Well, I dont' think they are. I think they would have been even better with him. They did have a very similar record with him on the roster. You cannot tell me that Prince as a complementary player is better than Rudy as the same guy. Memphis was just FORCED to play a different way because Rudy wasn't there to bail them out on plays. They could have easily adjusted to the same style WITH Rudy on the team like they were doing before Rudy went down in 2010-11 (his best season btw).
The fact that they lost last season was just very unfortunate for him and he wasn't even the one to blame. I know a good amount about what happened within that organization when Rudy was on the team, so more of Rudy's jumpshot attempts had to do with the coach. It also had to do with a lot of guys relying on him to make plays. Just a psychological thing. Now, guys like Conley believe in themselves more to do it themselves and they could have done that with Rudy. It was like someone relying on their older brother to bail them out all the time.
But I don't care, no one believed in this team with or without Rudy for the most part. What's even more funny is how people think OKC would have just ran through Memphis with Westbrook on the team when they forgot Memphis has beat them with Westbrook with and without Rudy. I said it a million times, but Memphis is just a bad matchup for them and now you know why. An elite defensive team with elite bigs vs their overrated bigs is not a good receipe for them. I've always said we would get another shot at them and beat them, unfortunately it was without Westbrook so of course people will try to downplay it but whatever.
Spurs will beat Grizz showing old signs from February. Duncan will eat z bo. Book it.
That's fine. Marc will just eat, then what?
Here me out: if you look at how teams defend the grizzlies, there is absolutely no fear that Mike Conley will beat them either by driving in for a layup or making a shot from the outside. It would be so much easier if Gay were a 3 point shooter, but when 90% of your plays are post up plays and you have Gasol and Randolph down low, with every team's defender sagging off Conley to clutter the paint, ask yourself were can Rudy begin to get good looks.
I don't see hollins trying to get Rudy more involved either. Half the time Rudy stands out on the perimeter and acts like I facilitator to get the ball down to our bigs. How does this relate to Mike Conley? Well for one thing, I believe that Conley, as well as Hollins, relies far too much on our bigs to get a good shot. It is almost a lazy way to play basketball and it is certainly a far less attacking style that the grizzlies need to be playing with.
I believe that Conley should be LIMITED to the amount of dump downs he can do in a game, because he is more than capable to drive the lane. So in a sense he is settling for the easy play. I also think that Rudy has accepted this type of game, but none of the way the team plays offense HELPS Rudy Gay in any way. There is no motion to give Rudy any rhythm. Hollins needs to MAKE it an imperative in every game to get Rudy going and not stick to this boring style of offense.
My point is that while you guys are looking for 3 point shooters to help space the floor, that you need to realize that the issue of spacing is a MIke Conley issue. Unless he challenges the defense on a regular basis, nothing is going to change
This was before the trade. The issue was Conley being more aggressive and to stop relying on having 3 good players to do things. Rudy was just the scapegoat because he was the "overpaid star". But, most of the time with Memphis, people only watched the national TV games or looked at the stats and wanted to say Rudy was a bad fit. Its way more to it than that.
