Bobcats Aggressively Pursuing Rudy Gay

[fan_of_a_fan]

Gay's primary value is as a slasher, not a floor spacer. He's shooting 31% from three this season, which is identical to what he did last season, and is only around 34% from three for his career. If Cho wants a big perimeter player to hit threes and pull defenders out of the paint, there are far cheaper alternatives than Rudy.

First of all, Rudy Gay is not a slasher because driving the lane or scoring around the rim is not one of his strengths. He does a good job of being physical to settle into his sweet spots and shooting midrange fading jumpers in the post or on the block. Otherwise, he's usually spotting up to shoot from range. I wouldn't consider a 6'8" 34% career three point shooter a liability from deep unless you feel the same way about Carmelo Anthony. His offense has struggled this season in Memphis' revamped slow pace and inside-out style of offense, but in a uptempo pace like ours he would use his athleticism to be much more productive & probably more efficient.

[Bogg]

In an uptempo system like Charlotte he would wind up using 15 seconds of the shot clock on isolations and then shooting a step-back twenty footer. If your goal is to find a big forward who's going to primarily serve to space the floor, and you're going to be paying him max money, you can do way better than a career 34% guy. In reality, the Bobcats shouldn't be tailoring their personnel around the MKG post-up. You need to let the guy be who he is, and that's the next in the line of the Kirilenko/Deng/Iguodala/Gerald Wallace utility guys who play at a very high level. Get a 20+ ppg scorer at the two-guard, find a power forward/center who can score inside, let Kemba be your #3, and MKG will take care of whatever it is that needs taking care of that night.

It also bears mentioning that Rudy Gay's going to be 27 next year, and while that's not old, the rest of Charlotte's roster is two to three years away. You don't want MKG, Biyombo(if he's still around), and whoever Cho drafts this year and next rounding into playoff form right as Gay's athleticism is eroding.

[fan_of_a_fan]

I can't imagine any rookie two-guard that's going to be a 20+ PPG scorer playing any different than Rudy Gay. The best shooting guards in the league (Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, James Harden & etc) don't make a living shooting 3-pointers. Then you mention that Gay is 27 years old, that the rest of our roster is 2-3 years away, and that's around the time that his athleticism should be eroding, well guess what? That's also the same time period when his gigantic contract will be expiring. That's the beauty of it all. We use Gay to help us convert into an exciting up & coming contender in the East and the huge cap relief in 2015 to attract a major player in the free-agent market when things start syncing in for Kemba, MKG, and hopefully Biyombo.

[mrtarheel]

I like the idea of Rudy coming to Charlotte. He would bring versatility(more) to our lineup. He can play the 2 and 3. I think he would come in and play the sg and let MKG develope into the sf like G Wallace was for us. That would sure up the front court and we would rid ourselve of TT contract without having to pay him while on another team.

[Bogg]

I can't imagine any rookie two-guard that's going to be a 20+ PPG scorer playing any different than Rudy Gay. The best shooting guards in the league (Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, James Harden & etc) don't make a living shooting 3-pointers.

Which is why structuring the offense around MKG posting up and three other guys bombing outside jumpers is a poor idea. Charlotte needs an elite scorer in the worst way, and they're going to have to adjust their offense to his particular skill set when/if he arrives. If he's the next Ray Allen, awesome. If he's not, Kidd-Gilchrist will have to adjust his game to account for that.

Then you mention that Gay is 27 years old, that the rest of our roster is 2-3 years away, and that's around the time that his athleticism should be eroding, well guess what? That's also the same time period when his gigantic contract will be expiring. That's the beauty of it all. We use Gay to help us convert into an exciting up & coming contender in the East and the huge cap relief in 2015 to attract a major player in the free-agent market when things start syncing in for Kemba, MKG, and hopefully Biyombo.

Couple of thoughts:

1) Gay is who he is at this point. He's a pretty good all-around player who gets you scoring in the high teens on middling efficiency. It looked like he was going to be a real #1 earlier in his career, but it wound up not happening, and it's the biggest reason that this version of the Grizzlies won't be winning a title. He and Kemba taking turns going one-on-one while MKG tries to work in some post-ups just gives Charlotte a disjointed and inefficient offense.

2) Best-case scenario, Gay plays the Bobcats out of a high pick this year and into the middle of the lottery, and they spend the next several seasons competing for a bottom seed in the East playoffs. There's no sense in going through this total tear-down if the goal is to go back to scrapping for the eighth seed.

3) Charlotte will never be a destination spot for big free agents. They'll be able to lure second-tier guys or overpay other players, but places like New York and Los Angeles just have built-in advantages due to location. In order to really get a major player in free agency a number of factors would have to fall perfectly

4) We're not talking about a perennial all-star who's going to turn the franchise around and establish league-wide credibility, like KG did in Boston. We're talking a volume scorer who I don't believe has ever been selected to an all-star team and is being shopped by four-seed for a reason.

[Plowright]

Well Gay certainly won't be traded now. With that Grizz/Cavs trade they Grizz are under the Luxury Tax and won't have to trade Z-Bo or Gay

[Chef]

Well Gay certainly won't be traded now. With that Grizz/Cavs trade they Grizz are under the Luxury Tax and won't have to trade Z-Bo or Gay

thank the lord. now let's just hope the FO doesn't go after him in the summer.

[fan_of_a_fan]

Well Gay certainly won't be traded now. With that Grizz/Cavs trade they Grizz are under the Luxury Tax and won't have to trade Z-Bo or Gay

I wish we would've gotten in on that deal to get Speights, Ellington, Selby, & a future 1st rounder. We could've gave them their choice between Hakim Warrick or Reggie Williams. That trade definitely mean that they aren't trading Rudy Gay. I guess our trade focus shift back to DeMarcus Cousins now. I doubt that the Kings will trade Cousins though, so we're probably officially back in "build through the draft" mode (...sigh...patience...).

[Bogg]

Cavaliers had cap space, Charlotte doesn't this season. The inclusion of Leuer was an obligation to make it a "trade", but what Cleveland really did to get Speights and a pick was take on salary for nothing.

[isguros]

Did Cleveland had some kind of trade exception, otherwise I do think we could've pulled something comparable off.