[EverybodyHatesChrisParticipant]

Am I the only one that is kind of dissapointed by the way Rudy Gay is playing so far this season? He’s ppg average is the lowest it’s been since his rookie season and hes averaging almost 3 turnovers per game. He’s not playing bad, I just thought this would be the season he broke out and became a star in the league. Does anyone think he can turn his season around?

[sheltwon3Participant]

Outside of Lin and few other people, this lockout has not been good to most players.  Next with full off season, I think a lot of players will be that much better.

[Wavy BagelsParticipant]

I think a few factors play into this:

1. The shortend season has not been fair to a handful of players like Sheltwon suggested.

2. Perhaps he is still feeling the effects of that shoulder injury he succombed to last season.

3. With no Z-Bo, who used to demand a double-team on nights, Rudy has to create for himself more often, which is not a weak suit in his game, but with Z-Bo as a thread in the paint, it was much easier for Rudy to score considering Randolph got plenty of attention from defenses.

[Chilbert arenasParticipant]

 So much talent and promis that has still yet to to make that next step. I’m still waiting for him to have that break out year. Really pulling for him still, I loved this guy coming out of UConn.

[Mr. 19134Participant]

 No what you see with Rudy Gay is what you get.  Even though he’s coming off injury Rudy’s conditioning and world class athleticism and body composition put him at an advantage over a lot of players to endure this season.  And really there hasn’t been that many injuries this year and the players all kept themselves in peak condition during the lockout (well most of the players).

Not only that in Rudy’s case the lockout helped him even further by giving him more time to rest and recover from the injury as a few other players have claimed.  So the lockout worked in his favor as did Z-Bo getting injured.  Z-Bo’s injury allowed Memphis to taylor their offense around Gay and Gasol which opened up a ton of more opportunities for Gay.  If Z-Bo was playing Gay would only be averaging around 16ppg.  

The thing with Gay is this was his chance to finally prove he’s a superstar.  But he’s just not.  He’s one of the more skilled players in the league, and one of the best athletes in the world, but he’s not Kevin Durant or Carmelo Anthony.  He’s Rudy Gay.  He’s going to dominate being the 2nd option in an offense who can handle the full load but he’s just not built for it.

I don’t understand why either because from a physical standpoint you couldn’t custom make a wing player better then Rudy.  He should be able to average like 25ppg.

[JNixonParticipant]

 He seems to be really struggling with the condensed season. I think he’ll be fine next year. He’s a very good player who should hit stride in an 82 game season with more nights off. He has already voiced complaints about the strenous game schedule due to the lockout shortened season as well.

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