This series examines the Sacramento Kings players’ most recent season giving them a performance grade. Today we will take a look at Rudy Gay.
It was a whirlwind of a season for Rudy Gay. The preseason outlook was rosy for Mister Gay, but then he informed the Kings management he would opt out after the season and likely not return. Gay still had this season to play out, though. He was efficient on the court until a torn his Achilles ended his season in January.
Today, we will just focus on his on-court exploits, and at the end, I will briefly discuss how the injury might affect his play and contract situation going forward.
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Let us first look at Rudy Gay’s performance on both ends of the floor a little more in-depth to see what grade he should earn.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: For this series, the players on the Kings will be graded on a curve, meaning that the grades handed out to each player reflect more about their ranking on the team rather than their actual performance output.
OFFENSE: Grade- B
Rudy Gay bounced most of the way back to his previous electric form on offense this season. The presence of Rajon Rondo stifled Gay in 2015-2016, but this year he was back and ready to be the Swiss Army Knife on offense again. He produced 18.7 points, 1.4 three-pointers made, 2.7 assists, and 2.5 turnovers per game this season in 33.8 minutes a night. Gay shot 45.5% from the field, 85.5% from the free throw line and 37.2% from three-point territory. Overall, Gay produced outstanding statistical numbers on offense during this campaign.
Below is a highlight video of Rudy Gay dunking this season so you can get a glimpse of his athletic and finishing ability.
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I was thoroughly impressed with Rudy Gay’s three-point production this season. According to Basketball-Reference, the NBA league average three-point percentage was 35.8%, and Rudy has been slightly below the league average most of his career until this season. This year, Gay took the second most three-point attempts per game for his career and connected on 37.2% of them. His season only last 30 games, so it is hard to glean if it was a small sample size effect or if Gay expanded his game, but it was a welcome sign for the Kings either way.
Overall, I think Gay earned a B grade on offense this season based on his production. Maybe my expectations were too high after what I witnessed in the 2014-2015 season, but I thought Gay played well this season despite not reach that same level.
DEFENSE: Grade- B+
Rudy Gay once again brought it on the defensive end in 2016-2017. Gay averaged 6.3 rebounds, 1.5 steals, 0.9 blocks, and 2.6 personal fouls per game in his 30 games this season. The blocks per game were his most per game in 6 seasons, and he improved his steal rate in each of his three seasons with Sacramento. Gay has always been a good defender, and the statistics bore that out this season.
Let us switch over and view some advanced metrics (All advanced metrics courtesy of Basketball-Reference) to see how they rated Rudy Gay’s defense. If you consider defensive box score plus/minus, Gay earned positive 0.4 or his best in his tenure with the Kings. He, also, was a positive 1.0 defensive win share. Gay rated as a positive on the defensive end of the floor.
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Gay brings a lot of defensive versatility to Sacramento, and that went a long way in earning his B+ grade. Gay can guard just about any player on the court and still produce both traditional and advance statistics. That is big positive for the Kings or any team Rudy Gay plays for in the future.
Overall 2016-2017: Grade- B+
Despite playing just 30 games this season, I believe Rudy Gay deserves a B+ grade for his on-court performance this season. Gay averaged almost 19 points a game while being a secondary or tertiary ball handler. Throw in some quality defense and great three-point production, and it was a pretty good season for Mister Gay while it lasted.
I was most impressed that even at age 30 this season, Rudy Gay appeared to have his expanded his game. I talked about the three-point percentage improvement, his improved steal rate, and his improved block rate already, but it did not stop there. Gay was adjusting to a new offense (granted he played for Memphis when Coach Joerger was an assistant there so that he may have had some familiarity) and new teammates (the Kings had a lot of new players on the squad at the beginning of the season) but still managed to improve his numbers. He proved again why he is an exceptional player in this league.
I know most Kings fans want to know where Rudy Gay goes from here, so continue reading, and I will give my thoughts on both his injury and contract status in the next section.
Final Thoughts
There you have it, my report for Rudy Gay’s 2016-2017 season. I will start off with what ended his season, the devastating Achilles injury. When Kobe Bryant tore his Achilles, Sports Illustrated did a feature on the injury that is worth a read. There are some facts in the piece that make it look bad for Rudy Gay, so please check it out.
The injury is often difficult to recover from, and I think we have seen in recent years that players who have this injury often never fully recover. Take a look at Kobe, Wesley Matthews, and Brandon Jennings as recent examples. That naturally leads to the question: What should Rudy Gay do about his contract situation?
Gay has a player option for next season at $14.26 million, and as I mentioned he told the Kings at the beginning of the season, he was going to opt out. Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee did a great article in March about how the injury could affect the situation found here. I think Gay should collect his money and opt into that final year of his current contract. Hopefully, he comes back to full health and can get the big contract he desires next offseason. The Rudy Gay contract situation is one of the big storylines to follow this offseason for Kings fans.
Next: Sacramento Kings Report Card: Willie Cauley-Stein
A Royal Pain will have all the offseason Sacramento Kings’ content you desire. We will be covering the draft, free agency, and all the juicy rumors, so please check in with us often. Thank you for reading.