NBA Fine Blazers’ Fernandez
“Public statements detrimental to the NBA” cost Trail Blazers guard Rudy Fernandez 25,000 dollars. The player was fined by the NBA just one day after his agent publicly demanded a trade. Portland coach Nate McMillan declared right after the news he’s been trying to contact the guard in order to find out if he will be able to count on him the next season, but Fernandez, who is in Spain with the US team to play against the locals on Sunday night, didn’t answer to any of his calls. “I’ve tried to contact Rudy, and he hasn’t returned calls since the season ended.”
“So we’ll just have to see what happens. We’re looking to improve our team at all times, but I don’t know what’s going to happen.” McMillan said afterwards to The Oregonian newspaper that the two finally got to talk, but the coach didn’t offer any details about their conversation. “I thought it was a good conversation. I don’t want to go into the details, but I talked to him as a coach.” Fernandez declared this summer he keens on a trade away from Portland, in Spain where he can play professionally again, taking account that his NBA performance didn’t look to high especially in his second season. “That has been pretty much their position all summer, and Rich Cho is working on that. We know that situation and we’ve got to fix it. The thing is, we’re going to look at what’s going to be best for the organization. Rudy is a very good player, a talented player that we like, and you just don’t let a player like that go in a situation like this. He’s keeping his ears open to what teams are saying, but that’s not something we feel we’re going to be forced into doing.”
Fernandez agent Andy Miller revealed the player has gathered too much frustration so he no longer wants to return in the NBA. “All I can do now is stand on the rooftop and scream, ‘He’s not coming!’ He’s just not coming back. I’ve made that clear. I would like to have an amicable divorce.” Coach McMillan also claimed: “Last year, bringing in Andre Miller and having Steve Blake, we were starting with four guards. And he’s playing behind an All-Star in Brandon Roy, and he’s a 2 [shooting guard], and neither one of those guys is a 3 small forward. So the minutes were cut simply because we had a four-guard rotation. I think in all team sports you have situations where people want more, and yet you have to make sacrifices. For us, last year we had a very deep team where we could play 10 guys if we were healthy, and not only was Fernandez feeling that way, Jarryd Bayless was feeling that way, and Martell Webster was feeling that way.” Rudy Fernandez left Phoenix to join the Blazers in 2008 for a 3 million deal.
