Larrier NBA Mock Draft

[Northbound]

Stats are great, what did he win at Uconn & in the NBA?

So does that mean Milt Wagner and Nazr Mohammad are better than Rudy Gay - because they won titles in college and the league? Come on man, you know that makes no sense.

 

[EBonz30]

You’re one of those people that’s gonna rip on Zion when he’s not lebron.

No, not sure how you would come to that conclusion.

I give LeBron great credit, I never saw an athlete have more expectations coming out of High School & LeBron has obviously over exceeded all of them, really impressive.

 

[EBonz30]

So does that mean Milt Wagner and Nazr Mohammad are better than Rudy Gay - because they won titles in college and the league? Come on man, you know that makes no sense.

Please read my posts above, not talking about titles.

A lot of the way I look at players and judge them, especially when we are talking about good or great players is how much do they effect the game in a positive way. Rudy from my point of view hasn’t had a lot of years where he has made a team better or effect the games in a positive way. If we ask all coaches he has played for in the NBA I believe they would repeat my conclusion.

Stats are one of the things I discuss when I am in a conversation about comparing players or analyzing a player, but not the only thing, not even the top 2 or 3 items I use.

If we were to talk about Baseball, stats have much more of importance when it comes to analyzing & judging players I believe.

 

[NielsisGood]

I don’t agree, in my view Rudy is one of the greatest talents to ever play at Uconn, if not top 3. To me K. Leonard had a similar skill set & athleticism to Rudy coming out of college, again agree to disagree. Love the discussion topic, I enjoy hearing your point of view, stay classy.

My post wasn't about UConn, it was about the NBA landscape, which you seem to be unfamiliar with. Even LeBron doesn't have much of a track record of success when he's the only star on a team. Anthony Davis hasn't led a team to a deep playoff run, KG spent 10+ years either not making the playoffs or getting bounced in the first round (2004 being the lone exception) before joining up with other studs in Boston. Those are all generational talents and ATG players that have a tough time making the playoffs/going on a deep run.


Rudy was never projected to be at that level to begin with, and even if he was, there's plenty of evidence that it's really hard even for ATG players like that to routinely lead their teams to championships or deep playoff runs. Can't blame Rudy for not doing that, he's been very good for a long time and just hasn't had the opportunity to play with many other studs in their primes.

 

[EBonz30]

My post wasn't about UConn, it was about the NBA landscape, which you seem to be unfamiliar with. Even LeBron doesn't have much of a track record of success when he's the only star on a team. Anthony Davis hasn't led a team to a deep playoff run, KG spent 10+ years either not making the playoffs or getting bounced in the first round (2004 being the lone exception) before joining up with other studs in Boston. Those are all generational talents and ATG players that have a tough time making the playoffs/going on a deep run.


Rudy was never projected to be at that level to begin with, and even if he was, there's plenty of evidence that it's really hard even for ATG players like that to routinely lead their teams to championships or deep playoff runs. Can't blame Rudy for not doing that, he's been very good for a long time and just hasn't had the opportunity to play with many other studs in their primes.

I don’t have the energy to get into the dynamics of the NBA right now....

I will just leave you with this, NBA is a players league so you can’t have it both ways.

The great players at least make the playoffs year in, year out no matter who their coach is, who is on their team, are there a outlier or two (Davis, etc.), but for the most part if your a top 10-15 player you make the playoffs ala George, Butler, DeRozan, Harden, Paul, Curry, Durant, Thompson, LeBron, Kyrie, Leonard, Conley, Lillard, Wall, etc...

What I wrote above has nothing to do with Rudy so I am not sure why you brought this into the conversation.

This is the argument against Melo the last few years, you can’t have it both ways, he’s not a great player anymore for the last 3 years so he had no right to hold up a team for hostage, cry that he didn’t like the coach/GM & win 30 games at the same time because the players above it doesn’t matter they get to the playoffs year in, year out no matter what the situation is.

 

[NielsisGood]

I don’t have the energy to get into the dynamics of the NBA right now....

I will just leave you with this, NBA is a players league so you can’t have it both ways.

The great players at least make the playoffs year in, year out no matter who their coach is, who is on their team, are there a outlier or two (Davis, etc.), but for the most part if your a top 10-15 player you make the playoffs ala George, Butler, DeRozan, Harden, Paul, Curry, Durant, Thompson, LeBron, Kyrie, Leonard, Conley, Lillard, Wall, etc...

What I wrote above has nothing to do with Rudy so I am not sure why you brought this into the conversation.

This is the argument against Melo the last few years, you can’t have it both ways, he’s not a great player anymore for the last 3 years so he had no right to hold up a team for hostage, cry that he didn’t like the coach/GM & win 30 games at the same time because the players above it doesn’t matter they get to the playoffs year in, year out no matter what the situation is.

Butler missed the playoffs just as much as he barely made them as the main guy. A ton of the guys you mentioned were also playing either with each other or another star on their team. Prime Kobe couldn't make the playoffs as a solo act, prime Wade struggled to make the playoffs solo as well.

Of course that relates to your insane expectations for Rudy though, because the fact is that there are very few players that just having them on a team guarantees a playoff spot. Rudy isn't a disappointment just because he was never a top 10 guy in the league, your expectations just weren't based in reality.

 

[EBonz30]

Butler missed the playoffs just as much as he barely made them as the main guy. A ton of the guys you mentioned were also playing either with each other or another star on their team. Prime Kobe couldn't make the playoffs as a solo act, prime Wade struggled to make the playoffs solo as well.

Of course that relates to your insane expectations for Rudy though, because the fact is that there are very few players that just having them on a team guarantees a playoff spot. Rudy isn't a disappointment just because he was never a top 10 guy in the league, your expectations just weren't based in reality.

Agree to disagree, Fact Butler made the playoffs 3 out of 4 years, the one year he didn’t 42-40 9th in Conference. Like I said before I figure Rudy would be a All Star multiple times in his career when he came out of college, in my eyes his talent was the best since Ray coming out of Uconn.

Actually similar to a Jimmy Butler or Paul
George, he has that type of talent/skill set.

Agree to disagree, thanks for the discussion, nice points.

 

[superjohn]

This thread is really strange. One poster seems to have a beef with Rudy's career, so in response to that a couple of posters compared Rudy and Ray Allen's NBA careers as if they are in any way comparable. Next, Rudy's Uconn career is being put on the same level as Donyell, Ray, and Caron.

Rudy had a really good Uconn career and a solid NBA career but these comparisons are crazy.

 

[BUConn10]

I love Rudy Gay.

 

[MSGSeven]

I love Rudy Gay.

EBonz must not be a big Gay guy like the Rickster RIP

 

[EBonz30]

This thread is really strange. One poster seems to have a beef with Rudy's career, so in response to that a couple of posters compared Rudy and Ray Allen's NBA careers as if they are in any way comparable. Next, Rudy's Uconn career is being put on the same level as Donyell, Ray, and Caron.

Rudy had a really good Uconn career and a solid NBA career but these comparisons are crazy.

Don’t have a beef with Rudy’s career, he’s obviously has had a very successful NBA career, like I have been saying the whole time, coming out of college with his athleticism, talent, & skill set I thought he would’ve had a better NBA career than he has.

Like I’ve been saying I am rooting for Rudy.

As far as Uconn career comparisons to those other players you mention, you are absolutely right, it’s an absurd comparison.

 

[EBonz30]

EBonz must not be a big Gay guy like the Rickster RIP

Lol, I love the yard!!!!

 

[NielsisGood]

Agree to disagree, Fact Butler made the playoffs 3 out of 4 years, the one year he didn’t 42-40 9th in Conference. Like I said before I figure Rudy would be a All Star multiple times in his career when he came out of college, in my eyes his talent was the best since Ray coming out of Uconn.

Actually similar to a Jimmy Butler or Paul
George, he has that type of talent/skill set.

Agree to disagree, thanks for the discussion, nice points.

And again there's really no "agree to disagree", you simply set your expectations way too high. In fact, I shouldn't even have to defend Rudy having a good career to someone who had been so unrealistic to begin with. Rudy's prime years aren't even that different from Butler or George anyways, and it's not like either of those guys have won anything big either.


If those 2 guys are your baseline comparison to Rudy then you have no right to be disappointed, prime Rudy was only slightly worse than either.

 

[EBonz30]

And again there's really no "agree to disagree", you simply set your expectations way too high. In fact, I shouldn't even have to defend Rudy having a good career to someone who had been so unrealistic to begin with. Rudy's prime years aren't even that different from Butler or George anyways, and it's not like either of those guys have won anything big either.


If those 2 guys are your baseline comparison to Rudy then you have no right to be disappointed, prime Rudy was only slightly worse than either.

It is agree to disagree since my expectations were higher than yours coming out of college, lol.

 

[superjohn]

Don’t have a beef with Rudy’s career, he’s obviously has had a very successful NBA career, like I have been saying the whole time, coming out of college with his athleticism, talent, & skill set I thought he would’ve had a better NBA career than he has.

Like I’ve been saying I am rooting for Rudy.

As far as Uconn career comparisons to those other players you mention, you are absolutely right, it’s an absurd comparison.

Almost as absurd as comparing his NBA career to Ray Allen's. No disrespect to Rudy but come on...

 

[NielsisGood]

It is agree to disagree since my expectations were higher than yours coming out of college, lol.

It's not agree to disagree because saying that assumes your expectations were based in reality or that you had any right to expect that in the first place. That would be like me talking * about being disappointed that Scarlett Johansson didn't come to my door this morning naked and holding a check for a billion dollars.

 

[EBonz30]

It's not agree to disagree because saying that assumes your expectations were based in reality or that you had any right to expect that in the first place. That would be like me talking * about being disappointed that Scarlett Johansson didn't come to my door this morning naked and holding a check for a billion dollars.

Agree to disagree....

 

[superjohn]

It's not agree to disagree because saying that assumes your expectations were based in reality or that you had any right to expect that in the first place. That would be like me talking * about being disappointed that Scarlett Johansson didn't come to my door this morning naked and holding a check for a billion dollars.

Curious, why didn't he have any right to think Rudy would turn out better than he did in the NBA?

 

[NielsisGood]

Curious, why didn't he have any right to think Rudy would turn out better than he did in the NBA?

Rudy is statistically pretty close to the PG/Butler tier of player, and anything clearly above that means you're talking about a generational type player.

 

[NielsisGood]

Agree to disagree....

Agreed that you are wrong and not based in reality.

 

[EBonz30]

Agreed that you are wrong and not based in reality.

I am wrong & not based in reality, thanks for the kind words, I expect better out of posters in the yard, where’s the class?

 

[superjohn]

Rudy is statistically pretty close to the PG/Butler tier of player, and anything clearly above that means you're talking about a generational type player.

Paul George and Jimmy Butler? I love Rudy but he's not even close to those players. Didn't want to join in this thread because I don't want to be seen as disparaging Rudy in any way but come on...

Even if Rudy was close to those players why doesn't someone have the right to think a player will turn out better than they did? It just seems like such a weird thing to say. There are all sorts of players who turned out worse or better than most peoples expectations coming out of school.

 

[NielsisGood]

Paul George and Jimmy Butler? I love Rudy but he's not even close to those players. Didn't want to join in this thread because I don't want to be seen as disparaging Rudy in any way but come on...

Even if Rudy was close to those players why doesn't someone have the right to think a player will turn out better than they did? It just seems like such a weird thing to say. There are all sorts of players who turned out worse or better than most peoples expectations coming out of school.

Oh please, who are you kidding? You've been hovering around this thread for a couple days waiting for another chance to go head to head with me. Look at their numbers compared to Rudy, there's really not a huge difference across the board.


Dude set the expectation of being a 7 time all star and a dude that can pretty much carry teams to the playoffs. There's only a few of those types of guys in the league, and I wouldn't say it's realistic to expect anyone other than the highest of generational talents to be at that level. Best you can do for someone like Rudy is be hopeful that they have something close to a 100th percentile outcome.

 

[NielsisGood]

I am wrong & not based in reality, thanks for the kind words, I expect better out of posters in the yard, where’s the class?

Again expectations not based on reality. Why do you expect a pat on the back for being a moron?

 

[superjohn]

Oh please, who are you kidding? You've been hovering around this thread for a couple days waiting for another chance to go head to head with me. Look at their numbers compared to Rudy, there's really not a huge difference across the board.


Dude set the expectation of being a 7 time all star and a dude that can pretty much carry teams to the playoffs. There's only a few of those types of guys in the league, and I wouldn't say it's realistic to expect anyone other than the highest of generational talents to be at that level. Best you can do for someone like Rudy is be hopeful that they have something close to a 100th percentile outcome.

Don't flatter yourself, not a good look. This is incredibly silly, Rudy isn't close to those players.

Paul George and Jimmy Butler have been top 25 players in this league with a boatload of all-star appearances between the two of them, all-nba teams, all-defensive teams, and making the playoff almost every season. Rudy Gay has been in that 75-100 player range for his career. He's never made an all-star game, never made an all-nba team, never made an all-defensive team, and only been to the playoffs once.