According to Yahoo! Sports, the Sacramento Kings are looking into dealing any player on the roster, including Rudy Gay. At first glance, Gay might seem to be an interesting piece to add in a trade, as he has demonstrated the ability to put up gaudy scoring numbers throughout his NBA career. However, NBA teams looking to improve this offseason should not even consider calling the Kings about Gay.
Teams thinking about trading for Gay should remember that he has made the playoffs only one time since 2006, something that is far from a coincidence. During that time span, Gay has been traded two different times, further enforcing the point that his scoring production overstates his overall contribution to his team’s success. Simply, Gay has many similarities to Carmelo Anthony, another player who always seems to put up big scoring numbers but can never get over the hump at the NBA level.
According to NBA.com, Gay was used in isolation situations 17.5 percent of the time this season, a frequency that ranked in the 77th percentile among players with at least 100 isolation plays. In these isolation plays, Gay loves to settle for midrange jumpers, shooting 2.7 shots from 15-19 feet in the 2014-15 NBA season according to NBA.com. This number was higher than over 91 percent of the NBA, a scary trend for a league that is shifting to a high quantity of three-point jumpers.
Although Gay can hit the midrange jumper on a consistent basis, his three-point jumper leaves a lot to be desired. Over his career, he has shot an unimpressive 34.3 percent from behind the arc, and there has been a considerable amount of percentage fluctuations over the years from deep.
The biggest weakness that Gay has is that he simply does not make his teammates better, even if he has possessed the ball for a considerable amount over his time in the NBA. Over his career, he has tallied a measly 2.3 assists per game. This season, he ranked in the 43rd percentile in assist-to-turnover ratio according to NBA.com, considering only players who played in at least 65 regular season games.
One of the best ways to show how Gay has impacted the teams he has played for is to look back at the trade that sent him from the Toronto Raptors to the Kings just 19 games into the 2013-14 season. In the 19 games before being traded, the Raptors posted a record of 7-12. However, after he was dealt, the team finished the year 41-22. Obviously, the Raptors experienced some noticeable addition by subtraction after making this trade to give up Gay.
It is clear that teams looking to add a piece to their championship puzzle can do a lot better than Gay, who may find himself on a different team once again this summer. However, there will most likely be a team in the league that bites on one of Sacramento’s offers, failing to observe Gay’s prominent shortcomings.
Nicholas Sciria is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @Nick_Sciria, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.