Rudy Fernandez — is anybody surprised by this?
Man, what a classic “dog-bites-man” story this is. I mean, seriously, is anybody surprised that Rudy Fernandez wants to be traded? Or that the team is trying to accommodate him?
Man, things change. And this is one of those times when the team definitely waited too long to deal him. A year ago this guy was thought to be a rising star and considered quite possibly to be one of the best young shooting guards in the world. Now? The Blazers will be lucky to get much for him.
I wrote a piece for Oregon Live last summer about Rudy and suggested the team should consider moving him. It’s worth a read just because it reminds us all how much we thought of the guy after his rookie season. And I may be the only one around who still believes he has a chance to be a very good NBA player.
All the reasons for Rudy to want out of here were easy to see coming down the track, like a freight train headed toward Portland. But man, I took a ton of flack for that piece and I ask that you take a look at the poll that accompanied it.
Nobody liked the idea. I was called an idiot every which way in the comments section of this blog. I know Kevin Pritchard didn’t like the idea because he told me so.
But these are the sorts of decisions that GMs are supposed to make earlier than fans. They’re the kind of decisions that are supposed to be made while a player still has value. I’m not sure Portland is going to get all that much for Fernandez, who seriously devalued himself with his work — or lack of same — in the playoffs last season.
There’s a lesson here — for fans, GMs and everyone else. And this is why general managers get paid upwards of a million bucks a year.
NBA, Trail Blazers | Dwight Jaynes | July 28, 2010
Dwight Jaynes, Kevin Pritchard, Oregon Live, Portland Trail Blazers, Rudy Fernandez
Amen to that Dwight.
I was singing the same praises as you of trading Rudy while his value was sky-high last summer.
That was a true weakness of KP; he held onto his players much too long.
I think that KP’s weakness was being too chicken to make mid-season trades. If he’d have approached the mid-season trading market with the same bravado that he brought on Draft Day, that would have been nice.
And Dwight, for the record, I agreed with your stance on Rudy and my wife yelled at me for it. Joke is on her though, because now she’ll have to buy a new t-shirt to replace her #5 Blazers tee…
Cho’Nuff had better bring in somebody as pretty as Rudy, or else there’s going to be a lot of girl tears flowing around town.
Yeah, you guys weren’t the only ones. Last summer I predicted on BEdge Rudy would force his way out of Portland this summer or return to Spain, and people did not like that!
I feel like this was so easily foreseeable. Rudy did not give up all that money and come half-way around the world to be trapped in McMillan’s offense and playing spot duty behind Brandon Roy.
Its like Blazers fans thought *Well, I would LOVE to be Roy’s backup!* and couldn’t Rudy might not have that same perspective. I don’t blame him at all.
But you said it yourself, things change. Coming off of his rookie season Fernandez was a fan favorite. With the addition of Andre Miller, Blake and Outlaw all on the roster, I think it was hoped that in some combination Fernandez could be force off the bench.
With all the team injury it just never seemed to develop. Also imo, Fernandez was never quite the same coming back from his back injury. Or at least we never saw him playing with the same confidence.
It is too bad how this is unfolding. It’s never a good situation for a team when a player publicly demands to be traded.
You aren’t the only one that thinks Rudy Fernandez has the chance to become a very good N.B.A. player. Judging from his rookie year, and what I’ve seen in international play, I think Rudy is a great player. I think he struggled with his own personal injury last season, and also struggled more than perhaps anyone in trying to adapt to the everchanging roles brought about by the injury plague of the whole season.
In the Jason Quick article, he quotes McMillan as saying: McMillan said. “Rudy is a team player, and his style of play requires minutes. He’s not a guy who is just going to come down and jack up a shot. He needs to get into a flow, into a rhythm, and that’s not a backup role. And I think that is his frustration.”-McMillan
I find this interesting, as it seems McMillan realizes this today, but last season coming off the bench and being “instant offense” WAS the role most often offered Rudy. Now McMillan seems to realize that won’t work with Rudy Fernandez, going so far as to say, “For me, I can make it work, but it’s not about me. It’s about him.”
Well it’s a little too late for that realization, and it was either going to work, or it wasn’t.
I think The Blazers and Rich Cho have to try to approach this as positively as possible. A lot of fans are upset at Fernandez and their is a prevailing attitude of “addition by subtraction” or “Just Jettison the Guy”. I think Rudy has talent, and The Blazers need to work to get at least some equitable value.
Poor Rich Cho, hardly get’s an introductory press conference before thrown into the crucible of Rudy Fernandez, the fog of the dream of Chris Paul, and the expectations of a trade are all placed in his “IN” box.
No time for Rich Cho to ease into the job. Expectation and evaluations will be attached with how this is handled. It’s a tough situation so probably unfair, but as you say, “upwards of a million bucks a year” so let’s hope he earns his new payroll stub.
It is a sad situation. Rudy clearly has limitations – his D is weak – (he gambles to much), and needs some time in the weight room. But the guy can shoot, and is a creative passer when teammates are actually moving. I don’t entirely blame Rudy for his sub par playoff play last season. As a spot up shooter he needs the ball when he has separation, and that never seemed to happen. More often he saw the ball with the clock winding down, forced to try and make something happen – which is not the strength of his game.
In the right offensive scheme – Rudy has the potential to be a very effective weapon.
So now that Blake, Webster, Rudy & Outlaw are all gone – who’s gonna be our outside threat when Roy is double or triple teamed?
Have you been paying attention?
Wesley Matthews is an outside shooter.
who is Roy’s back up.
… that’s not a question, is it? Like “WHO is Roy’s backup?”
So if you’re saying that Wesley Matthews won’t be on the floor at the same time as B.Roy because he’s the backup at the two guard, that’s likely true in the first half of games, but then Coach Nate would almost certainly have Matthews on the floor alongside Brandon in the fourth quarter. Probably shift Roy to the point, put Miller on the bench, and put Matthews at SG.
Just speculating, but you get my drift.
…which will piss Miller off…again…and round and round we go. Steve Blake is looking pretty good right about now. Too bad he signed with the Fakers, tho I can’t blame him.
Rudy gets posted up by stronger guards, but deserves credit for his knack of getting in the passing lanes for steals and deflections.
Well, I didn’t like the idea either and just like Kevin, I TOLD YOU SO! But I didn’t call you an idiot.
I blame Kevin for this. He has watched several assets devalue in front of his very eyes. And in the end, they didn’t have too. His whole “bake the cake” theory really hurt him and this team. I still think and believe he was incompetent when trying to deal.
That alone was probably deserving enough to lose his job. He def should have saw this coming. Either that or found a coach to see to it, it all worked. Nate and his “style of play” is a big reason for a players success or none success.
Nate’s prayers are all being answered this summer….if we add Bayless and Claver to Nates “Richie-do” trade list, we’ll have a roster full of guys to be proud of.
IF you look at the rosters of NY, Boston and Chicago;its garbage time for guys they might be willing to move….you’re not getting Rondo or Rose.
I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO , I TOLD YOU SO!!!!! FROM DWIGHT JAYNES
Maybe we could trade Rudy for Okafor straight up? That way we still get something from NO, which should make everyone much happier about Chris Paul’s decision.
Because the salaries don’t match, and the one thing we don’t need is a mediocre, overpaid big.
I’m not sure that ‘Marc’ wasn’t using this thing I’ve heard about called “Sahr-chasm”…?
pretty subtle if it was
The best sarcasm often is…
Assuming that it WAS intended as such.
If he was serious about the ‘Rudy for Okafor’ straight-across proposal, then it just shows he’s got a fundamental lack of understanding regarding how salaries work in the NBA.
*shrug*
Ding, ding, ding!! Right you are, sir!
Dwight:
What I have wondered about ever since you first stated your opinion about Rudy needing to be traded is, “What made you come to that opinion?” — especially since it was such an unpopular opinion at the time. My hunch is that you had some inside information? Either that or you were seeing a psychic?
Dwight had pretty sound logic for his opinion back then. KP deserves criticism for this and hopefully all the KP kook-aid drinkers realize this.
The thing I really can’t believe is how J. Quick sold this story as “drama” on the Blazer front. The drama would have been if the Blazers told Rudy to suck it up and play out his contract.
The drama probably would have been Rudy just saying “I won’t report to camp this year if I’m not traded” just devaluing himself further. As it stands now, Portland can probably get Boston’s #1 for him which isn’t much, but I suppose is a asset to use in another trade.
If Rudy was worried about playing time here, Boston should be the last place he would want to go.
I dunno man… Ray Allen breaks down a lot, and the Celtics don’t really have that many SG/SF players left on their roster…
Second round picks are generally more valuable than late first rounders… unless you are targeting a guy that will be gone by then.
I would say that our top 3 point shooters now will be Roy, Batum, Matthews and Babbitt. Of course when Roy is doubled, we will have to depend on the others to
shoot from distance. We have given up alot of shooting power with the trading of Blake, Outlaw, Webster and soon to be Rudy.
Opposing teams should just clog the middle and make us shoot.
But then if you dig a little bit deeper, you’ll see that Matthews and Babbitt are a slight improvement over Webster and Rudy, because those two guys also have displayed the ability (and the willingness) to put the ball on the floor and try to create their own shot.
Webster couldn’t do that because he doesn’t have any handles, and Rudy (who was supposed to have a big bag of tricks) was too tentative in a set offense and passed up many opportunities to create his own shot… or if he DID try to put it on the floor and drive, he’d try to finish with some low percentage silly floater finger-roll.
Travis Outlaw had a little bit of scoring in him, but his value to other teams was greater than his value to the Blazers there at the end. A big part of the equation was the fact that by the time he was finally playing at the level of a third-year player, it had taken him six years to get there. I think that the front office finally got tired of waiting for Outlaw to develop.
The trade-off of choosing Miller over Blake is definitely losing the outside shooting, but then I believe that ‘Dre brings more to the table as a scoring threat. Depends on what you want from your PG, I guess.
I don’t think it’s as bad as all that. There’s still some good shooters on the roster, and both Batum and Bayless will have been working on their stroke this summer. Aldridge also has range.
Getting rid of three bench players that were occasionally spectacular but mostly inconsistent and lacking in confidence won’t be that big of a blow.
A demand to be traded does not have to be met. Isn’t there some obligation for the player to establish trade value?
The “Godfather” (curse the name) never misses a chance to take a shot at KP! Only problem is, the Rudy issue isn’t his fault. How do you dish away a million-dollar salary of an underperforming player? By taking on another under-performer of the same price. And who is/was out there worth that money? Answer: NOBODY!!!
It is tough to know if/what we were ever offered for Rudy but it was likely a lose-lose situation (especially with the way Portland fans act). If Rudy had been traded to a team and gotten a lot more minutes people would be saying Jermaine O’neal (or Drazen Petrovic for the older folks) all over again, fans would be complaining. And if you don’t trade Rudy… well you get the mess we are in now. Oh well you live and learn… not it is time to find Bayless minutes or cut him loose. You got to respect what a pro he has been so far.
Had to bring up Drazen Petrovic, eh?
Ouch.
Well I second the notion that Rudy still has a very good shot at becoming a decent NBA player. Honestly, tho I did understand Dwight’s logic to a degree at the time he was trying to sell off Rudy. After his very successful rookie campaign who would have expected a follow up second season that he had last year? Certainly KP didn’t. So now it is KP’s fault that Rudy stinks? Not Nate’s? KP’s? Whatever, and may I ask you who on the team did have a really substantial year season last? Last year was just kinda a mess all the way around. So let see Rudy has one good year everbody loved him. Rudy has one bad year and now it’s I told you so the guy stinks. First he was too good to let go. Now he is so bad you won’t get jack for him. Whatever…
I never really did understand the logic of you have to trade a guy because he is too good to be a back up on your team. Tho I am not willing to give Rudy a pass on the foul stench coming of his game the end of last season. Nate is not so great at fitting the more complex pieces into his puzzle.
One final question? If Rudy had to be traded after his first successful rookie year. Because why? He was too good to be happy and back up a superstar Roy? Now we are getting Rudy gone and bringing in another second year player in Matthews. Who everyone is already convinced is waaay better player than Rudy. Any one want to lay odds on whether or not, or when, we will be right back here in this same scenario with Matthews? A year? Two?
I think it just depends on Matthews’ opinion of himself in a year or two. If he’s as humble as everyone says he is, and is fine with filling whatever role the team needs, I wouldn’t necessarily expect a problem. But I think Rudy always thought, right or wrong, that he would be an NBA starter. To his credit, I could totally see him being a starter for Phoenix and like teams.
I think the sportswriters of Portland should take a little break from bragging about their genius powers of observation.
At least ’til Kevin Durant retires.
“The problem with Rudy, I’m afraid, is that he’s too good. ”
…This was the crux of your old argument. How come you don’t mention that when tooting your own horn?
I’d be much more impressed if you’d accurately predicted that Rudy will be difficult to move circa 2010 because of his horrible play and publicly stated desire to return to a league where shooting guards who can’t put the ball on the floor can still be “stars”.
It’s nice to draft young exciting players like Bayless, Webster & Rudy who have the potential to be NBA stars. However, a successful playoff team can’t be made out of young players who all think they should be starting when the starters are already established. Once the trailblazers realized who their bread & butter players were they should have filled the remaining slots with complementary veteran role palyers who understood their role. Webster, Rudy and J.B. aren’t role players (maybe one day after they’ve been humbled enough they will be) but Blake & Outlaw were and those two were traded away.
for a player to understand their role don’t they first have to be given a defined role? when you have no real system other than two guys who demand the ball and shots and everyone else is just to find an open spot. how can anyone “understand their role”? what the team needs more than the mythical veteran role players is a real system. Nate’s offense is so lacking of definition or discipline. so dependant on the 3pt. shot. hopefully, doubtful, Bickerstaff can be the guy to get Nate to define, refine, his system and players into roles beyond scrappy and watch Roy play
I did like that they were able to turn Blake and Outlaw into Marcus Camby, though. Difficult to fault that trade, considering the circumstances.
I loved having Steve Blake around, but unfortunately he was just about 75% of what the Blazers needed at PG. Solid for a backup, but then it makes more sense to gamble on the potential of youth, apparently. Let’s hope that maybe Armon Johnson pans out, because as of right now the Blazers are on a looooooong streak of failed PG projects; Jerryd Bayless, Jarrett Jack, Sebastian Telfair… heck, Robert Pack, James Robinson…
Outlaw is what he is and probably won’t be a whole lot more than what he is. Using him as trade fodder was probably mainly due to the emergence of Dante Cunningham as a SF that is a better fit for the Blazers’ roster as it currently is.
Dwight correctly called this.
But in the end, big deal. Rudy wasnt getting us a superstar in return. Could we have upgraded a little bit? sure, but it isnt like we blew it by not trading a superstar the year before he leaves (like Toronto or whats going to happen in New Orleans & Denver)
Those of you saying “I told you so”…okay maybe, but think about it for a second. Things have changed. A year ago, maybe a few of you were foresighted enough to see problems develop with the available role of Rudy Fernandez, I’ll give you the benefit of the hindsight doubt on that, BUT a year ago for the majority of the fans and for The Blazers what I think they saw was a player that had just finished a dynamic and succesful rookie season. A season inwhich Rudy became a fan favorite and set a record for made 3pt shots for a rookie. So we had a player on the apparent upswing, at the time a fan favorite, who has skills that we need. Why would you think The Blazers would trade him given those realities at the time?
Imagine if they had traded him a year ago. Let’s assume Rudy was traded before the season started, and had any level of success on the team that received him,…then imagine we had the season we did have, a season where Brandon struggled and missed significant time with his groin injury and later with his knee. You’d have a whole new army of second guessers saying “I Told You So” we SHOULDN’T of traded Rudy.
I think it’s obviously hopeless now, Rudy is not happy playing for McMillan and McMillan isn’t going anywhere. It’s not reasonable to think Rudy would be offered any more role, than what developed and appeared for him last season. So now, it’s clear we must trade him.
I suppose if you want to come in here and say, “I Told you So” fine…and maybe you did, but a year ago? I would of disagreed with you, because at seasons start last year? With Outlaw, Blake, and hopes of a super second unit? Keeping Rudy made sense.
yup, I mean it is clear now that Rudy has to go; but after the end of his rookie year there would have been more GM’s willing to give Rudy 35mil than GM’s willing to give Matthews 35mil after his rookie year; but yea, KP, what an idiot just rolls off the tounge now
Considering the events of last season, with injuries and such, I have my doubts that Rudy would have passed the physical for any other teams even if he had been traded.
I wonder if that figured into any decisions regarding the trade status of Senor Fernandez.
I remember reading Dwight’s player evaluation of Rudy last year and at the time it really caused me to re-evaluate the way I saw Rudy.
I already had questions about how he would play a large role with Nic’s rise, Brandon taking up so much time and the addition of Miller.
Really though, it should be shame on KP for not being proactive with Rudy, but isntead clinging to his pie-in-the-sky notions about so many of his young players (Sergio, Bayless, etc.) he treated roster building like college recruiting with almost no regard for the fact that these are pro athletes that are driven by playing time and money (one and the same really). I’m glad Cho seems to be taking the necessary steps to correct the imbalances in the roster.
Well said. KP relied way too much on European potential and “stashing” picks overseas. The relaity is that is not a strategy, but a cop-out zand waste of picks. Only Batum may have any kind of impact at all, and Rudy will be back in Europe real soon.
Bayless (or his Agent) will be the next whiner since we now have Armon Johnson, E Williams and Matthews as rising stars at the positiion.
agreed! now the reports of peteri re-breaking his foot leaves his career in jeapordy and what about joe freeland. isnt it time to get shed of these guys and convert liabilities into assets?
However badly Rudy played in the playoffs (0.063 WP48), he was still an above average player in the regular season (0.131 WP48). Trading him right now, when his value is low would not get the Blazers a good player in return, but if we had to do it, here are players in the <$1M price range that might bring decent value in return for him:
Chase Budinger, DeJuan Blair, Shaun Livingston, Jon Brockman, Luc Mbah a Moute, Taj Gibson, James Singleton, Chuck Hayes, Louis Amundson, and Bill Walker.
Note: Only one of these players is from the 3 teams being discussed in trade talks for Rudy, so the signs are not good.
The Blazers should not and I would not trade Rudy Fernandez.
Rudy’s value is down, he played like crud in the playoffs THIS YEAR, but the last year he was solid vs. Houston.
The main reason people dislike Rudy or have such a short leash with him is he’s good looking.
Face it, men are very insecure.
I for one would like to see him suffer a little bit and gain the respect of the men in Portland back.
If you hang on to him and he tanks it, the worse that can happen is you can still trade him later.
If a team gets desperate for a shooter during the season you may get more. If he regains his form, you may get GM of the year.
I will also add that Rudy’s requests show Brandon Roy’s lack of leadership or sway with his own players. If I was B-Roy I would have a long talk with Rudy and tell the media to stick it because Rudy is needed.
But what ends up happening is Rudy himself being insecure feels slighted by Nate, BRoy, Management etc…
Yeah, I totally resent Rudy because of his hair. My opinion of him has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of his play…
I’m also not sure which Rudy you were watching in the Playoffs series against Houston, but I remember Rudy basically doing nothing for five games and then hitting some threes in a game that was already out of hand. Heck, his PER for this year’s Playoffs was higher than his PER against Houston.
Results are results.
Hit a nerve did I.
Scan every post regarding Rudy and and there are more than a few posts regarding his looks, girlfriends and wives.
The truth is some men resent him for it.
I am not sure what playoffs series your referring to, but clearly vs. Houston he was an asset.
Look at the number 159 three pointers made as a rookie in the NBA. Not too many dudes in the NBA can ever sniff that.
I might also add, that Rudy hasn’t done nearly enough as a player in Portland to DEMAND a trade.
He needs to shut it. Earn respect back, and then maybe the Blazers can send him packing.
I tend to agree, but due to the Vulcans it’s too late
The REAL issue here is over the summer the Blazers overpaid to bring in Matthews to take his place.
The Vulcans made their choice, and the signing of Matthews now WEAKENS our bargaining power in trading Rudy. Teams now know we have to move him, and now the Vulcans have irritated Fernandez to the point where he is now working the media for his release.
Blame Paul Allen for our current weakened trading position
Please let me point out that you were the first one out of about 20 posters that mentioned anything about Rudy’s looks.
I took your bait, but I don’t believe you can say that you hit a nerve with your comment.
Go check out the archive of the statistical summary for Blazers v. Houston on http://www.basketball-reference.com, and you’ll see how mediocre Rudy was for the minutes he put in against the Rockettes.
But then it seems like you just make stuff up and declare it undeniable truth, so I don’t even know why I’m bothering to rise to the bait again…
With all the injuries it was pretty tough to trade Rudy last year. And that includes even Rudy.
And with the change in GM, I betting KP was not allowed to move Rudy unless a steal was offered.
The really frustrating thing is this. How many players will we move before we admit that Nate and Roy are the problem and find a new coach and knock Roy down a peg?
Yes! I agree completely. Nate is not a good strategy coach and Roy needs to be pushed to develop his game. He certainly has the physical tools to do it. He would probably have a better and certainly longer career as a result.
I for one love Nate’s strategy. “Ok, you guys stand around the perimeter and take pot shots at the basket. Since no one will be under the basket, we don’t have to worry about rebounding.” Now, if only he could get a couple of players who can shoot from the half-court line, he’d be set.
If Rudy had been hitting the 3 like he did in Yr 1, everybody is probably still happy.
He was never going to get the big minutes, but I dont fault Portland for trying to see what they had with him and using him as a valuable player off the bench (a la JR Smith in Denver).
Sorry I did not read all posts, though most of them.
Blazers need a point guard. Rudy is a point guard. Am i missing something? Turn team over to him. If Nate really means what hesays, thugh maybr he is just trying to up trading stock
Blazers went Webster off for I can’t remember what, now they may do same for Rudy.
I was no through with Dwight to OSHOF, posted a long note to that thread and it was rejected..
Short, what a lousy article in Big O on page 6 about new selections and said nothing about Dwight but his name. Have they no sense of history?
boys….this team is going nowhere unless Oden has a monster comeback…Rudy is a good player but mismanaged to the max….he is easily the team’s best passer and shooter…but no one gives a shit about him and his pride is at stake…thats how it works in Espanol….I say turn him into a point guard and play him
Kudo’s Dwight, for seeing this early on, but really, I can’t fault the blazers for keeping Rudy too much. Like you stated, Rudy looked pretty darn good that first year. Blazers fans, at that time, would have rather have traded Batum than rudy. It would have been smart, in hindsight, to move him last July, obviously, and it would have taken a lot of stones too.
As I tried to tell everyone in here for more than a year before his firing, KP was an overrated egotist. It will take Cho more than a little bit to clean up Pritchard’s mess.
Question: why make a trade demand right now? How does that help the situation for Rudy or the Blazers?
All I remember is that Rudy wanted his initial arrival to PDX to be leaked to the press…He wanted fans (or KP wanted fans) to greet him as he arrived. Let me ask you, how many players ask for that?
If Rudy gets packaged, all I ask for is this…the player he is traded for needs to be met at PDX by his agent and Rich Cho and no one else.