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Rudy Fernandez Wants to Stay in Portland, Andre Miller Thinks He May Leave

February 02, 2011   Chris Tomasson   No comments

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Andre Miller, Rudy FernandezDENVER — One Portland guard wants to stay long-term with the team. As for another, he wouldn’t be surprised if he’s soon traded.

Flash back a year or so ago and you’d have thought the guards in that situation would be Andre Miller wanting to stay and Rudy Fernandez preparing perhaps to be going elsewhere. Now, the roles look somewhat reversed.

In an interview with FanHouse before Wednesday’s 109-90 loss to Denver at the Pepsi Center, Fernandez said he is interested in signing a long-term contract extension with the Trail Blazers. Yes, this is the same Fernandez who was fined $25,000 by the NBA last summer due to his agent publicly requesting a trade.

“Yeah, yeah,” said Fernandez, who had recently confirmed to The Oregonian he no longer wants to be traded, said about now also wanting to sign long-term with Portland. “Right now, I feel good here. I feel good in the city and the team.”

Fernandez, who is under contract for next season but eligible for an extension this summer if rules remain the same under a new collective bargaining agreement, was asked if he hopes to talk to team officials after the season about such an extension.

“Yeah, absolutely,” said Fernandez, the third-year man from Spain who said he no longer has the homesickness he once did due to his family spending more time in Portland and who likes now how he’s being utilized by Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan.

 

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For Homesick Blazers Rudy Fernandez and Patty Mills, Misery Loves Company

October 20, 2010   Sam Amick   No comments

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OAKLAND, Calif. — Neither man was happy.

Portland swingman Rudy Fernandez wanted to be back in his homeland of Spain, to be closer to his family while landing with a team that might appreciate his services more than his current club. Australian teammate Patty Mills was homesick, too, some 10,000 miles away from his country and without any NBA playing time to show for it.

Misery loves company, international style.

“We’ve been hanging out a lot and doing stuff, just trying to keep (Fernandez’s) mind off things; we enjoy each other’s company,” Mills told FanHouse this week. “I think it’d be much harder if he was here by himself or I was here by myself. I’m just trying to be with him and have fun, help him out which ever way I can.”

And as anyone in the Lake Oswego area knows, Mills and Fernandez are hardly miserable all of the time.

When they’re not bowling or channel-surfing at Mills’ apartment, they’re taking their singing talents to the local bar for some good, old-fashioned karaoke. It’s a scene that is begging for a Twitvid (both players are active Twitter users), with no musical genre off limits and certainly no attempt to hide their thick accents.

“We love doing that,” Mills said with a proud laugh. “He’s gotten me into Spanish songs. I’m about to download them on my iPod. There’s no shame in my game. I’m out there doing it, and he has that flair, just being the typical Spanish guy who everyone loves.”

Neither player loves their current plight, of course.

 

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The Works: Amar’e at Center (Again); Can the Blazers and Jazz Contend?

October 18, 2010   Bethlehem Shoals and Tom Ziller   No comments

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Amare Stoudemire
In The Works today, we break down our first two NBA Mid-Majors and delve into the unconscious of Rudy Fernandez.

But first, a brief history of Amar’e Stoudmire at center.

Matrix Unloaded

It turns out that New York’s amazing power forward acquisition — maxed out Amar’e Stoudemire — might be New York’s amazing center acquisition after all. The entire preseason, coach Mike D’Antoni has played Stoudemire at PF next to one of the roster’s two true centers: Ronny Turiaf or Timofey Mozgov. It hasn’t worked, because Howard Beck of the New York Times reports Amar’e could very well line up in the middle come opening night, with Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari (two true small forwards) with him in the frontcourt and Raymond Felton and Roger Mason in the backcourt.

Sound familiar? It shouldn’t, because D’Antoni never had a regular lineup that meek in Phoenix. There are two central issues at play here, at least in the context of this lineup experimentation happening in New York, where David Lee manned the middle in recent years.

The first is the difference between Stoudemire and Lee, and how the team’s identity changes with what is essentially a one-for-one swap of the two. But perhaps more importantly, given that it’s D’Antoni at the wheel and Amar’e in the front seat, the question of comparison between Chandler and mid-decade Shawn Marion looms largely.

 

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Rudy Fernandez Fined $50,000 for Requesting Release

October 11, 2010   Tom Ziller   No comments

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Rudy FernandezDisgruntled Trail Blazers guard Rudy Fernandez has been fined $50,000 by the NBA because of his agent’s recent public request that the Spaniard be released from his contract. Fernandez had already been fined $25,000 in August for a public trade request.

On October 6, Fernandez’s European agent Gerard Darnes appeared on Portland radio station 95.5 FM to reiterate Rudy’s desire to be released from his contract and return to Spain. Later that day, Darnes sent a letter to local media chastising those who made light of Fernandez’s sadness at being contractually obligated to play for Portland.

Darnes’ outpouring of talking points was inspired by Oregonian beat writer Jason Quick’s slick takedown of Rudy’s position. (In the lede of said takedown, Quick suggests the solution to Fernandez’s troubles can be found in a box of tissues. The solutions presented in The Works were admittedly a bit more extreme.)

It’s worth noting that Darnes is Rudy’s European rep — not his NBA agent. As such, Darnes might be a bit out of his element in terms of knowing when to shut up. The league has been more vigilant in punishing players who request trades publicly; ask Nate Robinson and his agent Aaron Goodwin, who were smacked on the wrist last winter when the then-Knick wanted out of New York after being benched by Mike D’Antoni for seemingly no good reason. I imagine this blow to Rudy’s pocketbook has taught Darnes a valuable lesson about David Stern’s modus operandi.

The $75,000 in fines Fernandez has racked is the equivalent of roughly five games worth of pay. Rudy is due to earn $1.2 million this season.

 

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The Works: Fathoming Noah, Breaking Down the Coaches

October 05, 2010   Bethlehem Shoals and Tom Ziller   No comments

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In The Works today: Mark Cuban renounces stats, and we try to bring him back; we offer Rudy Fernandez a gameplan to get out of Portland; and the Clippers get their morning in the sun.

But first, the exquisite inevitability of the Joakim Noah extension.

Believe It

One day later, Joakim Noah’s extension — by some estimations, premature or overly large — remains a mystery. After all, while Noah has been the second-best player from what was supposed to be the best draft class since 2003 (which was the best since 1984), and a linchpin of the Bulls‘ hot, young future. He may not be the most skilled big man around, even if he was in college, but Noah boards, defends and just generally hits the ground running like few players in the game today.

And yet the contract, which will pay the scion of French tennis royalty $60 million over five seasons, seems premature, excessive, maybe even silly. Noah has never strung together an entire All-Star-ish season like, say, fellow 2007 alum Al Horford; that doesn’t make him Andrew Bynum coming off of a breakout marred by injury. Noah is always a factor and increasingly, a force. What’s more, while the Bulls could have waited to see if Noah continued to progress and then snatch him up as a restricted free agent, they decided to spare the formalities and reward him now.

It’s hardly the most calculating plan for the future. Calculating, though, is not the same thing as calculated. Sometimes, being decisive and seemingly rash is the most shrewd move possible. The Noah deal falls into this category: an agreement struck ahead of schedule because without Joakim Noah maturing into a $12 million man very soon, the Bulls are back at square one.

 

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Team USA Notebook: McMillan Preparing to Have Fernandez in Training Camp

September 07, 2010   Chris Tomasson   No comments

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ISTANBUL — Portland coach Nate McMillan wouldn’t mind at all seeing Rudy Fernandez stay with the Trail Blazers.

McMillan, a Team USA assistant, was asked by FanHouse if his hope is the disgruntled swingman will remain with the team.

“He’s a great player,” McMillan said. “He’s a good player. A talented player. Very talented.”

Asked further about the subject and McMillan said, “He is in my notes for training camp. All right.”

Fernandez, unhappy with his role in McMillan’s offense, wants to be traded and already has been fined $25,000 by the NBA for that demand having been publicly issued. Through his agent, Andy Miller, Fernandez told The Oregonian two weeks ago he intends to not report to training camp even though he has two years left on his contract.

 

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Team USA Notebook: McMillan Preparing to Have Fernandez in Training Camp

September 07, 2010   Chris Tomasson   No comments

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ISTANBUL — Portland coach Nate McMillan wouldn’t mind at all seeing Rudy Fernandez stay with the Trail Blazers.

McMillan, a Team USA assistant, was asked by FanHouse if his hope is the disgruntled swingman will remain with the team.

“He’s a great player,” McMillan said. “He’s a good player. A talented player. Very talented.”

Asked further about the subject and McMillan said, “He is in my notes for training camp. All right.”

Fernandez, unhappy with his role in McMillan’s offense, wants to be traded and already has been fined $25,000 by the NBA for that demand having been publicly issued. Through his agent, Andy Miller, Fernandez told The Oregonian two weeks ago he intends to not report to training camp even though he has two years left on his contract.

 

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The Works: Oscar on LeBron, Depressing Anthony Randolph Trade Rumors

September 07, 2010   Bethlehem Shoals and Tom Ziller   No comments

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In The Works today: when “out-athleting” makes sense, but doesn’t; Kevin Love, secret weapon or boring garbageman?; and the heartbreaking rumor of a potential Anthony Randolph trade.

But first, Oscar Robertson speaks truth on LeBron James.

The Great Cynic: The ranks of basketball royalty haven’t been universally opposed to the Miami Three — it’s just seemed like it. Legendary former Georgetown coach John Thompson spoke highly of LeBron James’ decision to join the Heat, and even Isiah Thomas — a not-so-undercover Knicks operative — appreciated that LeBron exercised his right to choose.

Most other Hall-of-Famers who have spoken, though, have panned the move. Michael Jordan razzed LeBron for not being willing to do it on his own; Magic Johnson and Larry Bird also slipped on their tough-guy pants to assert they would never have teamed up with a top rival in the quest for glory. But all three of those legends are currently affiliated with teams in some capacity — Magic as a partial owner, Jordan as a majority owner and Bird as a general manager.

 

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Spain Back on Track, Just in Time

September 04, 2010   Chris Tomasson   No comments

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ISTANBUL — A Serbian television broadcaster raised his voice during a media session Saturday with Marc Gasol, booming, “I would like to kidnap you for the Serbia game.”

Gasol, Spain’s starting center, looked at the man strangely and didn’t know what to say.

But the point of the story is that, a few days earlier, perhaps no opponent felt the need to kidnap a Spanish player.

Defending champs Spain, with Team USA one of the favorites in the 2010 FIBA World Championship, had gotten off to a surprising 1-2 start, losing to France and Lithuania.

But Spain has righted the Armada. The team won its final two games in Group D and then defeated Greece 80-72 to open the knockout round at the Sinan Erdem Dome.

 

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Spain Knocks Out Greece

September 04, 2010   FanHouse Newswire   No comments

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ISTANBUL (AP) — Juan Carlos Navarro scored 22 points for Spain in an 80-72 victory that eliminated Greece from the basketball world championships Saturday.

The Spaniards made 8 of 18 3-pointers and used a 13-3 run in the fourth quarter to push ahead during the game in the round of 16.

Greece closed within 72-68 on Vasileios Spanoulis’ layup with 1:01 left in the game, but Ricky Rubio answered with two free throws.

Rudy Fernandez of the Portland Trailblazers scored 14 for Spain.

Dimitrios Dimantidis and Nikolaos Zisis each had 16 points for the Greeks, which had beaten Spain six consecutive times. Sofoklis Schortsanitis added 13 points.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

 

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