STOMP

Thats all well and good but it ignores a basic premise of this thread... that Rudy is supposed to be a stud of an offguard capable of scoring/finishing at a solid rate. Brandon would be reeling in the scoring portion of his game and being more of a distributer when paired with RF for approx. 15-20 minutes a game. His other minutes would be spent sharing the point with Blake as he's been doing. Portland wouldn't be heaping more expectations from an energy expenditure standpoint on BR, they'll have him switch how he spends his energy.

While I'd agree that Roy and Wade are comparable talents as SG/PGs, their situations are very different. The Blazers look to have more and better scoring options throughout their roster then Wade's Heat team did. Teams will have fits trying to deal with LA and Greg alone and from the looks of it Rudy may be their equal of a scorer from the perimeter... dude has also been a top assists guy in Spain as well. We are not expecting Rudy to be the 2nd coming of Smush Parker. So this scenario is actually not similar at all.

STOMP

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BuckW4GM

damn! that's brutal. tanking much?

as for the counter offer, only if you're willing to take our injury-proned, bust waiting to happen center, greg oden as well.

mook

truth is that there aren't a lot of examples of teams that used a 6'5 guy to guard the other team's point guard. Ron Harper often did it for the Bulls. Bruce Bowen and Shawn Marion often get put on a really hot point guard like Nash or Parker. but mostly these are defensive specialists who rely on other shorter guys to play point guard on offense.

it's pretty unconventional to have a 6'5 guy being the shortest man in your starting lineup. it just gives up too much quickness. Baron Davis and Chauncy Billups, the two best "big" point guards in the league, are both 6'3.

with Roy, titles like "point guard" are going to be meaningless. just like "small forward" was pretty meaningless for Scottie Pippen. but the fact is that we're going to need a 6'0 to 6'3 guard on the court for much of the game. maybe not key end-of-game situations, but in general.

STOMP

Why didn't the Celtics "need" this when they were starting 6'4 Ainge and 6'4 DJ in their last glory years? How about the Lakers when they were starting 6'5 Byron Scott and 6'9 Magic? Keep in mind that these two back courts were helping their respective franchises win championships when Zone D was illegal.

It may not be the norm to have large skilled guards, but it's not like it has to be a bad thing. I could list more examples of large back courts that have been successful if you like...

STOMP

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mook

those are some really nice examples. of course, those teams were superseded by the Detroit Pistons and Isiah Thomas.

please do. I hadn't thought of your other two examples. I'd be interested to see if you can come up with any more, particularly in the past 10 years. I couldn't, but it doesn't mean they don't exist.

if you can come up with more examples, I could definitely be persuaded.

STOMP

Kidd-Carter, Payton-McMillan, Harper-Jordan... heck I thought the late 90's Blazer mix of DA, Bonzi, and PIP playing 1-3 was pretty deadly. I would have loved to have had a healthy Greg Anthony as well, but I was very comfortable with what Portland had going... except of course for the Damon part.

Also with this upcoming Blazer combo, neither Roy and Rudy are the bulkiest 6'5 guys. At well under 200 pounds, Rudy weighs about the same as most PGs and well under what most SGs come in at. I think weight is probably more an indicator on how best a player should match up defensively then how high the top of their head is. I don't think this is nearly as big a deal as some are making it to be.

STOMP

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STOMP

following up on the questions I bought up of how Fernandez physically projects on D, yet again I'm going to bring up a thread I started a couple years back comparing pre-draft measurements.

In it I compiled the numbers of guys who went on to carve out playing time in the league. Here are the averages of PGs and SGs with Rudy's 2005 pre-draft numbers set between them.

PGs av. height 6'1.5 - lbs 186.9 - wingspan 6'5.4
Rudy 6'4.75 - 172 lbs - 6'7.5
SGs 6'4.9 - 210 - 6'10.2

So compared to others who've gone on to at least earn at least a rotation level role in the league, Rudy is about the average height for a SG, lighter then most PGs, and has a wingspan right between the two. While I'd guess (hope) that he's put on some good weight since then, he weighed 36 pounds less then Brandon did at his pre-draft.

STOMP

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GOD

Stomp, are you suggesting that Rudy is really a PG? Just wondering before I debate you.

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PorterIn2004

Not to answer for STOMP, but it certainly seems possible to me that both Roy and Fernandez could just be guards, like in the olden days. Whether or not it could work today remains to be seen but it seems worth experimenting with at least for stretches of games. Whether or not they could really effectively spend most of their time that way I'm less sure of.

GOD

I was actually just joking about debating Stomp, I actually think there is potential if not for Rudy turning into a PG, to at least be able to cover the position on and off along with Roy.

Fernandez has a few things that bode well for him and a few drawbacks when it comes to him playing any PG. In his favor is his court vision and stellar court vision. Also, his great stroke and size will make it difficult for opposing PG's to guard him. However, the drawbacks are twofold. 1) his handles are suppose to be fairly weak, at least for a PG role. 2) his defense at this point in time is known to be average at best. But, defense has not been his focus from what I gather, and he is athletic, so I could see him becoming a good PG defender if he set his mind to it since he is light and not too big. But I think it could end up that he is not as athletic as we think, he is just so light that jumping high is easy. But his higher center of gravity could hinder his lateral movement. I really don't know, kind of taking out my behind right now. Thinking out loud.

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STOMP

nope, I'm suggesting that when Brandon and Rudy are teamed and the club is playing a strict man D, it makes more sense for RF to guard the guy who is closer to his size. Of the two, Brandon is clearly the bigger guy so it makes sense to me that he'd be the primary defender on the opponent's bigger guard. Does it make more sense to have Rudy guard someone who he is a bit taller and longer then and close to the same weight or players whose length and height are about the same but he's giving up 40 pounds to? I'm suggesting the latter likely would be the tougher matchup for him. Of course defenders often make multiple switches on a single possession.

...ahhh now I see you're just joking. Oh well

STOMP

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It's_GO_Time

I think Kobe is a good example of this (ball handling and running the ofense). By many posters definition, Kobe should really be a point guard. He creates plays for himself and others off the dribble in the half court game. The team plays best with the ball in Kobe's hands.

But usally Kobe has Fisher or Farmar out there with him. Kobe plays best with a ball handling quicker guard out there with him. I personally think the same will be true with Roy.

MARIS61