Maybe they're overpaying by a couple of million / year on a wing / swingman position that isn't exactly hard to get production from in the league, but so what? 100 times out of 100, I'd sign the guy who actually plays well on my team and has chemistry with my players over the character issues guy who sucked and didn't start playing well until he was signed elsewhere. Memphis got a long look at both players and chose wisely given their particular circumstances. Players don't magically produce the same numbers for different franchises given the same minutes. That's not how that works at all.
Rudy leads the Griz to victory over Mayo and the Mavs by double digits tonight. OJ Mayo: 10 pts on 3-11 shooting, 3 rebs, 4 assists, 5 turnovers Rudy Gay: Game-high 26 pts on 8-20 shooting (8-8 from ft line), 5 rebs, 2 assists, 4 steals, 3 turnovers
What's funny is that Harden, 3rd option on a finals team and only 22 at the time, was considered "not max worthy" by majority of the fans here. I think there's some sort of Rudy Gay fetish among some members here due to the trade.
Neither. They're both chuckers who are terrible defenders and not good enough over the long run to justify the number of shots they attempt. But if forced to choose, Mayo. He's a better 6th man in the Jason Terry mode than Gay is with his "I wish I was Durant but don't have half his skills".
You're mad that you got your baseless, fact-free Rudy Gay opinions refuted a page ago, so now you're just going after other posters? Really?
And no, by the way, he cannot. He needs the ball in his hands to produce, and he's too one-dimensional and inefficient to justify it. He has a place in the NBA and that's coming off the bench. The Grizz are only letting him start because they don't have any better options and because they were dumb enough to pay him the max.
Wow. Rudy Gay is a bench player now? It's not even that he's a little overpaid--like a lot of players in the league, by the way--but Rudy Gay is a bench player now? Based on no actual facts outside of his salary, compared to a similarly-producing lower paid player, which I find interesting. What's next? Joe Johnson sucks at basketball and is a bench-caliber talent as well? Thread just getting hyperbolic and dumb at this point.
If we're going to complain about hyperbole, then Rudy Gay as a bench player is a lot less of a reach than Mayo is crap that you were advocating. And comparing Rudy Gay to Joe Johnson doesn't help you with your case, given what Joe Johnson has done this year.
Joe Johnson in his prime was a better player than Rudy as well. 24, 4, 4 on 47%? Rudy will never see those kind of #'s.
No part of your post is accurate at all. I don't care if you're strawmanning or didn't read, I'll just say again what is right at the top of this very page: 1. OJ Mayo was not kept on by Memphis because OJ Mayo did not play well for Memphis, nor did he even get along with other players in Memphis. That's not "a reach," that's freaking factual. Imagine that, a team breaking ties with a player who wasn't doing well for them. Yeah, you're right though, those are some super controversial statements. Off to a great start there. 2. And then this is right in the post you're replying to: Joe Johnson was mentioned as an example of another overpaid wing player who is nevertheless starter quality. To say otherwise is to be incredibly ignorant. 3. I'm pretty sure we're just at the incredibly ignorant stage. "I have an opinion!" hurf durfery.
*shrug* No doubt. Let me make sure I've got my cast of characters right here. Your primary issue is that Rudy Gay is probably overpaid in relation to his production? You're not part of this "not a starter" stupidity and high school debate team tip, right? My answer was maybe. Sure, I could maybe get behind that. Overpaid, on an old CBA contract? Eh. He'd be making a lot less if that contract were drawn up today. But the more relevant issue was that OJ Mayo was never going to fit in at Memphis. They hated him. They sought to deal him to other teams at every opportunity. And I don't think it could be claimed that things haven't been going well for Memphis since they signed Rudy Gay either. You're welcome to debate how much of a role you think Rudy Gay has or has not played in making Memphis a perennial power in the West. My opinion on that subject: The season Gay spent injured, when Randolph had a breakout season and took the Grizzlies past the Spurs in the playoffs probably doesn't serve the notion that he is a vital piece to that team. Probably just more like helpful. But they can clearly still do without him. If we're back to "not a starter" though, I'll probably just laugh at you too and put you on ignore as well.
Gay is an interesting case, and I will explain to you why I say he's a bench player. I believe there is a category of players in the NBA who are basically "failed stars". These are guys who were told to try to become a superstar, and learned their whole lives and throughout their professional career "the offense runs through me!" They can't stop being ball hogs if they try. It's burned deep into them. They have some talent; that's why people told them to be ball hogs in the first place, because at one point it appeared they might develop into a star player. The problem is, they don't have enough talent to justify the ball hogging that they do. Their efficiency crumbles under the level of defensive scrutiny which faces ball-dominant starters. Sure, they get some points--18ppg over his career in Gay's case--but that's not hard to do when you jack up 15+ shots a game. They can't play off the ball. They never learned to do it, they've never been asked to do it, their egos are too big for them to accept it. They can only play like a superstar, but they can't make buckets with the efficiency of a superstar. Ask them to stop playing like that, and their value is gone. That's why guys like Rudy Gay are not starter material; they have the raw talent to be a starter, but their style of play does not allow it to work. This is why the Grizzlies will never be a championship team until they fix the Gay problem. However, that does not make these "failed stars" useless. What it means is that they can best serve their teams as bench players, sixth men, spark plugs who provide an offensive jolt off the bench against second units and mixed units. Their talent is enough to excel against this kind of competition, but not good enough to justify dominating the ball against true NBA regulars. They're better served making a huge contribution in 20-25mpg than bogging their team down in 35+.
