Both were bona fide scorers in their prime who played as scoring guards and wings at the 2 and 3, but moved to predominantly 4s in their later years. The Gay signing has a lot of similarities to the 2016 signing of veteran scorer Joe Johnson. So let’s examine why he is needed and what to expect from him. In other words, the Jazz don’t necessarily need Gay to be a consistent scorer off the bench. There really just aren’t shots to go around and Rudy Gay only exacerbates that particular problem, which isn’t necessarily a bad problem.
![rudy gay teams he has played for rudy gay teams he has played for](https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/07/20/32/18679447/11/rawImage.jpg)
Joe Ingles can create offense on the pick-and-roll, Royce O’Neale excels in catch-and-shoot and catch-and-go situations, and Hassan Whiteside is a solid bench rim finisher. Beyond those two, the Jazz have Mike Conley, Bojan Bogdanovic and Rudy Gobert who can all hit 20 points on a given night. The Jazz have two volume scoring guards in Donovan Mitchell and Jordan Clarkson, who take a combined 41% of Jazz’s shots - 35 combined attempts per game of Utah’s 85 nightly shots. His game is adaptable and he’s modified his presence on the floor as his body and athleticism have been met with age.īut it’s also important to point out that this isn’t why he came to Utah. Gay has been a prolific scorer throughout his career. And maybe that’s not that wholly unrealistic.
![rudy gay teams he has played for rudy gay teams he has played for](https://playersbio.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Rudy-Gay-1024x1024.jpg)
Jazz fans may be tempted to expect this from him and more. Gay just just dropped 20 points and grabbed five rebounds in his Utah Jazz debut, while shooting 5-for-6 from three and 7-of-8 overall. Rudy Gay punctuated his walk-off interview on Thursday night with a little advice for Jazz fans: “Don’t expect this every time,” the veteran forward said. Gay dazzled in his Jazz debut, but is it fair to expect that brilliance every night? (Rick Egan, Salt Lake Tribune)