Sorry if this is a double-up post for some of you: I don't know who everyone in here is yet. "I wanna say something. I'm gonna put it out there; if you like it, you can take it, if you don't, send it right back." I thought it might be a fluke Friday at the FanFest, but nothing last night made me think differently. Martell loves Rudy, and vice versa. (Rudy is not liking Outlaw or Bayless right now, BTW..I'll explain that in a minute). When Rudy's in the game with him, Webster's much more active and plays with more " flair". Rudy looks for him coming off of screens, rewards him for running down the court on breaks, they feed off each other's defensive energy. During FanFest, I saw a couple of times Martell nod with the ball at the top of the key, and Rudy start a cut for an open J. Don't know if it was a scripted play or not, but it was there. Last year on the fast-break, Martell would've sat on the 3pt line waiting for Jack to get stopped or Blake to pull it back. Yesterday he knew Rudy would try to find a way to get it to him, and attacked each time they ran, once for the alley-oop dunk. Rudy rewarded him with the underhand drop-off on a later break that Webs tomahawked, and they fived going back down the court. Contrast that to Outlaw. I don't think it was malicious (Travis just doesn't usually pass), but there were a couple times the guard drove in the lane and kicked it to Travis in the corner. One memorable occasion Outlaw had the defense flying at him, and all he had to do was make the second pass to Rudy, who was waiting in shooting position at the three-point elbow. Webs made that pass all the time last year, and Outlaw didn't yesterday. Rudy looked like someone took his dog, thinking "how much more wide-open do I need to be?" on the way back down the court. I don't know what's going on with Bayless and Rudy, but there wasn't a lot of interaction or passing. Maybe it was one game, maybe my bad vibe really is just bad pizza, but I'm looking much harder at the effect Bayless's attitude is having on the rest of the team. I really think Rudy could start at PG. And if Outlaw could do it, I wish now that he would start. A Sergio/Rudy/Webster backcourt on the second unit would be stellar, since Przy loves running the P&R with Sergio (and I imagine it'll be just as good with Rudy doing it). There a rapport with Webs and Rudy, and Frye can do the pick-and-pop thing when he's back. But I think we all agree that Travis isn't going to be the starter this team needs at the three. Updated trade thoughts after the fanfest and yesterday's game: I'd give up Bayless and Outlaw in a package to get a defensive, starting 3 (like Battier or Prince or something). I think we can take a chance on an "older" one, b/c we have the horses to limit the minutes there and run a 9- or 10-man rotation. In my idiotically idyllic world, we make a "Godfather" offer to Cleveland to send a package built around LMA, Outlaw, Bayless for LBJ. http://games.espn.go.com/nba/featur...2750~454~2015&teams=22~22~5~5~5~5~5&te=&cash= I'd also explore trading Bayless and Raef right now for Steve Nash. Maybe both sides would say heck no, but I'd love to see our team with Nash running it 20 minutes a night. So that's me in a nutshell. Long-winded, try to pretend to be analytical, try to pick up things others don't see, throw in madcap trade ideas. Thanks for letting me play
I will watch closer for Rudy with Outlaw and Bayless together tonight. I watched the game and didn't notice that last night but I was watching the game on my small computer monitor. On your trade Ideas I could see some of those working but not until closer to the trade deadline. I really think some of those teams need to realize the need to make a change before we could get those players. I think the best bet for us is to try and trade for Prince and Battier and even Prince might be really hard unless Detroit is struggling. I just can't see Phx trading Nash this year and I'm almost 100% sure we couldn't trade for Lebron no matter what we offered unless he said he wasn't planning on signing with Clev in 2010. It doesn't hurt to make an offer for any of them though because you never know.
Travis was mentored by Ruben Patterson when he was just a rookie, so if you see similar tendencies, that's why. Ruben didn't like to pass either. Bayless is just a kid. Like I said before, he reminds me the most of Damon.
Makes sense to me. I think Bayless probably feels like he's in competition with Rudy a little bit. They're both rookies and could take playing time away from each other. Now that Martell is hurt it may actually help their relationship as Rudy will probably get some of Martell's minutes.
@the OP: I guess I didn't really pick up on Rudy "not liking" Jerryd, or Travis thing, but I'm sure with his exceptional BBall IQ and the fact that Travis and Jerryd have some holes in their court awareness, it's not surprising that he might get a little frustrated with them. But I have to say that the idea of putting Travis in the starting lineup so Martell can pair up with Rudy seems kind of goofy to me (before the news of his foot injury). The only players that Nate should be worrying who others fit in with, are Brandon, LMA, and Greg. Everybody else needs to fit in with those three; handicapping the starting five in an effort to to boost the production of a couple of reserves is kind of weird.
I think I saw Rudy a little frustrated with Outlaw a bit for not passing it one time, but I also saw Rudy talking to Bayless about something during tonight's game. I think they're fine for now, and it's a huge contrast of styles. Rudy is just so much of an all-around player and can be effective with or without the ball. Outlaw needs the ball and Bayless also likes to pound the ball. I don't think there's any friction though. These guys have barely been able to play one another, and it's going to take some time. And winning always cures all, and this team should win more than lose this year.
I think that comparison is really good. Bayless has that score first mentality and is always looking for the screen. He's got way more athleticism than Damon, but doesn't have the same shooting touch. As long as Bayless can finish at the rack or get to the line, I think that fills his role with the team. I wrote a thread about how I thought Rudy made everybody else better when he was on the floor. Especially Martell and Sergio. It really sucks that Webster is down, but if he's back at the start of the new year he could get back into his groove before the playoffs start.
has there ever been a Blazer guard of note worse at finishing then Damon? Dude could blow wide open layups like no one else. Bayless is about a half foot taller then Damon, is bulldog strong, and can throw down like a slam dunk champ. The only thing I see similar between the two is that they look for their own shot first/don't have the greatest court vision. Bayless should be much much better. STOMP
