thedoper wrote:We are 31-29 with Rudy playing significant minutes at the 5 and as everyone admits, impacting our defense. I don't know what else people are looking for in terms of evidence assessing impact, we needed to improve defensively and we are good to great when Rudy is on the floor. Our offensive players have kept us with a mediocre offense all year. We've been hovering around 10th defensively for a while and stayed middle of the pack (15th to 20th) offensively since we've been winning more. If our record is above 500 it is more related to our D then our offense based on those ratings. We've all been privy to the on/off defensive numbers relative to Rudy. We can hand out awards in any direction we want or to any player we favor, and like I said Rudy will continue to be polarizing. But the general numbers and logic doesnt lie. Rudy impacts our defense greatly, our defense is better than our offense relative to the rest of the league, and we're 2 games above 500, therefore Rudy impacts winning.
The Wolves are 8-3, averaging 122 points in games without Rudy. They are 23-26, averaging 114.3 points with Rudy. If we were talking about DLO, this board would be all over him for not earning his max salary. Again, I'm not even suggesting that Rudy has a net negative impact on winning. But there's no credible basis for singling Rudy out as a key to the Wolves winning this season. As our starting center getting $40 this season, I would hope he helps us win. But if we're looking for players who have been keys to keeping this team around .500 without KAT, it's not Rudy; it's primarily Edwards taking a huge leap to all-star level play, the substantial improvement by McDaniels. I'd point to Kyle Anderson secondarily before getting to Rudy.
