Hey guys, I was following the game because former Bucks’ pick Ersan Ilyasova plays for Barca, but that just got me wondering about your plans for Rudy. He and Gasol seem to be vying for the title of best player in Europe right now and given the possibility of Michael Redd being traded I was curious what you guys were expecting from him or how available his rights might be via trade.

Assuming he comes over next season I’d think he’s the primary backup to Roy at SG? What do you think it would take for Pritchard to trade him?

... I can still say refs clearly conspired to make Rudy lose. That’s really the only way to stop him.

After the first half, I was honestly very impressed. I was mainly watching to see if Rudy has point guard skills, and in that half he did some things that really caught my eye. He got out and led the break several times, one time he went coast to coast for an easy layup, the next time he had a beautiful one handed bounce pass off the dribble that squeezed through 2 defenders and found his teamate for a layup, the next time he drew a shooting foul, one time he realized the numbers werent there and wisely pulled it up and set up the offense. He also had a brilliant pass after driving base line that set up an easy Moiso dunk. I believe he went 3 for 4(5?) from deep in the 1st half and made anything he did look flat out effortless.

His 2nd half was a little bit more human. He started off brilliantly by hitting a deep 3 and slamming home a break away dunk. After that he started to become less of a factor, he didnt seem to touch the ball much in the halfcourt during the 3rd quarter. He ran a nice 2 on 2 break in which he found the trailer for a wide open corner 3, which was swished through. Oher than that he put up a couple of forced shots and looked a little bit rattled by Barcelona’s defensive adjustments. Barcelona built a double digit lead during this time.

A few minutes into the 4th quarter, Rudy started to come back to life. He realized that Barcelona was taking him out of his perimeter game and he adjusted by attacking the rim. Rudy shot 10 4th quarter freethrows, many of which were with DKV down by about 10 and fighting the clock. Rudy’s ability to drive the lane caused Barcelona fits as everytime he did, they had to foul. When they didnt, he found Moiso for a layup and finished another off by himself. With 5 seconds left and down 3, Rudy got about a 30 foot look from 3 to beat the buzzer and tie the game, but it wasnt meant to be.

Its hard for me to read too far into what I saw, especially since its my first time seeing anything but highlights since last summer. I do have to say that he appears to have point guard potential, especially with Roy running the show in the half court. However, his defense is highly suspect and may be a real area of concern playing under Nate. I feel like the olympics will be the best time to evaluate Rudy. He will be playing against NBA competition and will have a role on that team that is far more similar to what his role with the blazers will be. Overall though, I was pretty dang impressed, and my expectations were high…

. . . but for Rudy specifically, he drew 11 fouls while committing 4?

Sounds like he wasn’t part of Joventut’s weakness for this particular game.
They lost in spite of his ability to draw fouls rather than commit them.

What time, in Oregon, would the gaME be on?