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As he said himself, “The real season’s coming. If there was ever a time for Rudy Gay to get into his groove, it would be right now. The Utah Jazz only have 14 games left this year. Utah Jazz (2021present) On August 6, 2021, Gay signed with the Utah Jazz. On July 11, 2018, Gay re-signed with the Spurs. On December 28, 2017, Gay suffered a right heel injury and was subsequently ruled out for at least two weeks. Although I think Paschall’s energy is fantastic, his advanced defensive statistics are pretty poor (-2.8 defensive RAPTOR, -1.50 D-LEBRON) and I’d still rather trust Gay with those minutes, especially in games that matter. San Antonio Spurs (20172021) On July 6, 2017, Gay signed with the San Antonio Spurs. He’s still Utah’s best and most versatile option at the four spot off the bench and is definitely a better rebounder, shooter, and defender than the likes of Eric Paschall. Nonetheless, with the playoffs less than a month away, the Utah Jazz need Gay to have a stronger impact on the court. His short time in Utah hasn’t been strictly smooth sailing. On top of learning a new system and adjusting to a new environment, Gay’s recovery ended up eating into the start of the season and forced him into a late debut.
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Over the summer, Gay undertook surgery on his right heel to take care of pain that he had been dealing with for over five years. This isn’t completely fair to Gay, however. Again, for reference, Gay’s WAR was 3.8 in the 2020-21 campaign. Instead, Gay is currently averaging a near career low in Win’s Above Replacement (WAR) at 1.4. This was the reason why many expected Gay to come in and make a difference for Utah on that end. While his impact on offense was identical, his defensive RAPTOR was significantly higher. For reference, this was Rudy Gay’s impact at San Antonio last season: Using FiveThirtyEight’s RAPTOR statistic, we can see that Gay’s impact on offense and defense are both relatively negligible. When looking at advanced statistics, his impact continues to be neutral: FiveThirtyEight His offensive and defensive ratings are about league average at 112.0 and 106.6, respectfully. On the season, Gay is averaging 8.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.0 assist on 39.5% shooting from the field and 33.5% from three. This season with Utah, however, the results are mixed. Gay, although on the tail end of his career, proved in his time with the San Antonio Spurs that he could find ways to have a positive impact on the court. For years, the Jazz needed a long, athletic, and switchable defender to come off their bench. When the Utah Jazz signed Rudy Gay to a 3 year, 18 million dollar contract this past off-season, I was thoroughly excited.