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"He's a guy that can get his own shot," says Dallas' Jason Terry. "When you have a guy that you can throw the ball to – and he's another one, in the fourth quarter, close game, he's looking to take and make that shot – you can't let him catch the ball. He's just a player who's a superior athlete in this league. There's not many like him, being able to get his own shot and then using his athletic ability. Bar none he's tops in the league."
Gay will have to learn to fit in and stand out all over again. It's a new team now. The players have tasted success. They all want more.
"I think he can make them real good," says Washington's John Wall. "I know Rudy well. If he comes in with the mindset to just work hard and be himself, and just let his thing go with the flow, they can be a really talented team."
No one believed all this was coming. Not the owners or the front office, not the fans, and certainly not the players. They won 44 combined games during Gay's first two seasons, and then traded away a franchise cornerstone for one of the biggest draft busts of all time. The crowds were dead. The franchise was moving in circles. Relocation rumors circulated. When they traded for Randolph less than two years after giving up Pau Gasol for financial reasons, then brought in former star Allen Iverson for all of three games, there were no surer signs that ownership was in flux. Gay constantly thought about leaving.
"There would be times I didn't know whether I was gonna be there or not, or even if I wanted to be there or not," he says. "It was one of those situations. But I've seen progress in the city and with the team. As soon as that happened, there was no way I could leave that."
center of the room and start eating. Stuffed salmon with crab. Steaks. Crab Bruschetta.
"Get the crab cakes," Rudy tells me. Everyone says they're heaven on a plate. All these guys used to go crabbing off the pier. They know seafood. Rudy gets oysters, but can't finish them because the appetizers were too good.
The food is melting my taste buds while Rudy's crew is laughing. He's telling stories like the one about meeting Dennis Rodman out at a club when the Worm didn't know who he was. He can chuckle about it now.
It's been a long road for Rudy Gay. From sitting out on Ashwin Ferguson's front porch with his friends as a teenager, to becom- ing the centerpiece in one team's future championship plans, it's always been about family. His people.
Ask his good friend and former teammate Ronnie Brewer about family. Brewer and Gay came into the NBA in the same 2006 draft class. When they were at a pre-draft party, Brewer couldn't get in because he didn't have a collared shirt. Gay took off his own button-up for Brewer to wear inside.
"And Rudy, he always tells me, 'We gotta be good friends. I gave you the shirt off my back,'" says Brewer.
That connection is what the players hope separates the Grizzlies from other teams that came and went too quickly. They're a scrappy, hardworking, once-ridiculed bunch, bound together by years of criticism and slights. Memphis is Gay's family now, and their future rests on how high he can soar.
THEY'RE A SCRAPPY, HARDWORKING, ONCE-RIDICULED BUNCH, BOUND TOGETHER BY YEARS OF CRITICISM AND SLIGHTS.
MEMPHIS IS GAY'S FAMILY NOW, AND THEIR FUTURE RESTS ON HOW HIGH HE CAN SOAR.
Now two years later, Zach Randolph has developed into a leader, Tony Allen into a full-time starter, and Marc Gasol into one of the best young big men in the game. The front office has turned into spenders, the coach, Lionel Hollins, into a genius, the fans into supporters, and Rudy Gay into the piece that promises to bring it all together.
"Man, that's exciting to know that Rudy Gay is coming back," says Randolph. "The way that we clicked this year and played together without him… so when he comes back, we are going to be that much better. A lot better."
To take that next step, going from a playoff team to a title contender – the one so few teams have actually made – you need two specific things, says Terry. First, the right personnel. You need the talent, and the parts have to fit. And second, everyone must buy in, from the players on the court to the top of the organization. It's easy to go from being average to good, "But to be great," says Terry, "you have to do it together and you all have to be on the same page. And then the basketball gods have to be shining down on you. It all has to line up."
By sunset, we're off to Jimmy's Famous Seafood, a restaurant on the other side of town. Eleven of us cram into a long table in the
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"I think anything can happen," says Gay. "All it takes is hard work and dedication. The most dedicated team usually wins, and that was Dallas this year. I think there's no reason why it couldn't be us next year."
He admits last season still dominates his thoughts. What would've happened had I been healthy? What if I could've played in the playoffs?
"But I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and maybe I needed this," he says. "Maybe this is one of those things that can take me to the next level."
Rudy hasn't made an All-Star team yet, but it's coming. "It's only a matter of time," says Conley. He hasn't earned the respect of the national audience yet, but it's coming. The Grizzlies aren't consid- ered contenders yet, but they're coming. It's all coming. Fast. And Rudy wants the juice.
"Honestly, I just want the respect of the players," he says. "I just want the respect of my teammates. The other players in the league, I want them to say, 'Oh Rudy is a bad MFer.' You know what I'm saying? That's what I want people…when they think of me, think of me as a bad MFer."