Rudy is very good playing off the ball. Cutting to the rim and shooting from the three point line are two things he can do well, and those are complementary skills, because if his defender protects the rim he can shoot the three, he has such a quick release. But if the defender gets closer to Rudy, he won´t be able to provide help near the rim and will get surprised by Rudy if he gets distracted for a second. In order to get the best of these abilities, Rudy needs a point guard with great passing skills out there though, someone able to find him in the right place, as Sergio Rodriguez was in Rudy´s rookie season, when he made the all time rookie record of three pointers in a regular season and participated in the all star dunk contest, thanks to his many alley-oops from Sergio´s passes). Once Sergio left the Blazers, PGs finding Rudy cutting to the rim has happened only occasionally:
Rudy is a great passer, with an amazing variety, making his passing game impredictable. His basketball IQ is off the charts. Many of his teammates considered him the best passer, in a Blazer team with Andre Miller in its roster! By the way, most of them considered him the best shooter.Link
Lob especialist (Nené will be happy), mostly from pick & roll:
Link1 Link2 Link Link4 Link5 Link Link7 Link8 Link8 Link9
In transition: Link1 Link Link3
Rudy will provide energy and effort all game long. You can take that to the bank.
Defense: Great oportunistic defender, always very active, defends the passing lanes very well, disrupts the offense and helps his teammates, sometimes a bit too risky, not great keeping his man in front of him, although he has improved last season. Again, high basketball IQ.
He´s been clutch, but we don´t have enough of a track record, because he couldn't have many opportunities in Brandon Roy´s territory, for obvious reasons. Link1 Link2
Sometimes the perfect storm happens:
defense+2p+steal+3 in less than five seconds
PG?: Last December the Blazers surprised the Pacers with Rudy at PG position and won a game they were going to lose because his only reliable PG, Andre Miller, got ill, but the experiment ended later on because Rudy is a not a good ballhandler for the PG position and teams adjusted. But he can play some point and be an unexpected weapon at point.
Rudy playing point guard vs. Pacers.
Rudy is an oportunistic offensive rebounder: Link1 Link2
McMillan said almost laughing: "This guy never takes the same shot twice". Link 1 Link Link3
-Marketable: Rudy is a selling machine. It helps that women like him, apparently.
-Very high plus-minus stats when playing with the Blazers starting unit.
Rudy can improve playing in a different system than Nate´s or with a different coach. George Karl might be a very good fit for him. Take a look at his performance in the last World Championship. He could be compared with Kevin Durant.
In their last ACB regular seasons Luis Scola had an efficiency (similar to PER) of 21,1, Marc Gasol got 27,8 and Rudy 25,1, but Rudy made that number with less playing time than Marc. Time adjusted Rudy had a better record than both Scola and Marc Gasol before coming to the NBA.
-Most exciting player to watch since I follow basketball. Lots of great Youtubes:
Rudy Fernandez 4,3,2,1...in the face of Yao Ming
