I think it's pretty clear that Rudy didn't transform them into a contender...
The mistake they probably made is to think Rudy can transform them. Rudy bring 12-15 points/night, 12 rebound, top level defense. He can bring that and it's good already but will never bring more. And i think there is currently zero player who can transform by himself any team into a contender. Becoming a contender is a question of having 7-8 greats players matching together with great chemistry. Memphis got a phenomenom with JA and they become good but are still not a real contender for me.
I think they overestimated Rudy's defensive impact, Quin did a great job of utilizing him. Rudy also seems to have lost a step.
Kessler can dribble and penetrate without coughing it up. Walker can also finish layups. Rudy could only dunk and do put backs
Rudy is a very good player, but his offensive limitations always held us back and clearly made his contract ridiculous for us.
His defensive limitations also hurt us, teams were able to just small ball us to death in the playoffs. Dude was getting lit up by Batum and Kleber, lol.
That's true too. Rudy is an asset, but his game doesn't always translate against every opponent. That's why he's a $20 million player in my opinion. Excellent in certain matchups but not every match up. His $40+ million should be spread out to 2 or 3 centers (a rim protector, a small ball, a floor spacer, etc) which can address the many different looks a team will face come playoff time.
If Rudy had any type of offensive game teams wouldn't have been able to go small. Jazz Fans was convinced that a center who couldn't post up Reggie Jackson was a top 10 player.
When he able to be on the perimeter, Gobert was an excellent defender out there. The issue was that so few others could stay on their guy, so Gobert would have to go back into the paint.
How do you over-rate an 4x All-NBA, 3x DPoY winner?
Rudy was able to play in space from time to time but his primary value was his ability to protect the rim and teams could take him out of that with role players because he couldn't punish them on the other end.
So, you think it was out offense that suffered when other teams went small? The offense ran better against small line-ups, it was the defense that was blown up.
Teams were able to go small against us because Rudy couldn't punish them on the other end.
Borchardt was one I really wish could have put it together and avoided the injury bug. He was the most complete center we ever acquired. He would very likely have topped this list had he been able to stay healthy, and might have been a difference-maker on those teams to lift us into contention. Too bad.
I think you hit it with how Quin used him. The Wolves obviously had no clue, and made no plans, about how to use Rudy to best complement the team. They were obviously very unprepared for it. Had they built a better game plan to maximize his obvious strengths they would have been much more of a solid contender than they are. It also does not help that they might have the laziest "star" and most disgruntled 2nd star and potentially the most dysfunctional locker room in the league.
Rudy was also an awkward fit on both ends with their current personnel and it doesn't help that he has seemingly lost a step. You can have success and win a lot of games with Rudy, we saw it for years here. But for it to work you also have to commit to playing to his strengths by surrounding him with shooters/funneling everything to him at the rim/playing at a slower pace. The Wolves were good last year because they got up/down the court, had KAT at the 5, and jacked up a ton of threes. Rudy was never really a good fit for the way that they play.
The reality is that we were slightly better on offense, but not as much as our defense gave up.
Agreed. When healthy he was a stud. I think we took him in the draft with a pretty decent pick and the only reason we had a shot was because he was made of glass. he had the perfect size and skillset and would have been a top 5 pick or something if not for his osteoporosis.
