The Legend of Rudy Fernandez
After watching the Blazers’ Petteri Koponen struggle mightily to bring the ball up against summer league competition last night, I basically crossed him off the list of guards in the Blazers’ system (which basically answered some of these questions). Even without Koponen, that guard glut currently includes Jerryd Bayless, Steve Blake, Sergio Rodriguez, Rudy Fernandez and Brandon Roy. Obviously, two of those guys, Bayless and Roy, are locked in stone.
The Oregonian’s Jason Quick, who is always a great read, makes it sound like Fernandez is not only the third guy to be a lock for the future in the Portland backcourt, but also a future star in this league. He spoke with Wally Szczerbiak’s dad Walt, a former star in Europe and current U.S. rep for the Spanish ACB League about what the NBA can expect from Fernandez this season and in the future.
Fernandez this season won his second MVP of the Copa del Rey, becoming the first player to earn the award twice since it began to be awarded in 1990. Other recent MVPs include Pau Gasol (2001) and Jorge Garbajosa (2005).
As a result, Szczerbiak agrees that Fernandez has generated a “buzz” unmatched by other Europeans coming to the NBA.
“I think that’s because he stayed (in Spain) so many years, and he was able to play well in some of the top competitions. There were guys who came over earlier _ Sasha Pavlovic, Bostjan Nochbar _ who didn’t create the buzz he did because they came over right away.”
Szczerbiak had very high praise for Fernandez, repeatedly calling him “an exceptional athlete.”
“He is a very athletic kid, very good with the alley oop, and a very good shooter,” Szczerbiak said. “He has worked on a step-back move, and he can get to the rim pretty much on a straight line. I haven’t seen him be the type of driver who changes direction. But he has very good range – I don’t see him having a problem with the NBA three-point range. And he’s a competitor. He really plays hard to win. He is smart on the defensive end as far as drawing charges. He would get a lot of calls because of his reputation, but he earned that reputation.”
Some have been tempted to compare Fernandez to San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili, but Blazers guard Sergio Rodriguez has always said Fernandez reminds him more of Sacramento’s Kevin Martin. Szczerbiak said he disagrees with the Ginobili comparison, but likes Rodriguez’s take on Martin.
“I don’t know if he puts the ball on the floor like Ginobili does, but I can see Kevin Martin,” Szczerbiak said. “I think he’s like Rex Chapman. Rudy has more of a 3-2 skill (small forward/shooting guard) where Ginobili is more of a 1-2 (point guard/shooting guard).”
Source: The Oregonian
July 16th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Xavier Garcia says:
(You guys misspelled Fernandez on your header, just a heads up)
July 16th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Dime Magazine says:
Thanks for the catch. It’s fixed.
- PC
July 16th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Spliff 2 My Lou says:
Its only a matter of time before us Latinos surpass the white dude population in the L.
July 16th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Michorizo says:
If us Latinos took over the League, none of the teams would be over the salary cap because we would all be working for minimum wage … but we would lead the league in steals
July 16th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Stiletto says:
They are no Latinos they are Spanish Europeans
July 16th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Spliff 2 My Lou says:
@stiletto
Point taken but all Latinos are of Spanish decent. Latino is the closest term there is that accompanies all people who are of Spanish ancestry and indian ancestry as is the case of most central/ south american peoples. I’ve never been a fan of the term Hispanic. Latino can even be used to describe carribean spanish speaking people who have African lineage.
July 16th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Spliff 2 My Lou says:
@michorizo
True that. In most cases we would be paid less than minimum wage or in cash so the team doesn’t have to pay payroll taxes. We would also never foul out since we would be undocumented on the roster/ lineup.
July 16th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
TG says:
Everything else I’ve read has been praising Kopenen…not only for his ability to run the team, but for his shooting ability and his size. So I wouldn’t scratch him of the Blazers’ list so fast…it sounds like they are leaning toward signing him rather than letting him go back to Europe and losing him for years to come (since he would sign a long-term deal with a big buyout if he went back to Europe)
July 16th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
JC says:
Petteri looked SHOOK. The point guard can’t turn his back to the defender 35 feet away from the basket as he’s bringing the ball up the court. That’s basically conceding to the defender that the ball handler can’t deal with the pressure. If he comes on the court in the NBA, teams are going to know to press him just when he gets past the 3/4 court mark. I agree he plays with some grit and toughness at times, but I think he’d be better served at the highest level overseas. Get your Euros Petteri. Check the exchange rate!
July 16th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
carlos burgos a.k.a daquest?on says:
people from spain are not latinos, they are european. Not even ginobili is latino, he is argentinian and argentines consider themselves european. Puerto Ricans, dominicans, cubans and other south american groups such as mexicans are latinos
July 16th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Marcus says:
@ Spliff 2 My Lou
In Spain we don’t buy the latino label. “Latino can even be used to describe carribean spanish speaking people who have African lineage” as you said. But not spaniards. It could be disrespectful for the other cultures in the country such as Basque, Catalan… and many others. Not that they’re all blond, but neither are latinos.
July 16th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
carlos burgos a.k.a daquest?on says:
yea marcus is telling the truth, spaniards and argentines think they are better than all of the other spanish speaking ppl
July 16th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
carlos burgos a.k.a daquest?on says:
@ Michorizo and Spiff 2 My Lou wtfff are u guys saying?? r u mexicans???? u must b mexicans
July 16th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Spliff 2 My Lou says:
All this is up to interpretation. Of course Spaniards aren’t gonna refer to themselves as Latinos but unfortunately people from the U.S. refer to all spanish speakers as Latinos. We could all refer to ourselves as what country we most identify with. Latino is just a generic term. Its spans a wide variety of nationalties and skin colors unlike the term Black or White.
And to whoever said above that Manu sees himself as European in very wrong. He would call himself Argentenian first and south American second. But generically he is considered a Latino by U.S. Americans.
And yes I’m second generation Mexican.
July 16th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
carlos burgos a.k.a daquest?on says:
dude ask any argentine and they will say they are european
July 16th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Spliff 2 My Lou says:
I don’t know any argentinians but I know a world map and Argentina is in south America. I know soccer and the argentine team didn’t play in the euro championship. Show me an Argentinian who says he’s European and I’ll show you an idiot.
On another note I remember one time in a DIME post I called Manu a European type player and everybody killed me on the fact that he wasn’t European.
This would be like Yao saying he’s African and wanting to be taken seriously. Its all good. We’re just all Earthlings anyway. Peace.
July 16th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
the real marcus says:
yao saying he’s an african – ROFL… that is an instant classic…
and heck, people need a refresher course on world geography… i just hope rudy fernandez is a better version of “the machine that ray allen shook off”…
we’re out like south american euros…
July 16th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
carlos burgos a.k.a daquest?on says:
im not saying i consider them europeans i said that they think themselves as europeans even though they are in south america