NBA Rumors: Why the Orlando Magic Should Trade for Rudy Fernandez

Portland Guard, Rudy Fernandez

This is a brief slide show to highlight reasons why the Magic would be smart to deal for Portland Guard Rudy Fernandez, who is on the trading block.

As for who the Magic would offer for the Spanish guard, your guess is as good as mine, but with the plethora of pieces the Magic have, surely Portland would be interested in at least one of them (see:  Pietrus, Gortat, Redick, Anderson, Bass).

Rudy Fernandez Is the Perfect Spot Up Shooter

Rudy Pulls Up

Rudy is a 40.6 percent three point shooter for his career.  Because of the fact the Magic's offense is predicated upon dumping it into Dwight Howard and kicking it out for open threes, Rudy would be the perfect player.  Moreover, he has great range beyond the three point line, which will only help him get more looks.  Imagine a backcourt of Fernandez (at point) and Redick (39.2 percent threes)!  It would be very difficult to reach four dead eye shooters (Quentin Richardson and Rashard Lewis being the other two).

Fernandez Can Handle The Ball, Making Duhon Less Necessary

Rudy Sets up the offense

Fernandez has shown not only a great ability to handle the ball, but also an uncanny ability to find open men.  He improves ball flow and does an excellent job of finding cutters.  His passing would only further aid Dwight Howard, as he could feed Howard for a number of lobs and he is a great post entry passer too.

Rudy Adds Size To Defend Taller and Stronger Point Guards

Rudy Goes for a steal

Rudy can bring size to the point guard that Jameer Nelson, Duhon, and Jason Williams cannot.  He is a capable defender and good at getting steals (1.5 per 36 minutes last season).  Rudy would make it tougher for the bigger point guards (think Kidd and Billups for instance) to post up, whereas against Jameer Nelson, they can have their way.

He Is Capable of Playing Three Positions

Rudy getting pumped

At 6'6", with great ball handling skills, Fernandez is capable of playing and covering point guards, shooting guards, and small forwards.  This brings flexibility to lineups that enables a team to shift players around without worrying about who Fernandez can cover.

He Is Exciting and Energizes The Crowd

Rudy in the Dunk Contest

Evidenced by the fact he was exciting enough to enter the dunk contest (not to mention posterizing Dwight Howard in international play - How many can do that?).  Rudy brings an exciting play every now and again, whether it be a reverse dunk, or a whip behind the back pass, he does things that excite the crowd and ignite the home team.

In Conclusion

Rudy Posterizes Dwight Howard

Rudy brings a number of things, both tangible and intangible, that would help the Magic (and indeed many teams).  I'm not entirely certain of what the Magic would dangle in front of Portland to get them to bite, but I'm sure Otis Smith could come up with some clever maneuver to put Rudy in a Magic uniform.