It doesn't work for anybody. Parsons needs to develop a shot. Rudy has a beautiful shot already that worked ok in the past but simply didn't fall last year. The smart money is on it going back to normal. And re Gay attacking the basket, he's great at it already too. He just needs to move it up on his priority list. Basically what I'm saying is that Gay could improve and be a legit All Star without actually developing any new skills.
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chauncey_Billups http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/r/randoza01.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Bowen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Allen_%28basketball%29 Chauncey became a legit point guard in year 7. ZBO rebuilt his total game and attitude in year 9 and went from a stat stuffer to awesome. Bruce Bowen went from a scrub to an all time great stopper ~year 6-8, and he was past 30 by then. Tony Allen did something similar in year 7 (but i doubt he'll sustain it as well as Bowen, different skillsets). there have to be many more, surely. To think of it, Gay reaching another level would fit right in with the other Grizzlies.
The second time wasn't a break out. It was a change of coach/team. Same with Billups and Randolph. Nobody care about Bowen and Allen. They are role players. We are talking about breaking out into an elite player.
I disagree completely re Billups and Randolph. Obviously new culture/coaching acted as accelerators, same goes for any player, they get coached. But these guys rebuilt their games, added skills, changed their individual playing styles, they became different players. How many coaches did Monta Ellis have, and he's still Monta. Re Nash, kind of. But again, what are we talking about here? Are you guys talking about Rudy Gay becoming a super star and MVP? Because that would be kind of stupid discussion. But he could easily change his game and have a 'break out' in the sense that he'd be clearly above Granger, Deng etc types. And you are kind of insulting Bowen. He's not any role player, the guy was elite and has his jersey retired by the most successful franchise in Texas. :grin: Anyway, going from a scrub to Bowen's level when you are 32 or 33 is much harder than going from Rudy Gay to a legit star in your mid 20s.
I think the Grizzlies should focus building around the two beasts they have in the paint, but that's just me. Do you think Gay can coexist with Z-Bo and Gasol? Who would fit better in their offense?
He's a solid fit, imo. Nobody's perfect. Excluding the perennial all stars.. Granger makes a bit more sense, but he's older, and he has bad sides too. Deng/Iggy would bring some good things, but I like Gay there more.
Bout time the originator entered the thread and give you my take. First of all, while it is true that most players are what they are by season 7, there are what you might call break out years: Hakeem in 94/95 against david robinson. Dirk in 2010/11 iverson in 2000/01 just 3 or 4 years ago Zach Randolph was considered a black hole, and then he came into 2010/11 playoffs and was the best forward for the entire playoffs that year. Rudy Gay is 26 years old, a lot of players by year 7 would be 28/30 year range in the OLD nba. So yes, Rudy Gay is about to show the world he's on DURANTULA's level!
for what it is worth, lionel hollins is pushing zach and marc to adapt to rudy's style of play and not the other way around. Recently, hollins mentioned that he was pushing for a faster pace which favors guys like Gay, Conley, Wroten Jr, Bayless, etc. The problem is that the grizzlies don't have enough pure shooters to play the dump it down to gasol and randolph style. Look for Marc to be more aggressive this year with the basketball all.
This sounds like the lead-in to a joke, "Stop me if you've heard this one before" The article just says he had a great training camp. I'll believe it when I see it in regular season games against elite SFs who he will have to defend.
