Rudy Fernández-UPDATED
by amlmart1 on Jan 19, 2012 3:09 PM CST
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PrintUPDATED with his last two games: Against the Heats and the Nets
Rudy is getting around 30 mins per game with the Nuggets, but they can trade him because they have Brewer, who is playing well in the last two games (Rudy is injured and Brewer is filling his spot). They could accept Wesley because he would give them a chance to bet on his youth and rookie contract. The Wolves would get a player who could help them to reach the playoffs as soon as this season.
The last time Rudy and Ricky played together in ACB, in 2008, they were a basketball machine. Rudy was the best ACB scorer, the best in steals (2nd was Ricky), the 6th best in assists (7th was Ricky), 8th in dunks, 1st in threes made per game, 1st in FT made per game (6th was Ricky), 2nd in fouls received (9th was Ricky). Their skills were really complementary and made each other and their team better. Both fit perfectly in Adelman´s systems.
In their respective last ACB regular seasons Luis Scola had an efficiency (similar to PER) of 21,1, Marc Gasol got 27,8 and Rudy 25,1, but Rudy made that number with less playing time than Marc. Time adjusted Rudy had a better record than both Scola and Marc Gasol before coming to the NBA.
Rudy is very good playing off the ball. Cutting to the rim and shooting from the three point line are two things he can do well, and those are complementary skills, because if his defender protects the rim he can shoot the three, he has such a quick release. But if the defender gets closer to Rudy, he won´t be able to provide help near the rim and will get surprised by Rudy if he gets distracted for a second. In order to get the best of these abilities, Rudy needs a point guard with great passing skills out there though, someone able to find him in the right place, as Sergio Rodriguez was in Rudy´s rookie season, when he made the all time rookie record of three pointers in a regular season and participated in the all star dunk contest, thanks to his many alley-oops from Sergio´s passes:
More after the jump.
Once Sergio left the Blazers, PGs finding Rudy cutting to the rim has happened only occasionally:
He still gets those passes from Ricky when they play in the national team: One Two
Rudy is a great passer, with an amazing variety, making his passing game impredictable. His basketball IQ is off the charts. Many of his teammates considered him the best passer, in a Blazer team with Andre Miller in its roster! By the way, most of them considered him the best shooter.Link
Lob especialist, mostly from pick & roll:
Link1 Link2 Link Link4 Link5 Link Link7 Link8 Link8 Link9
In transition: Link1 Link Link3
Rudy will provide energy and effort all game long. You can take that to the bank.
Defense: Great oportunistic defender, always very active, defends the passing lanes very well, disrupts the offense and helps his teammates, sometimes a bit too risky. He was not great at keeping his man in front of him, but he has improved a lot this season, and now people at Denver Stiffs put together "Rudy" and "pesky defender" in the same sentence. High basketball IQ in defense too.
He´s been clutch, but we don´t have enough of a track record, because he couldn't have many opportunities in Brandon Roy´s territory, for obvious reasons. Link1 Link2
Sometimes the perfect storm happens:
defense+2p+steal+3 in less than five seconds
PG?: In December 2010 the Blazers surprised the Pacers with Rudy at PG position and won a game they were going to lose because his only reliable PG, Andre Miller, got ill, but the experiment ended later on because Rudy is a not a good ballhandler for the PG position and teams adjusted. But he can be an unexpected weapon at point.
Rudy playing point guard vs. Pacers.
Rudy is an oportunistic offensive rebounder: Link1 Link2
McMillan said almost laughing: "This guy never takes the same shot twice". Link 1 Link Link3
Take a look at his performance in the last World Championship. He could be compared with Kevin Durant.
-Rudy and Ricky are the most exciting players I´ve ever followed. Lots of great Youtubes (you already know the Ricky´s ones, so here you´ll find some Rudy´s):
Rudy Fernandez 4,3,2,1...in the face of Yao Ming
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Nice job!
And I haven’t even followed the links yet.
I wonder what kind of deal Fernandez will get. I would guess that it will be in between Barea and Afflalo, like $6 million per. I don’t know how high I’d be willing to go with him, but $5 or $6 million seems OK. I’d rather spend that on him than on Martell.
I recced this post
and I don’t even want Rudy on our team!
Impressive linkage, fershure.
Yo ho ho and a FirstRow stream!
His contract situation is suspect.
He has to go back to Real Madrid next season, or procure a buyout.
How much would that costs, and does he even want to go back to the NBA after this season?
Big questions there, plus, they love him in Denver and he fits that team really well.
I’d love to see this happen, but I just don’t think it will.
Karl loves him but their GM might prefer to bet on the future.
They already have Afflalo and Brever.
Rudy is in a contract year, so he has to give his best this season.
The Wolves are in better position to offer Rudy a contract than the Nuggets.
Rudy has said (his people too) he wants to play in the NBA. It´s just that he doesn´t want to lose a lot of money for no good reasons, as it happened when he went to Portland with a cheap rookie contract, when he had very good offers in Europe at the time, just to find that he had to play for a coach with a basketball phylosophy opposed to his. I think he´ll stay in the NBA if he gets a contract over 5-6 millions.
Initially I thought I might agree (Afflalo and Brewer already on board)...
…. but upon further inspection Denver actually looks ok for next year. Assuming AMiller walks (7mil) and Koufos is not extended, that frees up over 10mil. Annual raises on guaranteed contracts is around 2.1mil, and extending QOs to Rudy and Gallinari (or sign him to a long-term deal) would be another 2.4mil. They would need a backup PG to replace Miller (draft or cheap FA), but it looks like they can do all of it and stay below the cap (somewhere around 58mil next year?)….
That said, depending on price, I think it would be a good idea to try to add Rudy.
5-6 Million per year
is basically what Wes will be making the next 3 years, if his rookie deal is fully extended. So it doesn’t seem like Denver is saving any money with this deal.
IMHO, that trade happened when Kahn still considered the team a "project", still in development mode, not playoff material yet.
But this team has showed an unexpecdted maturity, and now is just an average SG and an average center (even Pek might be enough) far from becoming a solid playoff team.
As bad as Wes is....
I’d probably pass. It’s not because I wouldn’t prefer Rudy to Wes, it’s because Rudy’s situation is too much of a headache. Is he coming back to the NBA next season? What about the buyout? How will Jim Peterson react when Rudy hits a three in a Wolves uni and makes the 3 finger sunglasses?
by Cris Carter is a Muppet on Jan 19, 2012 9:54 PM CST reply actions
I think we should acquire Rudy...
…strictly to see the scenario you describe unfold. Ol’ Pete may find that he doesn’t hate it so much in the middle of a 10-0 run.
by Madsen's 3-Point Barrage on Jan 19, 2012 10:38 PM CST up reply actions
I like the idea
but I floated it a few weeks ago and several people here at CH commented that Rudy is perceived as a malcontent and the Wolves wouldn’t want to risk putting him in close contact with Rubio where RF might influence him negatively. I also agree that if we could have had him for a 2nd rounder earlier and didn’t take it, that ship has sailed. Also am hating to see how well Marshon Brooks is doing in NJ. If I recall correctly, we could have had him in the draft. How nice would it be to have a dynamic scoring two on a rookie deal? Biangle buyout be damned.
by HowManyFoulsOnShaq? on Jan 20, 2012 12:19 AM CST reply actions
Rudy is perceived as a malcontent for a reason.
He´s always been very coachable in Spain, both in his former team (Joventut) and in he
Spanish National team, where he has played for at least 4 different coaches. When he came
into the NBA he was aware he didn´t fit with Nate McMillan´s ideas (Sergio Rodriguez already
hated those ones and it´s a sure bet he talk to Rudy about that), in addittion with having Brandon Roy
playing his same position. He had big money offers in Europe, and Paul Allen hImself had to go
to Europe to convince Rudy to go to the NBA. Rudy took the opportunity and left lots of money behind.
He had his differences with McMillan from day one, regarding the basketball phylosophies, although
nothing negative went public until the end of the season, when Rudy said he wanted to be
more than a corner three point shooter. You could see Brandon Roy avoiding to celebrate
some plays with Rudy, who had timidily approached to him. And Roy was Nate´s boy.
McMillan´s coaching philosophy values over all efficiency and predictability (count Martell
Webster, Andre Miller, Sergio Rodríguez and Channing Frye among the former Blazers
who have criticized him). It works, at least in regular season, but it put a lot of preasure
on Rudy players like Rudy, who felt he didn´t have Nate´s trust.
Rudy had surgery on his backbone in 2010, fearing his career could end suddenly, he
was having heated debates with McMillan about how he was used (it seems McMillan told
Rudy "your problem is that he were a star in Spain and your are just another player in the
NBA", and Rudy more or less privately said to his people “this guy is not going to f**** me”,
leading to suspicions that Rudy quit against Phoenix when Roy was injured and couldn´t play
in play offs) and, the ice on the cake, at that time Sergio found his way from Sacramento to
New York, where Rudy would have liked to play (coach, city, etc), and Rudy started to think
about finding his way out of Portland at any cost. There started the 2010 Rudy crisis in
Portland, that finally exploded two summers ago.
Rudy started the season saying he wanted to leave Portland, threatening not to show up. He
was fined twice (although credit for the last one goes to his Spanish agent, who he fired
lately along with his American agent). Then suddenly he started to worry only about things under
his control, made great friendship with Patty Mills (in addition with most of his teammates),
had a long conversation with McMillan, apologized to his teammates, the organization and
the owner personally, and said he was happy playing in Portland, every time he was asked
about. Always was greatful with Blazers fans, who supported him until last year saga. He had
some very good games at the start of the season and when Brandon Roy didn´t play because
of injured knees, but he regressed once Roy returned. His relationship with Roy and McMillan
was much better that last season. Since he is in Denver he is a happy guy and all things
about Rudy are positive. Regarding McMillan, you have to consider that he was coming from
the Jail Blazers era, when he got his “Sargent” nickname. Not the best comunicator out there
when dealing with a proud Spaniard.
Now, the Wolves are not taking any risk with Rudy, because if Rudy does not work this season,
they just can let him go back to Spain, where there´s a 3 million euros contract waiting for him.
As debates were heated at Begde when in the middle of the Rudy crisis, I tried to put light and peace with this informative post.
Sorry for promoting my own work.
I would trade Beasley
and a 2nd round pick for Fernandez and I wouldn’t think twice about it. That would probably be a better fit for Denver anyway since they have Affalo and Brewer that can both play 2. Keep minutes open for D Williams to develop.
by Imyourhuckleberry on Jan 20, 2012 8:23 AM CST up reply actions
Sounds like a reasonable trade to me
"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." -- Yogi Berra
by Wile E Coyote on Jan 20, 2012 10:02 AM CST up reply actions
As someone who brought up the "malcontent" thing
(a point to which a couple of Spanish posters responded very strongly :), I didn’t mean to offer it as a reason why we shouldn’t try to acquire Rudy now. IMO, if he is “gettable”, it seems like a smart and low-risk move to try at this point.
I just do not fault the front office for not acquiring him in the past (I have no idea to what extent the Wolves considered pursuing him, if at all)…it is clear how much this organization had riding on Rubio and how desperate it was to put him in a good situation, as free as possible from negative influences. True or not, there was a perception about Fernandez out there. [The FO has effed up plenty of things…I don’t believe this was one of them]
by PDGirl on Jan 20, 2012 10:34 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs
No thanks.
This is a guy who petulantly kicked out at Luke Ridnour last season….yeah..Luke Ridnour!
Don’t even want to know about him.
I've watched Fernandez alot with the Blazers
His D and overall play against bigger guys is really impressive. He owned Ron Artest when the went against the Lakers if you can believe that.
However, he seemed to really struggle against smaller quicker guys. He wouldn’t take advantage of his size difference on offense and they really seemed to bother him. He couldn’t stay with them when playing D. Maybe he has got over that, but it seems a pretty easy way to neutralize him.
He was also prone to over help, leaving his man open for 3’s in a way that Rambis would truly appreciate, even if they were the hot hand.
We found ourselves yelling “stay on your damn man!” to Rudy in the suns playoffs.
Amimart speaks the truth: Rudy is DA TRADE
Hello fellas,
Just wanted to give my two-cents on Amimart’s proposal: Listen to the man!
As a badalonian myself, I’ve had the privilege to watch Ricky & Rudy play together for over three full seasons, so I know what I’m talking about. They were, without a doubt, the most exciting and entertaining 1-2 combo in all Europe.
Trust me, Ricky is amazing by himself, but when Rudy was on court, they just obliterated anyone in front of them. I can’t believe no NBA analyst has realized about this.
You all guys can see how fast Ricky develops chemistry with other players. Something that for most point guards takes months, or even years, comes so naturally for him it’s hard to believe, right? He makes everyone around better instantly.
Well, he had 4 years to develop his chemistry with Rudy, so you can figure it was a thing of beauty.
And to back up my words, and in order to contribute to get the “Sign Rudy Now” train running, I offer you the chance to witness it with your own eyes.
I have in my posession more than 20 games from the 2007-08 season, the one Amimart brought some stats about, where they came to be known as the “R & R Show”, because they put exhibition after exhibition on a weekly basis.
If you have some interest in watching Ricky and Rudy together, I can create some torrent files for you to download (if that’s ok with this blog’s rules. With all this SOPA crap, I don’t wanna see some FBI guy standing on my door, lol).
Per cert Amimart, no seras pas de Badalona oi?
I would be interested
in downloading those games. I don’t know what the site rules are pertaining to file sharing, but the SOPA stuff doesn’t even get voted on until the 24th I believe.
From Santander, friend.
I envy you from a basketball perspective, Badalona is da BOMB! We have the better landscape though ;)
Ask and you shall receive!
I’m encoding right now.
I’ll post what is to me the best game of the season, against spanish powerhouse Real Madrid, where Rudy gets 30, with 8! 3 three pointers to beat them in their own turf.
You can check the boxscore here; http://www.acb.com/fichas/LACB52270.php
Seriously, look at this game. With Rudy on the team, it would be like having your own “Rondo & Ray Allen, only in white and skinnier” combination.
I shall put up the link to the game later today.
BTW, tonight’s game illustrates my point. With Rudy playing next to Ricky, this would have been an easier win.
Because they complement each other so well, Ricky would have looked for Rudy as his own shots weren’t falling. Right now, he has to look for Kevin Love as his only reliable choice, because when you have wes johnson, well, you look for another option…I’m sorry about Wes, because I can see on his face that he’s probably a good kid, but I’d rather play Ellington if the Rudy trade doesn’t happen.
Anyway, if you enjoy Ricky’s game, you should definitely download this.
@Ami: Aaah, Santander, lovely place. You guys have the greenest fields I’ve ever seen, and your milk is almost as awesome as the double R, hehe. Also, the weather is a little cooler than here in the Mediterranian ;)
a little help from my wolves
Hey guys, how do I do this? I have created the torrent file for the game, but I can’t upload anything to this blog…
Sorry, computer noob here lol
If there was a pole I would've voted yes.
So I guess I’ll do it here.
by Doug West Domination!!! on Jan 21, 2012 4:53 PM CST reply actions
Ok, let's see if I did this right
Here is the link to the torrent for the game
http://uploaded.to/file/bi7jy5t9
Tell me if it worked out!!
It says this service is currently unavailable in our country.
I was going to suggest you title a new post, “Rubio Slips on Ice, Breaks Leg!” and you’d get all the help you need, but that’s probably not a good idea. Someone will likely have an explanation and solution in the morning.
"pokin' the animals at the Canis Hoopus zoo"
by pastyearsears on Jan 22, 2012 2:15 AM CST up reply actions
lol @ pastyearsears
Ok, I’ll wait till the sun raises for you guys.
I don’t think I can upload the whole file to youtube ami, it weights like 2.5 Gbytes, so it’s probably too big, right?
Man, I miss the old emule times, it was so easy to share stuff…
It's already on youtube
Looks like someone did the job for me! Cool!
Here’s the link to the whole game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WazQqx8zAfI
Enjoy your R & R show!! And please comment on the Rudy trade proposal after watching it!
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