Damjan Rudez: Timberwolves Hidden Gem
The Timberwolves relied on offense from an unlikely source in Wednesday’s win over the Hawks: Damjan Rudez.
I’m a fan of a lot of things, I’m a fan of Star Wars, classic literature, and, of course, European big men who can stretch the floor.
From Dirk Nowitzki to Ersan Ilyasova, I love to watch those sorts of players. The Timberwolves are privileged to have two such players, the first being of course Nemanja Bjelica.
The second has often gone unnoticed in Wolves-land so far this season. His name is Damjan Rudez, and he is a real diamond in the rough for the Wolves.
When the Timberwolves acquired Rudez from the Indiana Pacers this off-season, the move didn’t seem to spark any interest from too many people, being as though Rudez only averaged 4.8 points per game in 68 appearances last season. It seemed as though it was just a way to get rid of Chase Budinger‘s expiring deal. And while on the surface it seemed that way at first, Rudez has quite a bit to offer the Wolves in terms of productivity.
Now I’m not saying Rudez is going to be breakout star for the Wolves or anything like that. But I think he could become a very interesting role player for the Wolves. I think he could end up like a Robbie Hummel sort of player, who can provide productivity in limited minutes. We know that Hummel was once deemed “The Best 12th Man in the NBA” and I think Rudez could be something similar.
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Now we’ll use Hummel as a sort of reference point to what Rudez could become for the Wolves. It’s hard to assess the two considering there lack of minutes. However, if we look beyond the generic statistics that is where our story is told.
Rather than use per-36 minute numbers to compare the two, I decided to use per 100 possessions. In Hummel’s 98 career games with the Wolves, he averaged 13.6 points and 9.6 rebounds per 100 possessions. Rudez, in 75 career games is posting 16 points per 100 possessions.
Rudez is not a rebounder like Hummel, however. The stats may show that Rudez is more valuable than Hummel was when he played in Minnesota. To date, the two share almost an equal usage percentage, but Rudez has a higher Player Efficiency Rating, and a much higher box score plus-minus rating.
Despite his lack of minutes Rudez is one of the more underrated shooters in the game today. His 2014-15 shot chart should be proof of that.
Rudez shot 45 percent from the field and 40 percent from beyond the arc last year. Although he has only appeared in seven contests this year, this is what his shot chart looks like.
Yes, it’s a small sample size, but it’s worth noting that Rudez has had made the most of his possessions. The Timberwolves average roughly 102 possessions per 48 minutes of play. Rudez has played a total of 46 minutes this season, putting him right at 100 possessions this season. That means that so far this season, Damjan Rudez is averaging 19.3 points and 5.4 rebounds per 100 possessions.
Although he hasn’t seen the floor all that much yet this season, it’s hard not to love what the guy brings to the floor. On top of all those impressive advanced stats, Rudez’s true shooting percentage so far this season is 91 percent!
Based on some videos I’ve watched of Rudez in Europe and with the Pacers he seems to be a really smart basketball player. He knows when to make the extra pass, when to take the shot, etc. Also, at 6′-10″ he runs the floor really well — most of the time we see big guys like that lumber up and down the floor. I’ll leave some videos here and let you decide for yourself.
I mean I don’t know what else to say, really. Rudez is a smart basketball player, and he is pretty fun to watch. All of this stems from his coming out party on Wednesday night versus Atlanta, featured here:
It’s not easy for a player who is accustomed to sitting on the bench to come off the bench in a big game and play as well as he did. Very few players can make a huge impact on a game in limited playing time, and Rudez has done it multiple times.
Let me be clear: I am not advocating for him for the starting lineup or anything of that sort. He is no where near ready to play even 20-25 minutes a game. What I am saying is that Sam Mitchell should look into playing Rudez a little bit more, perhaps in the 13-16 minutes a game range. This will establish him as the Wolves “12th man” if you will, and he may turn out to be better than Robbie Hummel.
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Just watching this guy play, it seems that he has a knack for the game and knows what to do on the floor. If he can continue to make an impact in limited minutes, there is no doubt he’ll see the floor a little more. Until that happens, I’ll be accepting applications to the Damjan Rudez fan club.