Rudy Fernandez

e ball.  Portland has several other players who are capable of heroics down the stretch.  Rudy Fernandez, LaMarcus Aldridge, Steve Blake to name a few.  And these players will ha

Continue reading "Crunch Time"

me out ahead tonight.  In particular, Boston needs to pay special attention to Steve Blake and Rudy Fernandez.  Both of those guys are snipers and when they play well the Blazers are tough to beat.  I'd say the same thing for Travis Outlaw, who has vastly improved the range on his jumper this season, but his offense seems so one dimensional that I think he'll be more easily contained than Blake or Rudy.  Seriously, the guy has one move in his repetoire and couldn't dribble drive to the basket to save his life.  Outlaw either spots up with a foot on the three-point line or takes two dribbles and pulls up for an 18-footer, end of story.  If the Celtics just play him close, keep a hand in his face and don't lose him onbasket cuts when he doesn't have the ball they can completely neutralize him.

Continue reading "Celtics v. Blazers Preview Extravaganza"

ght not be what they want, but they have shown things that were not expected yet.  The play of Rudy Fernandez and Nicolas Batum almost make Portlanders forget about that other rookie...ol' what's his name.  Fernandez continues to impress with his calm matter and his ability to somehow find a way to put the ball in the basket.  His defense was originally criticized before the season began, but really has not caused a problem throughout the season.  He may not be spectacular, and take too many risks on defense, but it has not caused Coach Nate McMillan to look for a replacement.

Continue reading "Time for more PT for rookies"

t’s talk basketball.

Specifically, I’d like to talk for a little bit about Rudy Fernandez, Portland’s newest rookie darling, who arrived with quite a bang in Portland earlier this week.  For those of you not in the know, Fernandez is widely regarded as one of the premiere (if not the flat out best) players in all of Spain, and made a HUGE splash in Spain’s dramatic loss to the United States in the 2008 Olympic Basketball gold medal game, raining down threes, making plays and putting Dwight Howard on a poster with a fierce slam dunk down the stretch.

Continue reading "Welcome Distractions Courtesy of Spain"

Championship is imminent.

Another interesting piece of Blazers news is that Rudy Fernandez reported turned down $31 million to play in the NBA. CSKA of Moscow put up an offer of 20 m

Continue reading "Blazers Aquisition & Update"

g bench players, Portland will have enough minutes to dedicate to players like Sergio Rodriguez and Rudy Fernandez (as well as Augustin) that were previously incredibly hard to come by.  I like Jack, Outlaw and Webster a lot (perhaps more than I should), but the team needs the space to test their young assets and some veteran, superstar quality leadership to get them where they want to go.

Continue reading "First Draft"