Rudy Gay, Dime #25

At 25 years old, your college glory days are normally behind you. Usually – in this economy, the more appropriate world might be “hopefully” – you have a job that cuts into your video game time, cuts down on your trips out to the bar or time spent both in the mall and kickin’ it with your friends. At 25, unless you’re more than a weekend warrior, even your body starts the slow deterioration that will make you look in the mirror 20 years from now and say, “WTF happened?”

But the basketball player at 25 years old…more is expected out of him than ever. It’s a symbolic rite of passage. He’s in his prime. Rudy Gay turned 25 today.

The Grizzlies have a real chance next season. But the people surrounding Gay are a little annoyed at some of the responses to seeing Memphis play well without Gay. Watching the team go deep in the playoffs was awesome. But fans, and some analysts, have been calling for the Memphis brass to trade their best young player all summer, which makes approximately zero sense.

Before Gay injured his shoulder in a mid-February game against Philly, Memphis was 12-3 in their last 15 games. They were rolling. Gay, who’s scoring had dropped since the early part of the season, was turning up his all-around game. In the five games in February before he got hurt, UConn’s finest had at least seven rebounds in all of them while averaging close to four assists, a block and two steals a night.

Then with Gay in street clothes, everything went great for another 37 games (the Grizzlies going 22-15) until Game 7 in Oklahoma City. Memphis shot less than 40 percent, and fell behind (34 first half points) when they could’ve put the squeeze on the young Thunder. Kevin Durant went off in part because the lanky swingman was being checked by players too small to guard him. Memphis lost because they had no perimeter player who could get shots or create them in high pressure situations, and they had no one to slow down a long, and lanky wing player. Hmm, I think a guy who does all of that – and is one of the best in late-game situations – probably would’ve helped out. Memphis is a good team without Gay. But they could take it to the next level with him this year.

Rudy doesn’t particularly enjoy being compared to Kevin Durant. That’s fine. Memphis doesn’t need him to be a 25-30 a night scorer. They need his all-around game.

Turning 25 seems like a big deal. The reality is no birthday, outside of 21, really changes much. It’s not the birthday, the number, that matters so much. It’s what you do. And Memphis, with Rudy Gay back, could be doing it this year.

What are your expectations for Rudy Gay this season?

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