Blazer update #3

Rudy Fernandez
I’ll make this short. Rudy surpasses all my expectations this year. I thought that he would be a solid #2 off the bench, able to make a fantastic play here and there and heck even win a game by himself. What I did not expect was the rate of three pointers he would make. Setting an NBA Rookie record for made threes, purely great, especially for a player who is not a smooth shooter like Ray Allen.

Nicolas Batum
Obviously the biggest surprise of the year, did anyone see him in the summer league? If you didn’t let’s just say his shot would always end up with the sound of “clank.” He looked dreadful, but there he was a few games into the season as a starter? Why? Sure the injury to Webster but he also complimented the other starters too well, not to play him, and for an 19 year old rookie for overseas he played beyond his years. And don’t forget the dunks on Pau.

Jerryd Bayless
Talk about a ticking time bomb waiting to go off, and I mean that in a good way. This is one of the few players in the league that can explode to and even through the hoop. He busted onto the scene in during the summer league and left all of Portland drooling. But the summer league competition is a far cry from the NBA and Bayless never seemed to find consistency or playing time.

Nate McMillan
How do we judge a coach? Overall I’d say buy wins. During his tenure he has gone from, 32 wins, 41 wins, to 54 wins. Looking at those numbers you’d have to say he has done a terrific job. Of course some of that has to do with the new players that have been brought in and the growth of those players. Then again is it not’s the coach’s job to develop those players? Lets say he has one big player to develop and this team will be competing for championships.