Rudy Post-season DRTG - sup wit dat?

[LogGrad98]

Rudy's DRTG has dropped significantly in the post-season. He was at 96 in the regular season, solidly in 1st with really no challengers, but has been around 102.8 in the post-season which places him at 13th in the playoffs.

Capella is looking decidedly like the better player. We already saw the impact Adams had on the games in OKC, when he played they were a much better team, as he was handling Gobert fairly well. Gobert seems to be a step slow, hasn't really been challenge on help defense very much, isn't boxing out (of course this is not really how he rebounds, although if he learned to do this he would get another 3-4 per game easy), offensively he is really only there when he gets a lob or a wide-open look at a dunk, during the regular season he tried more diverse stuff to varying degrees of success. Even with a smaller player on him he doesn't try to back the man down to get the easy dunk.

What is going on with Rudy? Thoughts?



Caveat: I am not saying I think anything is "wrong" with Rudy, so please don't just reply "stupid thread nothing is wrong with Rudy". I am looking for some discussion around the fact that he has seemed to slip some in the playoffs vs the regular season. I am sure some of it is match-ups and game planning, but that's not all of it. Is he not handling the pressure well? Idk. But we could sure use regular season Rudy right now.

 

[Goodluckchuck]

It's not normal that's for damn sure. Knees bothering him? I don't know but it's a damn eye sore right now.

 

[Getting Traded]

Rudy surely has been a disappointment. He doesn't seem to have as much lift or quickness on his jump for blocks and rebounds. His offense has deteriorated as well.

 

[Ron Mexico]

He is getting out hustled. Players are getting physical with him and he isn't responding well. He is worried about foul trouble so he contests less shots. He is worried about alley oops so he isn't getting out on the people attacking the rim or taking mid range shots. He is getting exposed for never blocking out properly.

It's frustrating to watch because we all know he can do better. But both of the rounds have been bad matchups for him.

 

[bigmike]

I'm still convinced he's not playing at 100%. The Rockets are also just a horrendous matchup for us - they're one of a few teams that really negate his impact on both ends of the floor.

His suckiness has really been limited to this series. Steven Adams won a few battles in Game 1, but Rudy was the best player overall in the Jazz-Thunder series.

 

[Gameface]

I think he might be hurt. But Capela has really just played great. I think he has been the biggest factor in the series short of what we all knew would be Harden scoring a lot.

 

[Deleted member 5000]

He's obviously not 100%, probably won't find out until after the series. What's the rule regarding the injury reports? Like they follow they get followed anyway...

 

[JazzyFresh]

I think he's lost and not able to instinctively react. While he was injured this team was woeful on defense but Rudy came back and it skyrocketed. This means that Rudy controls mostly all of our defense. Right now he's being asked to do to much. OKC and Houston have too many good players for him to play his usual role. He has to pin Harden or CP3 on the PnR, once he moves up to do that the paint gets completely opened for guys like Capella or Ariza. If Harden or CP get by he is stuck in man's land as he has to guard not only the driver but the guy waiting for the lob. This doesn't even include the guys constantly cutting in Houstons offense.

In other words there's too many things going on from every different direction. Now compare that to Capella who can chill safely in the paint. We do not offer the same firepower or ability to find open men in the paint that stretches a defense thin.

Both of these series have shown us that stingy defense is not enough. Teams in this day and age are too offensively powerful.

 

[Siro]

He is getting out hustled. Players are getting physical with him and he isn't responding well. He is worried about foul trouble so he contests less shots. He is worried about alley oops so he isn't getting out on the people attacking the rim or taking mid range shots. He is getting exposed for never blocking out properly.

It's frustrating to watch because we all know he can do better. But both of the rounds have been bad matchups for him.

Spot on.

 

[candrew]

If he got hurt it was undoubtedly in this series because he was the MVP of the last one.

Capella is a pain in the *** - he has the length and athletic ability to get his hands on virtually every rebound and he runs the court faster than any center I've seen in my life. And he's playing for a contract. After taking a pounding from Adams for 6 games this is the last guy you want to face.

 

[LifeOnaPlate]

Rudy surely has been a disappointment. He doesn't seem to have as much lift or quickness on his jump for blocks and rebounds. His offense has deteriorated as well.

I've noticed a lack of quickness and a reluctance to jump at times, but other times he seems explosive. He's a post-season puzzle this year, for sure. We're clearly better with Rudy than without. When Rudy struggles, the outcome of the game seems to reflect it.

 

[MilesDeep]

I think he might be hurting, but he's not alone. I think frustrated is probably more the case, which makes his apathy harder to take. Utah is sucking it up on most pnr's regardless of who from the Rockets is involved, and any split second indecision results in Rudy being stuck in no mans land where he isn't effectively guarding anyone or in position to rebound. It has been painful to watch. I've always liked Capela but he's really turned the corner into more than just an average player. Rockets just have too many weapons for Utah to compete with until they have more seasoning. Mitchell was terrible in all aspects in game three, but everyone on Utah is underperforming except Exum. I think the coaching could be better. Too many different schemes for read and react, depending on different variables has everyone looking lost which kills confidence/speeds up the game and has the crowd scratching their eyes out because the final product is an eyesore. I thought Utah would win 2 games, I think I was wrong.