No. Rather, prolific scorer in the making. Which could still make him a star. Potentially up to T-Mac's level at one point. But, he still struggles to score effectively (even last night, 11-26...0-7 on three pointers this year thus far) and his play-making ability (for others) is still lacking. He may improve in these areas though. He clearly is a better player then Battier will ever be...
Gay just got triple teamed last night and with ft conversions he went 6 for 12 in the forth quarter. You see what you want to see cabbage but gay is the real deal. The magic threw everything at Gay and couldn't stop him. Ron Artest couldn't stop him either. Nobody can stop Gay. I can't wait till the euro-thug and d.arthur and gay get another crack at the rockets.
gay's ceiling imo is vince carter when vince is at the top of his game. gay's gonna have to learn to pass more to reach that level but i believe he can. vince's handles aren't great, but comined with his first step they're all he needs.
I agree with the passing part. But you have to remember that Gay is the only go to guy we have. Last night was gay's coming out party. He showed the magic that he was for real and ultimately the whole nba. I don't see anybody stopping gay at this point. Gay has developed that trait were he is not in awe of the league anybody. He just goes out and does his thang. I was amazed to see the magic throw rudy a triple team. I haven't seen a triple team in a while and Gay still rose up and popped the J.
This is more of the case that one person talks about something he knows nothing about. Nique was an amazing player. He took his teams deep into the playoffs only to meet some of the greatest teams of all time and lose. So in all fairness, if you want to compare Gay to a superstar who has not done anything, compare him to T-mac (I love T-mac, one of his biggest supporters since Orlando, but why don't you talk about him if you want to talk about a huge star that has not accomplished anything). Also, he will not be a star because he doesn't have handles? You can't learn handles? Ball handling is something you learn. 3 superstars off the top of my head who significantly improved their handles after coming in to the NBA: Melo, T-Mac, and KG. Ball handling is a skill, and you can teach a skill. Jumping and speed is an ability, you can't for the most par teach ability. In his 2nd NBA season, Rudy Gay has put up better numbers than T-mac, Kobe, and KG to name a few. If he keeps up his current averages, he will do better than them in his 3rd year also. Now I am not saying that Rudy Gay is going to be an all time great, better than, or even as good as the players mentioned above. However, to completely dismiss him for the reasons that you have stated in this thread shows that you are as ignorant about basketball as you have claimed so many others in this BBS are.
You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Melo, T-Mac, and KG all came into the league with the ball handling ability they have now. T-Mac's scouting report on draft day listed his strength as ball handling. KG in an interview with SLAM his rookie season said he wanted to play point guard and saw himself as a Magic Johnson. I saw Carmelo in the championship game his freshman year - he had what he had. I don't know what you're imagining, but you have no idea what you are talking about. Ball handling is developed early on in life, not once you get into the NBA in your 20's. People improve it once they're in the league, sure, but you can't name a single person who has developed the full blown ability to put the ball on the floor after coming into the league without the ability. Those were completely inaccurate examples you gave. Try again.
ball handling ability as career progressed, hakeem, seriously, andre iguodala, vince carter, clyde drexler you don't have to have tmac ball handling skills to be an elite wing as i think clyde proves
that was included in my point. you can improve in the league, but noone with elite handles, came into the NBA and developed them. and that's the whole issue in this discussion - if elite wings need elite handles (whether or not you agree with this premise), elite handles cannot be developed post-NBA. that ability has to come earlier in cognitive development. also, just to debunk this absurd notion that tracy mcgrady didn't have ball handling skills when he came into the NBA: 1:12 and 1:56 <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KHJroPKiIpU&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KHJroPKiIpU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> i honestly don't know where this notion arose as i have seen others use this example before. he started at point guard at age 20 for the raptors in his 3rd season, taking turns bringing the ball up with doug christie. ball-handling has been strength his whole career.
You know I was going to bring up clyde to. But I was not in the mood to entertain cabbage who has a limited knowledge of rudy's game. Every scouting report on clyde was to force him to the left because he couldn't go left. Yeah, that's good in theory. Like Tyson used to say, everybody's got a plan 'till they get hit in the mouth.
Blah blah blah I'm sorry I touched a nerve with the hype over substance fans here. Nique was indeed an amazing BALLHOGGING SELFISH player. He'd rather try to dunk over you then make the easy play for a pass and layup. That's why he couldn't beat Bird and the Celtics. He was an amazing physical specimen that was kinda stupid bball wise. That's what separates TMac from Nique, Tmac is a smarter player then Nique ever was and a better passer. That's why I'm comparing Gay to Nique, not Tmac. Sure none of them ever went far in the playoffs, but Gay's game more resembles Nique then Tmac. Gay at this point, is nothing more then a highlight player for the hype over substance fans to get wet about and add him to the And1 mix tapes and the Steve Francis mix tapes to their youtube library. Your welcome on the bball education I'm giving you. Now go watch your And1 remix highlight tapes and quit taking up bandwidth here with your drivel.
we shouldn't have traded him...battier is no where half the player the RUDY is now and will be in the near future..
you're wrong if you think nique was a ball hogger, he was the goto guy on his team, bird played on one of the greatest teams of that era. nique played in the east of bird, isiah's pistons, and jordan. was he an all around player, no, but he did average upwards of 25 and 7 boards for numerous season shooting in the high 40% range. if you think someone dunk's there way to 25 points a game, you're kind of stupid basketball wise
those atlanta teams were some of the higher scoring teams in the eighties, that's saying something. no way they could have done that with ball hoggers on their team.
That's your stat looking opinion. Mine is what I saw and remembered. I'll stick to my opinion AND ALL THE OTHER BBALL EXPERTS INCLUDING BIRD on their opinion of Nique. The scouting report on Nique: he'd rather try to score himself then play team basketball. Bird was a go to guy also, but he knew how to beat you without trying to win the one on one battle. You guys must have faint memories and are just stat lookers. I'm here to educate you on that matter.
the team scored, I doc passed the ball, kevin willis rebounded, tree rollins played defense, bird could pass the ball because bird had scorers. kind of like jordan won when he got a legitimate second option in pippen. the reason dominique did most of the scoring because it was his job and he was by far the best offensive option on that team.
You put Nique on those Celtics teams instead of Bird and I highly doubt Celtics win those titles, at the very least Nique would disrupt the chemistry. He'll get his but the rest of the team would suffer. You put Bird on those Hawks teams though, I bet they go to the Finals. Prolly not win it, cause Willis ain't no McHale etc etc. Bird can't turn water into wine, but he knows how to use his teammates. Stop making excuses for the Human Ballhog Film. He was a great scorer who wasn't a winner because he was lousy at team basketball. Nuff said.
the team scored a lot of points, they had four straight 50 win seasons in his prime, how did he hold them back , how did he hold them back? Wilkin's 89 team spud webb kevin willis moses malone, in his thirteenth year john battle doc rivers cliff levingston reggie theus, the only other legit offensive player at this time
