After his toils in the NBA wasteland that has been Sacramento hoops for the last few seasons, many of us have forgotten just how good Kings forward Rudy Gay is at the sport of basketball.
The good people over at ESPN definitely forgot, slotting Gay at No. 70 in their annual NBA player rankings, despite a 2014-15 season in which the UConn product averaged 21.1 points per game, 5.9 rebounds per game, and 3.7 assists per game.
Gay’s incredulous reaction to the news on Monday was the stuff of legend.
70? pic.twitter.com/3YCY7oo75B
— Rudy Gay (@RudyGay8) October 12, 2015
After gaining a reputation as a long two-happy bricklayer in his later Memphis days and his Toronto days, Gay has quietly rewritten the narrative in Sacramento, steadily improving his efficiency by trading midrange attempts for shots in the paint or taking a step back and canning open threes off the catch. Now that he has shot selection somewhat on his side (bumping up his once-odious FG percentages to a respectable 45.5 percent from the field and 35.9 percent from deep last year), we can start talking about Gay for the player that he really is: one of the most gifted pure scorers in the Association.
With DeMarcus Cousins sucking up help defenders down low and newcomer Rajon Rondo, who Gay has already developed a nice chemistry with in the preseason, generating quality looks for him, the 29-year-old Gay is poised next season to make that No. 70 ranking look more foolish than Napoleon’s decision to invade Russia.
Image Credit: Jennifer Stewart-USA TODAY Sports
H/T HoopsHype
