Rudy Gay officially retires (Merged)

[HooperScooper]

Nice career. It's a shame he wasn't on better teams.

"I needed to humble myself and be like: 'Look, this is over,' Gay wrote in a piece for The Players' Tribune on Tuesday. "But actually coming to grips with it being over, that's ... a process. One I'm honestly still dealing with, and struggle with at times. I'll still be watching games and see some of these guys missing a pass or fumbling the ball out of bounds, and I absolutely am that dude yelling at the TV like: 'I'm better than that clown. Are you kidding me?!?!?' It's not pretty.

Veteran Rudy Gay retires after 17 NBA seasons

Rudy Gay, who averaged 15.8 points and 5.6 rebounds over 17 NBA seasons since being the No. 8 pick in the 2006 draft, announced his retirement Tuesday.

www.espn.com

 

[UConnKev]

If You Followed My Career, I’d Love For You to Read This | By Rudy Gay

When you make an announcement like this one, you can’t keep it a secret from literally everyone.

www.theplayerstribune.com

 

[UConnKev]

Then, when I left B’more and went up to UConn, I learned a lesson from Jim Calhoun … I don’t even know exactly what about. I guess you could maybe say about being responsible for your actions.

But, more than anything, I learned that it’s a cold world.

Freezing cold.

That was my first time away from home, so it was a crazy learning experience. And Coach Calhoun, God love him, he’s the best, but that guy … he could absolutely be a nut sometimes. Just in terms of the level of precision he demanded. I’m thankful for that overall. It prepared me well for the NBA. But there was this one time….

Dead of winter. Freshman year. Gotta be like 10 below zero. I have this 8 a.m. class. And it’s a MONDAY, by the way. So, what do I do? I sleep in. I miss the class. Instead of going to class, I head straight to the team breakfast. I’m like: The sun’s barely up! No one will even know if I don’t go to that lecture.

I walk to the cafeteria wearing this gigantic, oversized winter jacket, some sweatpants, and those big-ass Timberlands everyone used to wear back then. As soon as I grab my eggs and some juice and take a seat … there’s Coach, snagging the chair right next to me.

“Hey, Rudy! How’s your morning going?”

Play it cool, Rude.

“Oh, good! Cold one out. But good, good.”

Silence.

“Wonderful. Wonderful!”

More silence.

I’m looking straight down at my eggs, not lifting my head up, not saying anything. Just hoping that maybe he’ll leave and go talk to someone else. But….

He doesn’t leave.

“So, how was class this morning, Rudy?”

Wait, does he know? Are you kidding me? Did he talk to the roosters or something? Or does he really just want to know how class was? Maybe he’s just curious.

So, then it’s like … to lie, or not to lie? Right? That was my choice.

And I was 18, sooooooooo….

“Oh good, Coach. It was good! You know, class is so important. Always want to be learning.”

I’m shaking my head right now remembering this.

Coach Calhoun, he’s not someone you can just trick and keep it movin’.

He says, “Oh yeah?”

He points to my boy.

“Because this guy right here, you know what he told me?” (You know who you are, you rat!) “He was in class, and he told me you weren’t there.”

Then, I kid you not, Coach Calhoun, I still can’t believe this … he looks at me and is like, “OK, here’s what’s going to happen now….”

When he laid it out, for a second, I thought maybe he was joking. But….

Coach Calhoun doesn’t joke like that.

He made me get up from the table, leave the cafeteria, walk outside and … run a damn mile.

Right through the middle of campus.

Picture it. Six-foot-nine dude, big-ass jacket on, sprinting down the quad. Timberlands sliding all over the place. Sleet all up in my eyes. People looking at me like I’m nuts.

“Chop, chop,” Coach Calhoun yelled, sending me off. “Get yer’ ass out there and run, Rudy. Since you’re so well-rested, it shouldn’t be a problem for you.”

 

[UConnKev]

Really insightful stuff. The Kobe story is great.

 

[UConnKev]

 

[microfich]

Fantastic penning from one of our GOATs.
I'll miss you Rudy like I miss our dog that was named after him.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

Best wishes on retirement, Rudy!

As crazy as it sounds with all of his accolades, I always felt like he held back a little during his sophomore season so as not to get injured before the draft. Averaged around 15/game but I always got the impression that he could easily put up 20-25ppg if he really wanted to that year.

 

[UCTitleTown]

One Husky I wanted to stay another year. I worked with his cousin.

 

[REB1094]

Rudy doesn’t get enough love in the NBA world because he doesn’t have a ring, but he had a great career

15.8 points a game across SEVENTEEN seasons and well over 1000 games. He was an automatic bucket for a decade

Top 100 all time scorer in league history. Ahead of guys like Kyrie Irving, Chris Webber, Stephon Marbury

 

[UCHuskies08]

this will always make me laugh

 

[AZHuskiePop]

My old comments about Rudy still apply:
If the creator intentionally set out to make a basketball player the results would look like something like Rudy ;
height. - perfect
athletism - through the roof
shoot - check
passing - check
rebound -cheek
handle - check
BB IQ - check

This perfection was always a blessing and a curse
It enabled him to have an extremely long career and make a lot of money and have multiple memorable performances .
However the flip side was it created expectations of a generational super star that were almlost impossible to attain .

Enjoy your next career Rudy you made us proud , it was always a joy to see you play

 

[Edward Sargent]

What a beautiful read from a beautiful person

 

[Kolumbo]

This may be the Grizzlies - Lakers game. Kobe shoots over Rudy at the 1:15 mark

 

[YearoftheHusky]

 

[Scrutineer]

Lavin was breaking up as he was thinking of what Majerus just said, "I'm not a big Gay guy". You can see the wheels turning as Lavin smiles as if he's thinking maybe you're not gay, Rick, but you are big!

That year's team didn't put out the effort to match their talent, and that included Rudy. Hardly anyone ever dove for a loose ball, for example. Maybe because they were so talented they figured they'd win no matter what they did, or maybe in the backs of their minds they didn't want to risk injury and miss out on a big pay day in the NBA. We'll never know but some of the things Rudy said make it sound as if he still has regrets about how that season played out.

The game at UMass seemed to be a microcosm of how the season would end. We lost a game we should have easily won. Their fans were wild, as if they'd just won the NC. Their star made a ridiculous shot at the end of the first half and jumped up on one of the sideline tables. They were fired up. We were thinking the adrenaline would wear off at the half and our guys would come out for the second half and run them out of the building...........nope.

 

[uh-no]

If You Followed My Career, I’d Love For You to Read This | By Rudy Gay

When you make an announcement like this one, you can’t keep it a secret from literally everyone.

www.theplayerstribune.com

damn man. them onions.