Damjan Rudez

[Monster]

I know it's preseason and I know he is a flawed player that amazingly seems allergic to rebounds but I am glad we ended up with his guy at this point. I think he is going to be getting minutes at PF over Payne a decent chunk of the time. Payne is a better rebounder but that's about all I can think of and when playing PF Rudez seems like he has at least worked and kept some balls alive. I am seeing why there were a number of Pacers fans that really liked him.

[shahidi124 [enjin:6591729]]

Yep, I agree. He can shoot the three, we all knew that, but he has shown some other parts to his game that I've been pleasantly surprised by. He showed the ability to put the ball on the floor and drive a couple times in the Toronto game and seems to hustle fairly well. I think he is a great floor spacing option. Although you could say this about most guys playing with Belly, they seem to have nice chemistry if they continue to be a tandem off the bench.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Rudez reminds me of Hummel, but a better three-point shooter version and a lesser rebounder. They keep the ball moving on offense. Simple dribble game, nothing special there. Defensively they're nothing great either, but they're not bad aka there are worse options on the team. Both give effort too.

We could get away with putting him in games on certain nights and he wouldn't hurt as, and if he gets space he can make it rain from three.

I think trading Budinger for Rudez is looking like a win right about now.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

There's only one skill I want Rudez to display this season...the ability to cheer on his team as he rocks a suit in the second row of the stands, because that will mean that we are healthy and he is in his rightful 15th man spot.

I agree with you guys that Rudez has shot well this pre-season, but that's the only basketball skill of his that I see that is at least average. And I'm cautious about his shooting too, because only a month ago he shot 10% in FIBA while averaging a whopping 1/2 rebound per game!

Let's be realistic about Rudez. He's almost 30 years old. Despite the fact that he is 6'10", he averaged 1.6 rebounds and .2 blocks per 36 minutes last year for Indiana! I don't know if there has ever been a 6'10" player with as many turnovers as assists for an entire season!

I have to admit I only watched one pre-season game plus the scrimmage, but I thought his defense was atrocious. His lack of athleticism and quickness is the first thing you notice, but as you watch him closer, you notice his focus is entirely on his own man...I saw no evidence of help defense.

So Rudez is what we thought he was...a one-dimensional player only able to contribute 3-point shooting. But can he even do that? Is Rudez the shooter who hit over 50% of his threes after January of last season, or the Rudez who only hit 15% of the 3's in FIBA and 30% the first half of last season? Rudez himself says he needs regular minutes to shoot well, so unless we want to move him ahead of Belly on the depth chart, history tells us not to expect a high shooting success rate.

Having said all that, I'm not opposed to the Bud/Rudez trade. Bud had worn out his welcome here and was behind several players on the depth chart, and Rudez did shoot well the last half of last season. I want to see him inactive most nights, but if injuries force him into the rotation and he can duplicate his shooting of last year, he could be an asset.

[Monster]

There's only one skill I want Rudez to display this season...the ability to cheer on his team as he rocks a suit in the second row of the stands, because that will mean that we are healthy and he is in his rightful 15th man spot.

I agree with you guys that Rudez has shot well this pre-season, but that's the only basketball skill of his that I see that is at least average. And I'm cautious about his shooting too, because only a month ago he shot 10% in FIBA while averaging a whopping 1/2 rebound per game!

Let's be realistic about Rudez. He's almost 30 years old. Despite the fact that he is 6'10", he averaged 1.6 rebounds and .2 blocks per 36 minutes last year for Indiana! I don't know if there has ever been a 6'10" player with as many turnovers as assists for an entire season!

I have to admit I only watched one pre-season game plus the scrimmage, but I thought his defense was atrocious. His lack of athleticism and quickness is the first thing you notice, but as you watch him closer, you notice his focus is entirely on his own man...I saw no evidence of help defense.

So Rudez is what we thought he was...a one-dimensional player only able to contribute 3-point shooting. But can he even do that? Is Rudez the shooter who hit over 50% of his threes after January of last season, or the Rudez who only hit 15% of the 3's in FIBA and 30% the first half of last season? Rudez himself says he needs regular minutes to shoot well, so unless we want to move him ahead of Belly on the depth chart, history tells us not to expect a high shooting success rate.

Having said all that, I'm not opposed to the Bud/Rudez trade. Bud had worn out his welcome here and was behind several players on the depth chart, and Rudez did shoot well the last half of last season. I want to see him inactive most nights, but if injuries force him into the rotation and he can duplicate his shooting of last year, he could be an asset.

LST you should watch more games when Rudez plays. I think you will be a little more impressed than you sound right now. Also he has a resume of shooting that makes it more likely that his poor Eurobasket tourney shooting numbers were a fluke. Is he a proven NBA shooter? No but his rookie season was pretty good and I think it's fair to expect him to shoot the ball well from 3 especially considering he has 3 PGs on this team that may all be better passers than any guys that are on the Pacers last year.

Here is a fun stat. Rudez is 7th in minutes this preseason and sports a team high 5.3+ in the plus minus. I don't always buy into that stat but I am not surprised at the number having watched all the games except the OKC game.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Rudez has been a 40%+ 3-point shooter over the course of his last 160 games, combining NBA, Euroleague, and ACB games, so I'm not worried about his reputation as a shooter based on a handful of FIBA games. Everyone goes cold once in a while (except may be Steph Curry).

As for the rest of his game, it really is hard to get one's head wrapped around just how anemic of a rebounder he is. Last season's 1.6 rebounds per 36 minutes is literally one of the worst rebounding rates in the history of the NBA. For players that appeared in 50 or more games (in all of NBA history!), Steve Kerr circa 1990-91 is the only one with a worse number than Rudez at 1.5.....And he is about 9 inches shorter!

So as seems to be our tendency as a franchise, we have this real oddity of a player - a guy that is an above average sniper from 3 (something we desperately need), but is historically poor in another aspect of the game.

I'm with LST. If this guy is earning minutes, it says more about the health/performance of our other guys than it does about Rudez. I like the fact he does one thing really well, but I don't like the fact we may need to rely on him this year for anything other than spot minutes.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

There's only one skill I want Rudez to display this season...the ability to cheer on his team as he rocks a suit in the second row of the stands, because that will mean that we are healthy and he is in his rightful 15th man spot.

I agree with you guys that Rudez has shot well this pre-season, but that's the only basketball skill of his that I see that is at least average. And I'm cautious about his shooting too, because only a month ago he shot 10% in FIBA while averaging a whopping 1/2 rebound per game!

Let's be realistic about Rudez. He's almost 30 years old. Despite the fact that he is 6'10", he averaged 1.6 rebounds and .2 blocks per 36 minutes last year for Indiana! I don't know if there has ever been a 6'10" player with as many turnovers as assists for an entire season!

I have to admit I only watched one pre-season game plus the scrimmage, but I thought his defense was atrocious. His lack of athleticism and quickness is the first thing you notice, but as you watch him closer, you notice his focus is entirely on his own man...I saw no evidence of help defense.

So Rudez is what we thought he was...a one-dimensional player only able to contribute 3-point shooting. But can he even do that? Is Rudez the shooter who hit over 50% of his threes after January of last season, or the Rudez who only hit 15% of the 3's in FIBA and 30% the first half of last season? Rudez himself says he needs regular minutes to shoot well, so unless we want to move him ahead of Belly on the depth chart, history tells us not to expect a high shooting success rate.

Having said all that, I'm not opposed to the Bud/Rudez trade. Bud had worn out his welcome here and was behind several players on the depth chart, and Rudez did shoot well the last half of last season. I want to see him inactive most nights, but if injuries force him into the rotation and he can duplicate his shooting of last year, he could be an asset.

LST you should watch more games when Rudez plays. I think you will be a little more impressed than you sound right now. Also he has a resume of shooting that makes it more likely that his poor Eurobasket tourney shooting numbers were a fluke. Is he a proven NBA shooter? No but his rookie season was pretty good and I think it's fair to expect him to shoot the ball well from 3 especially considering he has 3 PGs on this team that may all be better passers than any guys that are on the Pacers last year.

Here is a fun stat. Rudez is 7th in minutes this preseason and sports a team high 5.3+ in the plus minus. I don't always buy into that stat but I am not surprised at the number having watched all the games except the OKC game.

Agree with everything you say. Rudez does play within himself and he keeps the ball moving. But as I mentioned above, if he's leap-frogging other players in the rotation, that says more about them than it does him. He should be a 15th man that we only need to rely on for spot minutes or injury duty.

[Monster]

Q and LST I agree sure nobody wants to see this guy get big minutes but not too long ago we were trying to see if this guy was even going to make the roster. Now it seems like he has taken that easily and now is gunning for Payne's minutes however small they may be. I am sure Payne will still get opportunities (young cheap athletic etc) but at this point I would rather see Rudez because he actually knows how to play basketball and is probably a better matchup against some perimeter oriented PFs. Like your point above that says a lot about how I am not happy with Payne and Rudez should also get credit for playing well. I am sure Rudez will see plenty of DNPs.

[60WinTim]

Q and LST I agree sure nobody wants to see this guy get big minutes but not too long ago we were trying to see if this guy was even going to make the roster. Now it seems like he has taken that easily and now is gunning for Payne's minutes however small they may be. I am sure Payne will still get opportunities (young cheap athletic etc) but at this point I would rather see Rudez because he actually knows how to play basketball and is probably a better matchup against some perimeter oriented PFs. Like your point above that says a lot about how I am not happy with Payne and Rudez should also get credit for playing well. I am sure Rudez will see plenty of DNPs.

But Damon has played a lot of minutes at SF as well. Are you upset if he continues to take minutes away from Bazz?

Rudez is only in his 2nd NBA year, while Bazz is in his 3rd. I guess I am all for whoever earns the minutes, and at this point, that is Rudez (over both Payne and Bazz).

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I have Bazz way ahead of Rudez on the SF depth chart, because I can't imagine Rudez guarding any SF's. Maybe I need to watch him a little more in the Sunday game because I could be missing something about his defense, but at least at the scrimmage I attended, he was the worst defender on the court...very slow feet and lateral quickness.

I also have him behind Payne on the PF depth chart. We know that Payne will outrebound the heck out of Rudez, and I think is a far superior defender too, but Rudez has the advantage in shooting. Payne annoys me sometimes, especially with his propensity to force shots on offense and create off the ball offensive fouls, but his energy, athleticism and rebounding puts him far ahead of Rudez. If Adreain dials back the enthusiasm a bit and lets the offense come to him, I think he can be an effective 3rd PF for us behind KG and Belly.