Move along, folks — nothing to see here… everything’s fine with Rudy
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s what the Trail Blazers are saying. When they can sit him down and talk to him, that’s what Rudy will say, too. He’s not dumb enough to put his name on this stuff, anyway.
Folks — this is what agents are for. It’s why players have them. They pound the desk and scream — and the players are insulated from it and have total deniability. It’s been that way for years. The message was delivered and understood.
Sure, everything’s fine. Erroneous report. Yeah, right.
When are people going to understand this situation? I wrote about it back on May 7 and everyone thought it was nuts to speculate that Rudy was going to eventually tire of his role here. Yeah — they voted 98 percent to 2 percent that he ought to be back on the team next season.
I guess that’s why I sort of enjoyed listening to talk radio yesterday and reading blog comments as people beat Rudy up pretty good. All of a sudden, he’s a bum, I guess. For wanting to play. Does this mean he won’t be back as a Blazer next season? Of course not. He has no options. It’s play here or nowhere. The European teams have to honor NBA contracts.
But Blazer fans, you can pencil out these minutes any way you want. You can pretend that Portland isn’t going to use any backup point guard other than Brandon Roy. You can pretend that there will be only one small forward. You can pretend Rudy is a point guard or a small forward.
But the fact is, Rudy is an off-guard. Brandon Roy is an off-guard. In the end, if Rudy is to become the star he wants to be in the NBA, it’s ultimately going to have to be with another team. Why not trade him while you still have some leverage?
Don’t wait until you have no choice but to move him.
NBA, Trail Blazers | Dwight Jaynes | July 1, 2009
Brandon Roy, Dwight Jaynes, Portland Trail Blazers, Rudy Fernandez
Dwight,
You write:
“You might as well trade him now — because later you’re going to lose leverage if he stomps his feet and goes home in a snit.
Better to trade him while you have options than wait until he’s holding all the cards.”
Now here’s a quote from a different sportswriter:
“The problem for Fernandez from a leverage standpoint is that he is entering the second year of his NBA rookie contract, and the Blazers have the option to re-sign him for a third and/or fourth season. Fernandez would have to be released from his NBA contract in order to receive a letter of clearance from FIBA, the sport’s international governing body, to play elsewhere.”
Now, the interesting thing about that second quote is that it’s from the same Chris Sheridan ESPN.com piece you link to and quote in your post. It’s part of the original article!
Meanwhile, you’re portraying Rudy as some high maintenance prima donna when this is just business. You know that. We all know that.
I know it’s a long summer but do we really have to get hysterical about trading Rudy right now when we hold the cards? Plus I have seen nothing from the young man that warrants talking about him like this.
And by the way, he is becoming an NBA star even coming off the bench right here in Portland.
So relax. They’ll be real trouble to shout about sooner or later. This isn’t it.
Actually my favorite line is in one of your comments where you write, “The story is not complete BS.”
I’m glad the Blazers’ defense isn’t that weak.
I think if Blazer fans could set aside emotional attachment to certain players (Rudy) they would see that the team could maximize its assets by moving Rudy in order to land a player in a place of need (PG)
Gawd Bill… YOU are the high-maintenance one around here. The quote about “not complete BS” is because a comment above it said it was “complete BS”. It’s NOT complete BS. It’s not BS at all and anyone who has made calls to NBA people this week knows it. But believe what you want to believe.
And as far as painting Rudy as a diva — I have done that? Hell, I’ve defended him. I believe he is right and proper to be upset about what’s going on. The guy bought his way out of a multi-million dollar contract with $500,000 of his own money to play for a million a year. He’s passing on millions to play here. To sit his ass on the bench? He didn’t have a choice about who he played for over here. They drafted him and he plays for them. But he’s too damn good to see his minutes decline.
I’m going to have to do a post to explain to people what’s going to happen to his minutes but unless someone goes down, as happened last year, he’s going to have a devil of a time playing as many minutes as last year.
And what was that crack about “talking about him like this”? Talking about him like what? I guess you’re talking to the commenters, but I’ve given him respect.
Pretty weak, Bill. Pretty weak.
Dwight,
I’m sorry, I misunderstood it when you wrote, “You might as well trade him now.”
Today it’s, “I think trading him is eventually going to be the right thing to do for both parties. That’s not saying do it right now, either.”
Okay, so what’s the problem? Lots of things happen eventually. Hedo gets here today to visit and we’re already granting him 36 minutes a game even as you say Brandon’s wearing down at 37.2? Maybe Hedo won’t get those minutes.
Maybe, just maybe, this will play out great, but it sets me off when sportswriters start stirring up trouble for no reason. You wrote we have to trade Rudy now because we lose leverage “if he stomps his feet and goes home in a snit.”
How is that even going to happen? He won’t be able to play basketball then because of his contract, so how do we lose leverage?
But it’s more than that: Rudy’s been nothing but great for Portland. I don’t see him as the foot-stomping-snit type. Why portray him like that?
Sportswriters like to stir up trouble – I get that. At least you admitted it: …”I sort of enjoyed listening to talk radio yesterday and reading blog comments as people beat Rudy up pretty good.”
But if you’re going to stir up trouble, it should have some logic behind it, and even the ESPN post that started all this – that you quoted – said Rudy doesn’t have the leverage to do what you suggested he could. This is not a problem. It could become one later, but it isn’t a real problem now.
It’s a long off-season. I tuned into Talkin’ Ball last night to get the latest on this and Pasero was saying that the Oregon Duck uniforms have lost the soul of Donald Duck. Now, there’s a real problem.
dwight your far from the only one that understands this. get a life
Dwight: Who debates that he will tire of his role here?
What player can that not be said about that is not a starter? Heck, Bayless will tire of his role, just as Outlaw already has, just as Sergio did…etc, etc…
If I were you, I would save that May 7th article.
You can just put “XXX” where it states Rudy, and recycle it time and time again over the next 10 years. Heck, you can run it next May 7th and put Bayless there! Or Oden!
I like Rudy, but if trading him is the best option go for it.
Personally, I say that a 6th man like Rudy is paramount to the Blazers success. Keep him as long as you can, increase his value, then trade him…or keep him. Nice to have an insurance policy. Brandon Roy is a warrior…but he does break down. Wouldn’t be nice to have Rudy there?
Oh, and again..until it is public information fro ma credible named source, it is poppycock.
In the end, the Godfather will always be proven right!
There is no way that Rudy is going to want to stick around and play behind Roy. They play the same position! Rudy is a fantastic talent that will someday be a bigtime player in the NBA. It’s just not going to be with the Blazers. When last year ended, every sane rational person was saying that the result of the off season had to be some roster trimming; most wanted Blake or Outlaw gone. I’m guessing you could package Blake, Outlaw & Rudy and end up with a pretty good PG. It always takes two parties to make a trade, maybe the Nets would like some proven young talent on reasonable contracts for Devin Harris and change.
News Break:
According to an “un-named source” within the weather department at Channel 8, the Sun will rise furiously tomorrow.
Speaking on conditions of anonymity, the insider states “Look, the sun can only back up the moon for so long”. According to the source, the Sun is telling his agent “It’s my time to shine”
The real problem, is, the moon is good. Much better than moons around Jupiter or Mars. The Sun will just have to wait his turn, or just take the precious minutes he is granted…
OK?
Dwight, I agree with you–I don’t think Rudy’s being a prima donna at all. Fact is, Nate has done a terrible job managing minutes for guards (though he did an excellent job finding minutes for the frontcourt guys, I thought…not sure what’s going to happen if Martell ever gets healthy but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it).
Bayless should have gotten far more minutes and I wish he’d at least TRIED Brandon at the 1 for a couple of games. That might have opened up a starting slot for Rudy at the 2.
Now we hear that Nate’s going to give Bayless 90% of all PG minutes in summer league and nothing for Patty…who could wind up being the best PG we have. It’s stunning.
Some kind of backcourt trade is essential…I hope it’s not Rudy b/c I love watching him play but he’s got the most value of anyone who is an option (i.e. not Brandon) so it might make sense from a business perspective.