One thing I don’t quite understand is how people can judge a player based off of YouTube videos. Admittedly, that’s the only source from which I’ve derived my opinion of Rudy’s game (hype notwithstanding), but if we were to appraise basketball as a whole based off of YouTube videos, we’d have to surmise it was an unending deluge of dunks, alley-oops and threes set to Lux Aeterna. That said, the most prominent (and, fortunately, relevant) part of Mr. Fernandez’s game, to me, is his ability to create his own shot in the half-court setup and sink the three – does this not fit in exactly with what we’ve been running?

To contradict myself a bit, I have to say I’ve been reading the excellent “Red Hot and Rollin’” and it has made me fall hopelessly IN LOVE with the prospect of a Blazers fast-break-first gameplay. Oh, how positively amazing it would be to see Oden pull down a rebound and immediately shuttle it off to [insert PG here] who in turn dumps it to Roy/Fernandez to take it to the rim or pass it once again to Outlaw/Webster/LMA/Frye, etc., resulting in a score in 10 seconds or less. But I digress..

I think Rudy will be a great backup SG this year, considering, and I will wait on pins and needles to see where he goes from there. I’m not counting on much (and certainly less than the hype), but by his second year I fully expect him to, if nothing else, make foolish-looking his defenders on the opposition’s 2nd team. That’s it. If he does that, we’ve already paid dividends.

Thanks for the great and sense-making post in this Beatles-like June evening.

Dave’s best point (IMHO) was about the elite players from abroad needing a few years to really develop. It sums up everything that we hope Rudy can become while at the same time reminding everyone that even great players don’t necessarily seem that way in their rookie season.

I’m going to watch the movie Rudy with spanish subtitles.

I am as excited as anyone elase here and think Rudy will be a fantastic addition.

First off, as it seems with most foriegn players, they fully embrace the team concept, which is refreshing, in contrast to many US players. The fact that Spain is the world champion and their overall talent level is far below that of the US team, shows how well they can work as a team. That bodes well for us as he will be able to integrate well into our core of guys.

Secondly I would imagine that having Rudy will allow us to run more 3 G setups as Dave said. DX has Rudy as Vujacic as a worst case scenario and many times I have seen L* run a 3 G lineup with Kbe, Vujacic, and Frmar. With our two defensive stalwarts, Oden and LMA, backing them up Rudy, Roy and Blake/Sergio/Mayo-Gordon-Bayless-Westbrook will be able to create havoc on the offensive end. The key here is forcing them to reacto to what we are doing, changing their gameplan and throwing them out of rhythm, much like we did with Joel and GS.

Thirdly, I would imagine that this upcoming year the G rotation will hopefully go like this:
96 min total
Roy: 35
Rudy: 20
G#3: 20
Blake: 15
Sergio: 6

Then after this year we reasses to see what combos were sucessful and we go with that.

Laslty I feel that the overall impact that Rudy will bring will be tremendous, as a shooter is always welcome here and most have compared him to to Ginobili, I suppose mainly because they are both Latino and are 6’6, while there is some comparison to Manu, I tend to see him as a Ray Allen type player. Miller and Hamilton are also good comparisions, but just looking at the quickness of his release and the ability to go from triple threat to in the air is world class already and will translate well to the NBA. In reading some of his evals, he is not able to drive past his player at will, but works well coming off a screen, as once he gets by he has the skill to finish in the lane. That will work perfect with our style of team offense.

All in all, this is just one more piece that should be fun to watch at the least and the accessory jewel in our future crown. Can’t wait.

Manu isn’t from across the pond, he’s from Argentina…

The consensus is that it will take a few years for his game to transition to the NBA at a high level. I hope that he has the patience for that, and understands the challenge ahead. He’s going from being THE MAN over in Spain, to a probable bench player which we can only assume will get around 15 minutes a game to start. I hope that he doesn’t have a fragile ego and knows that this will all take time and is happy with a gradual climb to stardom like his Euro/foreign predecessors. Either way, this is freaking awesome and does allow us some flexability in possibly trading one of our promising SF for a better point guard.

Let me break it down for you folks with some math.

Rudy > MJ therefore Rudy’s game will take .5 x MJ’s time to adapt to the NBA. I expect him to be the league and Finals MVP this year and an all star.

of thin bodied motion guys. I the importance of adding bulk is a bit overstated. The hand-checking rules in the NBA make it a lot easier for guys like Rudy to thrive on the offensive end, which is why there may not be that many historic examples of thin, skilled offensive players.

that it takes TIME to develop. It’s possible, with the hype, that many will consider rudy a bust if he doesn’t score 16 points.

Personally, I’m happy if he comes in for twenty minutes and scores 12. I do believe that 8 will be too low for him. I also believe he’ll be racking up a few assists.

I believe the things holding him back will be communication on the court/language barrier, knowledge of the NBA game, knowledge of Nate’s strategies/expectations, his slim body, and the strength of NBA players.

I expect him to have some fluctuation as opposed to a solid average. Some nights he might go off for as high as 24 and others… not so much.

HIs strength, and why I believe he’ll do well and average 12, is that he has an excellent shot. If Roy, aldridge, and oden receive a double team… Rudy will be left open and he’ll nail that shot or receive the ball and dive to a place he can easily put it in. For this reason I have a higher than 8 expectation. If Roy, Aldridge or Oden can’t demand those double teams, then 8 is definitely more realistic. Roy has shown he does… Aldridge has fluctuated, and everyone is hopeful that oden will… but we’ll see.

My two cents.

Still, patience is important and in this day of the microwave dinner 5 second sound bite, people tend to forget that.

1) Your caveat is completely wasted. There’s no way [trentonhassell] a player would ever be treated
as a soon-to-be-Blazer [trentonhassell], only for some obvious untied end to unravel
[trentonhassell] and keep him from joining us [trentonhassell].

2) Your description of his strengths, especially with the way he’d be a backup at first
but with the ability to start someday (maybe even SOON), reminds me of a certain player.
If I may quote: ”#25”.

Yep, Rudy and Trout are just a ball of mad movement, one big and one small.
On the court at the same time, it’ll be like a ‘86 Edmonton Oilers power play.
There may be a turnover or seven, but the drives! The hops! The lobs! The FUN!
They’re gonna compliment each other hugely.

3) Then there’s the reference to . . .

. . . a few guards who excelled with thin bodies and plenty of motion:
Reggie Miller and Rip Hamilton to name a couple modern examples.
This is true, but those guys also had overwhelming offensive games
and unerring shooting ability which made up for their lack of overall play.
Rudy may have that kind of game, but it’s a fair bet he doesn’t have it in the NBA yet.

Here’s where the future gets kinda murky for me: Should we aim to MAKE HIM that,
an NBA-quality version of what he already is, try to improve him into a slashing Reggie Miller?
Or do we work on NBA-izing him, giving him bulk and body and physicality, even if it slows him down?
I do think there’s a choice to be made, that he can’t have it both ways.
Turning him into a classic NBA wingman would be a turn away from his existing nature.
It’s no accident that the more physical guards and small forwards of the past couple of decades
just don’t give what Reggie gave, that the bulking and banging prohibits that.

Personally, I’d like to see the focus be on improvement, making Rudy just BETTER at what he already is.

4) When you touch on the defensive liabilities, my first thought was he’s too active to be a bad defender,
even right away, that his constant motion and energy would produce results.
Then the more I thought about it, I realized what the results of his movement would be in the NBA: Foul Trouble.
I’ve been very impressed with his fouls-drawn/fouls-committed ratio in the Spanish league,
and I know they’re quick with their whistles, but I can’t help but wonder if he’s gonna get called a LOT
for hand-checking and blocking, just from his tendency toward movement.

Of all the adjustments he’s gonna have to make (physicality, longer three-pointers, culture),
the one I haven’t seen touched on is adjusting to how NBA refs call the game,
but that may be the most difficult adjustment for him to make.

I just watched the Rudy youtubes for the first time—pretty good highlight reels. Then, what do you know, I come here for some excellent discussion, observation, and pontification. Thanks Bedge! Also, how many times does Rudy turn the ball over before Bedgers give him the dreaded Jack treatment? Gosh next year is going to be exciting!

The numbers from Dirk and Ginobili in their first seasons are interesting for sure. I guess the thing to remember is that he will be like any rookie coming in. He will show flashes of what makes people drool over his game followed by stretches of average to poor play. (Maybe not so much poor play but you get the idea.)

I think the unknowns about Rudy and Oden going into this season actually give KP a serious advantage when he goes to negotiate with other GMs. Expectations for this team to improve are certainly high and those expectations will be fulfilled by Rudy and Oden. Expectations to contend for a title are low because of the unknowns involving Rudy and Oden. How good will they be this coming season? The window isn’t quite open yet so risky moves are not required.

Baby steps rather than mercurial turnover in the roster will be the theme of this year’s Blazer draft. Unless of course some desperate GM makes an offer that KP has been waiting for.

I think he and Roy could play together if he could help take pressure off of Roy being the primary ball handler.

but I am not yet ready for the a reality check – KILLJOYS!

So to all of this I must respond with a heartfelt: RRRRRUUUUUDDDDDYYYYY!!!!!

After all how am I supposed to build my reputation as diehard cheerleader and an incurable Homer?

I am saving all of that “let’s get real” stuff for November.

I agree with Tom, let the AllStar voting begin!

Manu can drive, dunk, DRIBBLE (which Rudy doesn’t seem to be strong on) and move laterally. I’d say Rudy is a more athletic and aggressive Danny Ainge.

is reminding me of drazen.

good shooting.
dynamic offensive game.
questions on defense.
how does he fit into the lineup?
questions about the transition to the nba game.

the key difference seems to be that we are a growing team now rather than an established title contender. hopefully that makes for a little more room or leeway for defensive development from rudy than the next-to-nothing leeway that drazen had.

i think the organization will take a look at how adelman handled that (buried drazen, fought with his agent, before eventually trading him) and try to head off those difficulties.

also… i can’t wait until the first ovation when he steps into his first game. something tells me the rose garden will erupt like we’ve never heard before.

Rudy is 6’6” (maybe 6’4” in stocking feet), an athlete (from the vids) who can
run and leap and especially shoot. Those talents translate to any level of
Basketball. How they translate is yet to be seen. I believe that he will be a
factor off the bench as a third guard. How he picks up on the speed and power
of the NBA on defense will determine his role and playing time.

Defense = Fundamentals + hustle + Determination.

If Rudy has those three attributes in some measure = 24 mpg – 11.8 ppg – 3.2 apg
2.4 rpg – 1.3 spg
46 % fgp, 38 % 3pt, 87% FT
& top 5 in ROY voting

DOWN WITH COINCAST !!!  GET A DEAL DONE & BRING BACK OUR BLAZERS !!!!!!

Anyone agree?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jZcENFKYAh4

Their back door cuts that lead to dunks look identical, in fact their games look identical as far as I can tell, all the way down to their bodies. The only question is wether Rudy can be as efficient as Martin… But I think Rudy proved in Europe that he can be.

mr allen and mr pritchard have ran the postives and negatives a hundred times i bet… he will be great in time he is coming aboard to grow and mature with this core group..the big 4… no matter how spectacular or predictable his girst two years are in the league..he was brought in for the long run…as far as the negatives…yada yada yada…there really arent any except for the slim frame may bring injuries… brandon laughed today when i held up the oregonian and yelled ” you have help now brandon let the dynasty begin” he yelled back “bring it on” !!!!!!

alley-oops of the 2007/2008 ACB season.

How’s Rudy’s English? (amlmart: do you know?). I would think his development could be delayed a bit unless he’s fairly fluent already.

If he makes his open shots, and his free throws he’ll make as much of an impact as we could ask for this year. We do not need a savior. Them days is over. All we need is an asset. If Rudy’s a non-scrub, we’re good to go. If he can contribute more than Raef LaFrentz or Josh McRoberts did last year, we’re golden. I have no interest in hyping the kid up and comparing him to Manus or Rips or Reggies. I’m perfectly willing to let him do his thing and as long as he’s not a complete screw-up I’ll be psyched. Even if he is, big deal. We’re still good to go. Our guys are so young and so far from their “primes” that just incremental improvement from a few key guys over this summer should be enough to get us into the playoffs. A slightly better Brandon Roy, slightly stronger LaMarcus Aldridge. A Martell Webster with moderately improved ball handling skills who’s just a little bit better at hitting that spot up 3. A team that’s just a little more battle tested and is ever-so-slightly more in sync with the coaching staff. That’s all we need to take the next step. We don’t have any key guys who are falling off or getting old. Zero. Our window is not closing. In fact, we’re just now scraping the paint off so we can pry this sucker open.

A much as I love Nate as a person and an ex-player, I’m concerned about his ability to define what style of ball he wants to put in the court. On one hand, I think he will want to pound it in to the post to G.O. . On the other hand, he’s got guys who can run like a dear but no point guard (yet) to get the team into the open court. He has made comments last year about not being able to develop more than 2 or 3 players at a time. Sergio for one, a highly skilled passer and play maker has had his role reduced for his lack of defense. Will it be the same for Rudy?