard both of them. His fundamentals on D I saw at UA and in SL really impressed me. Great point.
Depends on how well Oden can play in the paint. Paul and Parker are quick enough to blow by a zone, putting the bigs in an awkward position to defend. -Petey
That's the intriguing thing about running a guard lineup where Roy gets 35 mpg, Bayless get 25, Rudy gets 25 and Blake gets the scraps. Nobody should be too tired to be able to keep up with fast point guards on the other team. BTW, I realize that every championship team is eventually going to have to beat either Tony Parker or Chris Paul or Deron Williams, but really after that there any aren't other point guards in this league who can destroy your chances at winning a playoff series. Even Steve Nash doesn't scare me like he used to.
I was thinking about Bayless as I was typing my last post but didn't want to contradict myself in one post. I do think Bayless has the quickness to hang with them, and he's got the build to muscle up to them as well. I think he'd be the guy we need at point when we play the Hornets. He would be physical enough with Paul to wear him down throughout the game. I just hope Nate takes advantage of all the lineup combos to not only dictate, but negate the other team's strengths. He seems pretty set on his rotation most of the time and doesn't mix it up on the fly very much when it would make sense.
When the summer league was on this summer, I didn't watch anything on the court but Bayless. I knew he could score, but I wanted to see how he brought the ball up the court under pressure and how he defended the opposing PG. He was amazing! I saw him handle the PG duties on both ends of the floor perfectly. I understand it wasn't against top notch comp, but he played well. I would love to see him, BRoy, Rudy, Travis and LA on the court together. They will run the other team off the court!
Williams is a big point guard though, not a quick as say Chris Paul or Telfair. I don't know how well he could guard players like that, of course with Telfair it is pretty simple give him the jump shot.
The very best players at any position (except center, perhaps!) are going to be a problem regardless of who we put at the position. Roy is a good defender and a natural two, but he's going to struggle against players like Kobe, McGrady and Wade. Whoever we put at small forward is going to have trouble with LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Paul Pierce. Some players are just big match-up problems. I think both Fernandez and Bayless will have the ability to solidly defend the point guard position on a general basis. Sure, Paul, Parker and Williams will get theirs, but Fernandez and Bayless both seem active enough to make them work to get their points. With Oden lurking behind, it's slightly less of an issue. The main question is who fits better with the offensive flow. Whoever of Fernandez and Bayless complements the Big Three the best, offensively, should be the choice. Unless they are just a disaster defensively, which would surprise me a lot about either player.
Good point. There's a reason guys like Devin Harris have the rep they have as defensive studs; they're rare as chickens' teeth (well not that rare). As for Rudy being able to guard 1s in the league I don't think that's what he'll be asked to do; he's a natural 2 and he's going to eat most second unit shooting guards alive (whether scoring on them or picking their pocket). Bayless on the other hand has great lateral quickness and at least looks like a point guard, even if he plays offense more like a two. I think we're going to see a lot of different looks defensively, with our somewhat unorthodox collection of guards -- Roy, Bayless, and even Fernandez all seem to have a little of both guard positions in their game.
Can Rudy defend PGs? Seems iffy to me - but we will have to wait and see. More to the point (pardon the pun), is whether Rudy can handle the ball against a much quicker player. You don't want to create a situation where Roy is constantly being forced to bring the ball up the court under pressure. One other issue - of all 5 positions, I would think the language barrier would be the worst problem for someone playing PG. I know people are excited about Rudy, but my money is still on Bayless to be the more valuable player.
Really, because in China I saw him foul out in 17 minutes for a team that gave up 118 points in a 40 minute game.
