Blazers see Rudy Fernández starting for them next year

The chief international scout for the Portland Trail Blazers, Jason Filippi, says that 2007 first-round pick Rodolfo "Rudy" Fernández could easily be a starter for the Blazers next year. Filippi believes that Rudy could have the same impact on the league as Manu Ginóbili. He also thinks that he would not have any problems playing with Brandon Roy, who is without question their best player, "but sometimes he acts as a point guard, and that would create more minutes for Rudy and more options for us."

Filippi also states that the Blazers want him to be their third-best player. "He's someone that could score more than ten points a game and this would make him a very important player. Our plan is to fight for a championship within three years and we are counting on him to bring success."

This guy is the real deal. Rudy Fernandez is averaging 21.4 points, three rebounds, and four assists per game for DKV Joventut of Badalona (a suburb of Barcelona) in the ACB (Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto, the Spanish basketball top flight); he has been the league's player of the week four times, using the objective player valuation formula common in Europe, which essentially adds all the good statistical categories and subtracts the bad ones (I'll post it in the comments if you would like). He was the MVP of the midseason Copa del Rey (King's Cup); he scored 32 points in the championship game. He also led Joventut to the ULEB Cup, the second-highest pan-European competition (behind the Euroleague) from the Union of European Basketball Leagues. In the final of the ULEB Cup, he had 13 points and seven boards while fighting a nagging shoulder injury. These successes add to the international triumphs he earned as a member of Spain's 2006 World Championship team. Joventut has been collecting trophies due to the tandem of him and 17-year-old wunderkind point guard Ricard "Ricky" Rubio.

This video should demonstrate his talent. It chronicles his most recent player-of-the-week exploits. There are many more like it; just search for his name on this Web site (http://acbtv.acb.com/).