Rudy Fernández (basketball)

Rudy Fernández
No. 5    Portland Trail Blazers
Swingman
Personal information
Date of birth April 4, 1985 (1985-04-04) (age 25)
Place of birth Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands
Nationality Spanish
Listed height 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight 185 lb (84 kg)
Career information
NBA Draft 2007 / Round: 1 / Pick: 24
Selected by the Phoenix Suns
Pro career 2001–present
Career history
DKV Joventut (2001–2008)
Portland Trail Blazers
Career highlights and awards
2× Spanish King's Cup MVP (2004, 2008)
2006 EuroChallenge Final Four MVP
2006 FIBA Europe Young Player of the Year
2007 Catalan Tournament Final MVP
2007 Euroleague Rising Star
2008 Eurocup Finals MVP
2009 NBA All-Rookie Second Team
2009 EuroBasket All-Tournament Team
Rudy Fernández at NBA.com
This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Fernández and the second or maternal family name is Farrés.

Rodolfo "Rudy" Fernández i Farrés (born April 4, 1985, in Palma de Mallorca, Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain) is a Spanish professional basketball player. He is a 6'6" (1.98 m)[1] tall shooting guard who is currently a member of both the Spanish national basketball team and the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers.

Contents

Pro career

Europe

Rudy Fernández won the 2005 and 2007 Catalan Tournaments, the 2006 EuroChallenge championship, the 2008 Spanish King's Cup championship, and the 2008 Eurocup championship while playing with DKV Joventut of the Spanish ACB League. He also won numerous personal awards while playing with DKV Joventut, such as the 2004 Spanish King's Cup MVP, the 2006 EuroChallenge Final Four MVP, the Euroleague 2006-07 season's Rising Star award, the 2008 Spanish King's Cup MVP, the 2008 Eurocup Finals MVP, and the 2007 Catalan Tournament Final MVP.

He was also named the 2006 FIBA Europe Young Player of the Year.[2] In July 2007, his contract with Joventut was extended through the year 2011, however his contract was bought out early in the year 2008 so that he could join the NBA.

NBA career

On June 28, 2007, Fernández was taken 24th overall in the NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns, who subsequently traded his draft rights along with James Jones to the Portland Trail Blazers for cash.

Rudy Fernández announced at a press conference on Friday, June 6, 2008, that he would leave DKV Joventut to join the Portland Trail Blazers for the 2008–09 NBA season, and he signed a contract with the Blazers on July 1.[3] He joined the NBA team on September 22, 2008.[4]

Fernandez joined several other fellow Spaniards in the NBA for the 2008–09 NBA season, including Pau Gasol and Marc Gasol, Jose Calderón, and former Trail Blazers teammate Sergio Rodríguez. He entered the NBA following his participation with the Spanish national team at the 2008 Olympic basketball tournament in Beijing, China.[3][5]

Fernandez played in his first regular-season NBA game on October 28, 2008, coming off the bench to score 16 points in a 96–76 Portland loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.[6] On November 12, 2008; Rudy scored 25 points in 29 minutes against the Miami Heat, including 8 of 8 from the free throw line adding to his already 92% FT shooting to set a new NBA career high.[7] On January 18, 2009, it was announced that Fernández had won the fan voting to pick the fourth dunker to go to the NBA Slam Dunk Contest as part of the 2009 All-Star Weekend.[8][9] During the contest, he paid tribute to the late Trail Blazer Fernando Martín by wearing his #10 jersey.[10] Fernández was eliminated in the first round of the competition, after what some thought was biased judging.[11][12]

On March 9, 2009, against the Los Angeles Lakers, Fernández was taken off the court in a stretcher after being fouled hard by Laker Trevor Ariza in the third quarter. The play resulted in a flagrant foul and ejection for Ariza.[13] Fernández was alert and conscious when leaving the court with full movement of his extremities, however, he was taken to the hospital due to chest pain.[14] He was released from the hospital the next day with a bruised chest and a right hip pointer.[15]

Fernández was selected to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team on April 30, 2009. He set NBA rookie records for number of three-point field goals made (159), hitting a three-point field goal in 33 consecutive games, and making a three-pointer in his first 20 career NBA games.[16]

On October 16, 2009, Blazers announced that they had exercised the third year of their option on Fernández's contract, keeping him with the team through the 2010-11 season.[17]

On August 20, Fernandez was fined $25,000 for "public statements detrimental to the NBA," a day after his agent publicly demanded a trade from the Blazers.[18]

Spanish national team

Junior national team

Fernández has been participating in international basketball competitions since he was sixteen years old. He played at the FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship and at the FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship with the Spanish national junior team.

Senior national team

Medal record
Competitor for  Spain
Men's Basketball
Summer Olympics
Silver 2008 Beijing National Team
FIBA World Championship
Gold 2006 Japan National Team
FIBA European Championship
Silver 2007 Spain National Team
Gold 2009 Poland National Team

As a member of the senior Spanish national basketball team, Fernández competed at the 2004 Olympics Basketball Tournament, averaging 5.1 points in 10.6 minutes. The next year, he played at the EuroBasket 2005, but his statistics were worse: 2.7 points in 16.3 minutes with a 31.6% FG% [19] His third appearance with Spain's senior national team was at the 2006 FIBA World Championship, where he became an important player for the Spanish team, and contributed with 9.1 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game, to help his team win a gold medal.

He also played at the EuroBasket 2007, where Spain won the tournament's silver medal. During this tournament Rudy averaged 9.9 points in 20.3 minutes per game. At the 2008 Olympics Basketball Tournament, Spain lost to Team USA in the gold medal match. Fernández scored 22 points in 18 minutes of play with 5 three-points goals, and completed a dunk over Dwight Howard[20] that ESPN sportswriter Bill Simmons described as "hellacious".[21]. During the Olympics, Fernandez had the following stats: 13.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 22.3 per game minutes.

The EuroBasket 2009 in Poland was his sixth consecutive appearance with the Spanish national team. Spain won the gold medal in a European Championship for the first time in its history, and Fernández averaged 13.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.1 steals per game in 28.4 minutes and was named to the All-Tournament Team.

Personal

Fernández played pro basketball alongside Ricky Rubio in the Spanish ACB League with the professional club DKV Joventut.[22] His older sister, Marta Fernández, played in the WNBA for the Los Angeles Sparks in 2007.

Awards and accomplishments

Pro career

Spanish national team

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2008–09 Portland 78 4 25.6 .425 .399 .839 2.7 2.0 .9 .2 10.4
2009–10 Portland 62 2 23.2 .378 .368 .867 2.6 2.0 1.0 .2 8.1
Career 140 6 24.5 .406 .387 .851 2.6 2.0 .9 .2 9.4

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2008–09 Portland 6 1 27.0 .429 .421 1.000 2.8 1.0 1.3 .5 7.5
2009–10 Portland 6 3 19.8 .444 .478 .750 1.7 1.3 .2 .0 6.8
Career 12 4 23.4 .435 .452 .867 2.3 1.2 .8 .2 7.2

Notes

  1. ↑ Rudy Fernández official NBA.com player page 6'6" 1.98m in height.
  2. ↑ Fernández wins European Young Player of the Year Award.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Sean Meahger (2008-07-01). "It's official: Blazers sign Rudy". OregonLive.com. http://blog.oregonlive.com/blazers/2008/07/its_official_blazers_sign_rudy.html. Retrieved 2008-07-01. 
  4. ↑ Jason Quick, Rudy's rousing arrival, September 22, 2008
  5. ↑ ESP – Rudy makes jump to the NBA FIBA.com, 6 June 2008
  6. ↑ "Blazers-Lakers box score". ESPN.com. October 28, 2009. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=281028013. Retrieved January 26, 2009. 
  7. ↑ "Blazers-Suns box score". NBA.com. http://www.nba.com/games/20081101/PORPHX/gameinfo.html. 
  8. ↑ "Fernandez headed to All-Star weekend for dunk contest". oregonlive.com. http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/01/fernandez_headed_to_las_vegas.html. Retrieved January 19, 2009. 
  9. ↑ "Fans vote Blazers' Fernandez into Sprite Slam Dunk contest". NBA.com. http://www.nba.com/2009/news/01/19/fernandez_relase.09allstar.20090119/index.html. Retrieved January 18, 2009. 
  10. ↑ "Rudy Fernandez's slam dunk tribute to Fernando Martin". Interbasket.net. http://www.interbasket.net/news/1014/2009/02/14/rudy-fernandez-tribute-to-fernando-martin. 
  11. ↑ "Robinson, Cook, Rose shine in Phoenix". ESPN.com. February 15, 2009. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/allstar2009/news/story?id=3908104. Retrieved February 15, 2009. 
  12. ↑ Freeman, Mike (2009-02-14). "Dunk Contest Final Blog: Rigged". CBSSports.com. http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6264363/13585850. Retrieved 2009-02-15. 
  13. ↑ "Ariza's foul boots Fernandez from game". ESPN.com. March 10, 2009. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3966302. Retrieved March 10, 2009. 
  14. ↑ Peterson, Anne (March 10, 2009). "Roy scores 27 in Blazers' 111-94 win over Lakers". NBA.com. http://www.nba.com/games/20090309/LALPOR/recap.html. Retrieved March 10, 2009. 
  15. ↑ Freeman, Joe (March 10, 2009). "Fernandez released; Odom suspended". OregonLive.com. http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/03/fernandez_released_odom_suspen.html. Retrieved March 10, 2009. 
  16. ↑ Golliver, Ben. "Rudy Fernandez Named To NBA All-Rookie Second Team". blazersedge.com. http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/4/30/860325/rudy-fernandez-named-to-all-nba. 
  17. ↑ "Trail Blazers Exercise Options On Oden, Fernandez, Batum, Bayless". NBA.com. 2009-10-16. http://www.nba.com/blazers/news/trail_blazers_exercise_options_2009_10_16.html. Retrieved 2009-10-17. 
  18. ↑ http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5477272
  19. ↑ http://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/team/p/sid/3769/tid/362/_/2005_EuroBasket/accumulated-statistics.html
  20. ↑ "Video: Rudy Fernández dunk on Dwight Howard". Interbasket.net. 2008-08-27. http://www.interbasket.net/news/453/2008/08/27/video-rudy-fernandez-dunk-on-dwight-howard. 
  21. ↑ Simmons, Bill (September 11, 2008). "Is it a classic if no one is watching?". ESPN The Magazine. http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?section=magazine&id=3575385. 
  22. ↑ Givony, Jonathan (December 13, 2008). "Blogging Through Europe 2008 (Part Five: Spain)". http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Blogging-Through-Europe-2008-Part-Five-Spain--3060/. Retrieved February 22, 2009. 

External links

Portland Trail Blazers current roster

1 Johnson | 2 Matthews | 4 Marks | 5 Fernández | 7 Roy | 8 Mills | 9 Williams | 10 Przybilla | 11 Babbitt | 12 Aldridge | 23 Camby | 24 Miller | 33 Cunningham | 52 Oden | 88 Batum

Head coach: McMillan | Assistant coaches: Bayno | Bickerstaff | Canales | Ociepka | Williams