Time for a Rudy Gay safari?

Andrew said:

good catch

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Honestly ive been seeing the same jokes for three years. It's played out. Wanted to emphasize it

I originally posted I would love to get him. But I'm starting to question it. Not for offensive. I think its obvious he would be a better fit offensively. Where I begin to question it is who would be our backup to defend curry... or any other allstar pg. While Shump is incredibly frustrating at points on offense he does a good job of defending point guards. Especially ones who struggle with length. One thing we have going for us this season is continuity. Having (about the same) roster will be huge, where GS shipped out 8 players and is bringing in 8 players.

And in my opinion he is more versatile because he can defend 1-3 and even stuck to Green several times. So for me it comes down to versatility and length in contract, and continuity.

Gay can defend when he's motivated. He's not a real bad apple/head case but I think he's one of those guys whose motivation fluctuates a lot depending on the team surroundings. Gotta thing the playoffs on a Lebron James team will do the trick.

iamacavalier said:

I originally posted I would love to get him. But I'm starting to question it. Not for offensive. I think its obvious he would be a better fit offensively. Where I begin to question it is who would be our backup to defend curry... or any other allstar pg. While Shump is incredibly frustrating at points on offense he does a good job of defending point guards. Especially ones who struggle with length. One thing we have going for us this season is continuity. Having (about the same) roster will be huge, where GS shipped out 8 players and is bringing in 8 players.

And in my opinion he is more versatile because he can defend 1-3 and even stuck to Green several times. So for me it comes down to versatility and length in contract, and continuity.

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Why worry about the back up point guard? You can still throw bodies at Curry, Guys like McRae, Dunleavy, etc... Maybe the Cavs bring in a Chalmers.

I think this is kinda irrelevant. Kyrie is going to play about 40 minutes in the finals. So we're grasping over the final 8 minutes, like, seriously? Kyrie has shown he can hold his own against Curry.

Lee said:

I like the idea of getting Rudy, but part of me thinks he might be fools gold.

He doesnt really defend well, he should, long and athletic, but he doesnt. Not a good outside shooter, not bad, but not really good. He is good at finishing at the rim, but not great at anything else except maybe rebounding.

In the end are we falling in love with the concept of Gay or the reality? We need another lengthy athletic defender, but does Gay really fit the mold or do we want him to fit that mold?

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He's fools gold in that he's not a star, and can't be one. We don't want him to be one. We want him to be Iggy. And Rudy Gay is a pretty good defender Lee.

I think it's hard for any player to be tuned in defensively when you're on a terrible team too.

Rudy Gay does fit the mold. He's doesn't have to be a lock down defender, but he gives us the ability to match up against GS.

We don't match up against them at all now. People thought we didn't before, now we really don't.

Sure, I think it'd be perfect/better to get Jimmy Butler. But we know that's just fantasy.

I think with Durant and Green, LeBron is forced to guard Durant (we don't want that) and Love is forced to guard Green (we don't want that).

And we don't have anyone else on the roster that can step in and fill that void. Jefferson is too old. Dunleavy is not that guy. Shump is undersized and a liability on offense.

That Cavs need another big wing perimeter guy that can play both ends of the floor. He doesn't have to be an all-star, but has to be good.

godfather said:

Why worry about the back up point guard? You can still throw bodies at Curry, Guys like McRae, Dunleavy, etc... Maybe the Cavs bring in a Chalmers.

I think this is kinda irrelevant. Kyrie is going to play about 40 minutes in the finals. So we're grasping over the final 8 minutes, like, seriously? Kyrie has shown he can hold his own against Curry.



He's fools gold in that he's not a star, and can't be one. We don't want him to be one. We want him to be Iggy. And Rudy Gay is a pretty good defender Lee.

I think it's hard for any player to be tuned in defensively when you're on a terrible team too.

Rudy Gay does fit the mold. He's doesn't have to be a lock down defender, but he gives us the ability to match up against GS.

We don't match up against them at all now. People thought we didn't before, now we really don't.

Sure, I think it'd be perfect/better to get Jimmy Butler. But we know that's just fantasy.

I think with Durant and Green, LeBron is forced to guard Durant (we don't want that) and Love is forced to guard Green (we don't want that).

And we don't have anyone else on the roster that can step in and fill that void. Jefferson is too old. Dunleavy is not that guy. Shump is undersized and a liability on offense.

That Cavs need another big wing perimeter guy that can play both ends of the floor. He doesn't have to be an all-star, but has to be good.

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But would someone like Ariza be a better fit is my thought? Is Ariza available I dont know, but i am not sure Gay is the answer, but I am not sure he is not either.

Lee said:

But would someone like Ariza be a better fit is my thought? Is Ariza available I dont know, but i am not sure Gay is the answer, but I am not sure he is not either.

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Judging by what I heard in the summer when I was in Houston, no. Newly hired Coach Pringles made a big deal about wanting to make Ariza a huge part of their offensive plan and the centerpiece of their perimeter defense on the radio while I was out there

Lee said:

But would someone like Ariza be a better fit is my thought? Is Ariza available I dont know, but i am not sure Gay is the answer, but I am not sure he is not either.

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He'd be fine too, but as Bimbo said he's not available. Not saying it has to be Gay, literally. I am not sure we can get him either. But the Cavs need to try to find a way to get another player like this. A guy that's 6-7 and 6-8. Can defend and isn't a liability on offense.

It's by far and away their biggest problem going against GS right now. Everything else is small potatoes in comparison. Sure, I'd like to have another rim protecting center, but that's very small compared to this.

Otherwise, just being honest, I don't know how we beat this team now. Just too many mismatches. Despite whether you play small, or big, you still got to match up well with a team, and you need guys to own their match ups.

I think the key to beating GS, is you need to shut down Green. Making him irrelevant. Now, say you put LB on Durant. Would LB win that match up? More than likely, but he's not going to make Durant completely irrelevant either. Durant is too good. And not to mention it's just going to make LB more tired. And you always risk foul trouble, which would be bad.

But put him on Green, a limited player offensively, a guy easier to defend and doesn't require nearly as much energy to defend. LeBron can make him irrelevant.

If GS is a four head-monster in the finals, we just don't have enough to beat them. If we have Klay, Curry, and Durant. Makes it a lot easier to beat them given LB and Kyrie are capable of outplaying Curry and Durant. And maybe someone like Klay gets extra hot, but hell, you can't stop everyone. But you just hope you have enough contribution from the others to get it done.

So I understand the jokes about the man's name are getting old, but there is an extra level of humor that this entire thread is about "Getting Gay so we can beat the team from San Francisco"

Godfather is right. We need one more guy who is a legit two way player and big and quick enough to match up on Green/Durant/Thompson. Otherwise we are just one match up short. Rudy fits the bill. We have to stretch to get that one extra player, because it's going to hurt like hell if we get all the way to the Finals and lose because we are forced to have a mismatch on one of their big four.

Lee said:

So I understand the jokes about the man's name are getting old, but there is an extra level of humor that this entire thread is about "Getting Gay so we can beat the team from San Francisco"

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With Gay-Love running that 2 man game....

You guys are terrible....

I'm the owner of an expansion team in NBA 2K17, but the Cavs did acquire Rudy Gay.

Its a sign!

/leaves thread

I still think "beastly post-game Love" and improved chemistry is all we'll need to toe the line with GS.

Look I can't really hate on his name... But he's obviously illegitimate and wasn't wanted.... 'Gay' he can't do anything with -- but they paired that with f'n Rudy ???

He's not Michael.... He's not Tyrone... He's not Jack Bauer-Gay... But Rudy ?

JMoneyYourHoney said:

I still think "beastly post-game Love" and improved chemistry is all we'll need to toe the line with GS.

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I think so too. We have a unique big-small lineup that's tough to match.

Our point guard can post-up Kyle Lowry and blow by Reggie Jackson.
Our two guard can shoot over threes and guard twos.
Our small forward is basically a 1-5 player on both sides of the ball.
Our power forward can play in and outside.
Our center can chase Stephen Curry around the perimeter and guard Andre Drummond.

JMoneyYourHoney said:

I still think "beastly post-game Love" and improved chemistry is all we'll need to toe the line with GS.

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When we switched LeBron on Green that changed everything.

I'm not really sure how an improved Kevin Love in the post changes much. And for the record, outside of the playoffs, he's still been one of the more effective post players.

He's just not going to get the touches. That's become quite apparent after two seasons here. It's time we stop expecting different results.

Kevin Love playing better I agree can't hurt. But it still doesn't address the most glaring question. Who is going to guard Green and Durant?

I thought a big difference was when we put LB on Green. It minimized him a lot..

Game 1 and 2 he had 16 and 28. Game 3 and 4 - 6 points and 9 points... LeBron shut him down. We lost game 4, but that was a very winnable game we just let slip away.

He didn't play game 5; we won. Game 6 he had just 8 points. Kevin did start but he played just 11 minutes.

Game 7 he went off again with Kevin. But luckily Klay and Steph played so poorly it didn't matter.

So you can probably say if we never went with LB on Draymond we don't win this series. He didn't just limit him, he literally made him irrelevant.

But simply just "adding" Jefferson or Dunleavy into the lineup doesn't cut it now. It barely did then. Them guarding Barnes, sure, but against Durant? Please don't make me laugh.