[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

I live in Portland right now, and as a Blazer fan I would not want Rudy Fernandez to leave this team. I guess I could understand his frustration, as he feels like he and Turkoglu are very similar players, but their attributes of what they do are totally different. I for one see Rudy as more of a 2 than a 3, and I felt like he usually played SG last year. If Rudy were used as more of a 3, than no offense to Nicolas Batum, a player I think has great potential, but it would be ridiculous for Nicolas to play the minutes he did, even from the standpoint of his great perimeter defense. Rudy has an incredible basketball mind, is extremely creative and a great distributor, has nice athleticism and his shot is a thing of beauty when he is on. Not to mention the passion he obviously has for the game and that he works he plays his heart out more so than anyone else on our squad. I was slightly shocked that he did not receive more playing time than he did and feel as though I would like to see he and Brandon Roy play more together.

My grandfather is good friends with Harry Glickman, who if you are a Blazer fan, you should know that he was instrumental in bringing the team to Portland. I got to talk with Harry last year about Rudy, and he told me he was going to be “a star” and that he would not be surprised if Nate had to find a way to get him into the starting line-up. I loved the way Rudy played during the olympics, where he received praises from Dwyane Wade among others, and to me I thought Harry was right on the money. Recently, going to lunch with Harry right before the draft, I had told him I had hoped we might get “a true PG” like Brandon Jennings, like this site had predicted. He than said something that I truly believe in, and have been trying to tell people for a while. He actually quoted Mike Krzyzewski and said “I do not want a point guard, I want a basketball player.” Position is so arbitrary, and skill set really goes beyond a position. I mean, people that tend to point out how important it is to have a PG will point out the value of Jason Kidd, Chris Paul and Deron Williams. How many rings do those guys have? Yes, Tony Parker was invaluable to the last 3 Spurs title teams, but I do not think there has ever been a PG like Tony Parker, he would be classified as just a great basketball player. People actually tend to rate Tony Parker lower on the PG scale because of his lack of true point attributes, while overlooking the fact that his accomplishments put him amongst the games all-time elite (they do).

So, in mentioning these facts, I think a line-up where maybe there was no “true point” in Portland would be one that might indeed save this team a great asset. If you could manage to play Brandon-Rudy-Hedo-LaMarcus-Greg in a line-up together, I do not see it being a failure. Hell, you could even still play Rudy off the bench and start Blake (or hopefully another “basketball player” who I think would be a huge asset and is a killer in Jerryd Bayless), but as long as you had that line-up in the 4th during crunch time, that would be good stuff. I thought and still think Turkoglu will be a good fit for this team, and while I would not mind upgrading our 1 position in the least, I think we have guys that can carry the load. The Bulls and Lakers used Ron Harper and Scottie Pippen as points. Avery Johnson won a ring as a point, and I would at least like to believe that the talent of a Roy, Fernandez, Bayless and Blake could put us in a better position than that San Antonio squad. I want to know what people think, and I want people who refute this to give me solid evidence of point guards not just doing well, but winning rings. Isiah lead his team, Chauncey and Tony Parker won Finals MVP, great teams have had great point guards, but solid basketball players to me are just as important for most championship teams. Once Chris Paul and Deron Williams lead their clubs to a ring, than I might agree with the “point guards are the new generation of winners” theory many seem to have, but I am not even close to being there yet.

[the barronParticipant]

Rudy is a great player and I think Portland would be foolish to let him go. He’s a unique talent that will only get better as he plays in the NBA longer. I like your potential lineup a lot of firepower in there. Point guards are real important but I’d rather have Brandon Roy at the point than half of the other starting point guards in the league.

[birdman113]

ya now that they didnt sign Turkoglo im sure they will keep him.

[Knicksboy34Participant]

i hope they do a sign and trade deal and ship him to NY for Lee

[Author]

Posts