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All of that is fine (and I wasn't specifically responding to what you said, I've seen people actually praise Rudy far too much), but what he does overseas is completely irrelevant to me. Chinemelu Elonu put up a 20/14 game, is getting playing time, but he was also the 59th pick in the draft for the Lakers and will never see time on the court over here. My opinions of players are always going to be based on what they can do here. I've had enough of these guys flying across the ocean, getting drafted, and then playing worse than some of our own OTR members would once they arrive to training camp. The things I said about Rudy, as an NBA player, have been true...and for the first two years of his career, he was actually fine with being in Portland, and he did have opportunities, and I didn't see the player some describe him to be. I see a one-dimensional player that is a liability on the defensive end. If he's not nailing threes, he can be the worst player on the court. Contribution-wise, what's the difference between Rudy and Eddie House? Hustle? That may be it.

First of all, I never said that he was a great defender. It's actually his main weakness. Although he has the potential to become a much better defender and is already not that bad actually... Still has to work and improve his defense. And you just can't judge him on what he's done in Portland so far. The fact that he's had some trouble in Portland, the fact that it's not the right place for him definitely explains why he wasn't at the best of his potential. In terms of pure talent Rudy is a fantastic player, again he's a very good shooter, passer, ball handler, slasher and dunker, I know that for a fact. And he hasn't shown all what he can do yet. And I definitely hope that he will in Dallas. I'm sure that he can at least. Second of all, I can't talk about the others, but the reason why I fell in love with his game was because, contrary to many people here and maybe even everyone, I already knew about Fernandez before he went to the NBA. And watched him many times in Europe. And here Rudy was definitely among the best players. In his first season with the Joventut Badalona (the only club he played with in Europe this for 5 seasons in a row) Joventut made the Finals in the Cupa del Rey (King's Cup in English) which is one of the major bball event in Spain. And, even if Joventut eventually did not win, Rudy was named MVP of the event, this at the age of 18 (!!). Youngest player to ever win a Copa del Rey MVP (was even younger than Gasol when he did). In 2006, at the age of 20, he made Joventut win the Eurochallenge, which is one of the three major basketball events in Europe. He was again named MVP. In 2006, again, he was named best young European basketball player of the year, thanks to the unbelievable performances he had in the Euroleague, in the FIBA World Cup with Spain and, as I said above, in the Eurochallenge. In 2007 he made his team win the Catalan Basketball Cup (which Rudy and Badalona already won in 2005) and Rudy was named MVP of the event. in 2008 he led Joventut to the Finals of the Copa del Rey again, and this time Joventut won the event and Rudy was once again MVP. Then he makes his team win in the ULEB Cup (one of the two best European basketball events), and is once again named MVP. Fernandez has also been one of the top key players of the Spanish national team since 2004, and is even the second best player of the team right behind Pau. In the last Olympics he was even the best player of the team for the last two games of the event, the semis and ESPECIALLY the Finals against the USA. His performance against Team USA was just unbelievable, he even was the best scorer of his team with 22 pts in ONLY 18 minutes (couldn't play more because of foul trouble). And, as well all know, he even destroyed Dwight Howard during the game. It's first thanks to him that Spain almost beat Team USA that year. So honestly it's hard to do better than that... Now Rudy has had some troubles and has clearly not played at the best he can do, not even close, in his NBA days yet. But it's just TOTALLY unfair to judge him only for that. And everyone who watched him play in Europe KNOW that he can do WAY better than that (even if, once again, he hasn't been that bad in Portland..). Now maybe he is not made to play in the NBA. Maybe he's only made to play in Europe. It already happened to many European players. But, even if it was true, it still would be totally asinine to consider him as an "average' player because of that, it's just impossible to bypass the success that he's had in Europe. Jasikevicius for example didn't have a great NBA career (although I'm not sure that things would have been the same if he arrived in the league earlier... and played with a different team...) but he's still a terrific, a FANTASTIC player. His palmares in Europe is unreal. And he even destroyed Team USA all by himself in 2004... And if his last shot against Team USA was good at the end of the semis in the 2000 he would have done it twice. Amazing player, I don't care if he didn't succeed in the NBA, Jasikevicius is an amazing player and this cannot even be argued. Just like players like Oscar, Papaloukas, Bodiroga, etc, etc, etc... who never played in the NBA HAVE definitely to be considered among the best players of all time. But anyway I am sure that Rudy can succeed in the NBA. He was just not in the right team, but he has everything a player wants to play in the NBA. Besides the reason why many Europeans usually do not succeed in the big league is because they are not athletic enough.. And it's not the case for Rudy. He's very athletic. Again I am sure that Rudy can succeed in this league, and now that he's in a team that fits his game more I expect him to have a great season. Rudy MIP next year ? It is definitely possible, don't be surprised if that happens... However if he doesn't succeed with Dallas, then I think that the best for him would be to get back to Spain in 2012... But I would be surprised personally... I can't wait to see what he's gonna do next year.

I believe in the FSM. It's the truth unlike god

Aside from him having trouble logging minutes, I have to point out that Rudy isn't that great of a player to begin with. When does he play defense? Getting a steal here or there isn't exactly defense, or else Iverson would've been considered an excellent defensive player. He can jump and is athletic, but what does he actually do with the ball? He has a lot of trouble hitting from inside the arc, and he's not on Korver's level shooting the three (or any elite three-point shooter's, to be honest). I just don't see why many have fallen in love with his game.

Hmmm, I'm not sure what the Spurs are thinking with that trade. Kawhi is a great rebounder and perimeter defender, but he's really limited offensively. As least with George Hill you have a decent defender who can score in a variety of ways, perfect sixth man player mold. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how this pans out.