If staying in the professional world is complicated, enjoying a long career is in another league. However, there is another category above which he does not know values or statistics traditional and this refers to a player’s ability to constantly reinvent himself.
Its trajectory Rudy Fernandez He has gone through all sorts of points and lived chapters unrepeatable in any other figure. Someone who, regardless of having won almost everything in European and international basketball, still has the same fire inside him that pushes him to keep going.
Rudy taking his first steps ACB League in Joventut It has little or nothing to do with today, as it could not be otherwise. This guard was an offensive supernova, a modern and vertical player who played above the rim with tremendous ease. Time made him more grounded, but just as determined, gradually extending his launch range to the point settled between 37 and 39% average in the world’s major events. All this without giving up his status as elite defender, Sure.
The multiple injuries didn’t define his game, but they questioned whether he could continue to be a professional in absolute terms. Oh yes, Fernández was driving his profile to an extremely useful role to win sets like 3&D. A Rudy who could no longer deliver the consistent performances of the 2010s, but who always showed up on important occasions, even if not in the most brilliant way statistically.
East re-conversion process on the floor has ended up turning him into a leader, especially at spanish option, where it remains as an unchanging figure over time. Always ready at his command Sergio Scariolo and to sacrifice a valuable period of rest to act as captain in the ultimate.
This function is very common in international teams like Spain, with so much tradition or where there is a generational change. But in Fernández’s case, it hasn’t lost a minute of its importance on the floor.
At 37 he’s questioning average 17.1 minutes per game and putting up good numbers (8.0 points, 44.1% accuracy). A veteran with impact and above all enough experience to make the difference at crucial moments in high-intensity matches.
Leadership is a virtue that is difficult to measure in terms of its impact or true importance on a team. Despite this, Rudy Fernández appears in a very simple way. This is reflected by Sergio Scariolo in a recent interview with Diario AS: “He really manages to have those moments that aren’t technical gestures but transcend. And you think: what kind of heart does this boy have to do such a thing at 37 and a half years old, suffering as he is.’
Leading by example, leaving leather for every ball regardless of the physical consequences for him, as well as scolding or harassing his teammates when necessary. Balance in national team basketball and in tournaments like this is judged by figures like Rudy Fernandez.
With 241 appearances for the Spanish National Team, the second highest record in its history, Rudy Fernandez will play his seventh EuroBasket semi-final this Friday, September 16. The Balearic will have it in his power to join legends such as Pau Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro, Sergey Belov or Kresimir Kosic as one of the players with six or more medals in this tournament. Only one more win is needed, either in the semi-finals or in 3rd and 4th place.
