Rivals.com Scouts Rudy Gay

6-foot-7, 204-pound small forward/power forward Rudy Gay ranks No. 16 on the Rivals150.

He resides in Capital Heights, Md. where he attends Archbishop Spalding H.S. In the off season he plays AAU ball for Cecil Kirk.

At this point, Gay lists eight schools as being in contention for his services. The eight that have already extended offers are Maryland, Syracuse, Villanova, Connecticut, St. Johns, Virginia, North Carolina State, and Georgetown.

When asked what criteria he will use to decide on a school, Gay quickly asserted academics. He explained further that he wants “to be structured academically by the basketball program.”

As far as basketball is concerned in choosing a school, he is looking for “a system that he can fit into.”

The height of Gay’s game is the first quality that catches the eye. At 6-foot-7, but with extremely long arms, he plays more like a 7-footer. The smooth release of his shot starts well above his head, sending the ball on a rainbow arc, nestling softly on the rim and most often into the net. His defense is marked by his prolific shot blocking ability.

The next quality that stands out is his graceful body control. Rarely does Gay foul when blocking shots, and his dribble moves most often end with a lethal spin in either direction.

The spin off the dribble comes after one of the more unique techniques in the game. With one simple back dribble out of the low post or mid post, Gay creates enough space against bigger and slower players to use his quickness to take them on the dribble. What makes this setup move so devastating is Gay’s ability to proficiently shoot over defenders off this dribble from as deep as the three point line. Gay attributes this move to the teaching of his AAU coach Anthony Lewis.

When finishing, Gay can finish at the rim with power or lay it off the glass with either hand. He also can quickly pull up off the dribble and hit the difficult mid range jump shot while closely guard. Although, as soon to be mentioned, Gay needs to get stronger, he has benefitted by not always being able to over power players in that he has developed finesse skills that most players, even very good ones, never develop. Once he adds more strength to his game, the sky is the limit.

The first area of Gay’s game that needs work is his strength. It is not that Gay is afraid of contact, but his game is a finesse game centered around his instinct, body control, and quickness. However, as Gay develops strength, he will be able to expand his game beyond being only finesse based. At times Gay does struggle in defending a powerful low post player, but more times than most he recovers with to block the shot.

The second area needing improvement is ballhandling. Gay is not a poor ballhandler by any means. In fact he handles the ball fairly well. It is just very clear that he could be a much better ballhandler, if not great ballhandler. With his athleticism and ability to see the floor and read the defense, Gay could be a point forward type. Getting stronger and lower with his dribble will get Gay in a better position to deliver the pass or navigate traffic.

At times Gay’s passing suffers because he is not completely comfortable with the ball while dribbling at full speed. Often Gay leads the break after snatching a rebound or blocking a shot, but will not quite deliver the ball accurately enough for the open man to be able to finish. Gay did assert that he has been working diligently with Coach Glick at Archbishop Molloy on improving his ballhandling.

When a reporter from Syracuse asked Gay what he thought about his game being compared to ex-Syracuse star Carmelo Anthony, Gay politely responded, “I respect his game very much and consider it a honor to be compared to him.”

After watching Gay perform in the Nike Camp, it is evident that this is a fair comparison. Gay is a better athlete and may already be a better defender than Anthony, but his dribbling and passing skills are not up to par with Anthony’s.

After a very impressive Nike Camp, Gay accomplished his stated goal of raising his stock and improving by playing against better players. Well, he did raise his stock and improve, but there were not any players at the camp better than Rudy Gay.

Rivals.com gives Rudy Gay a rating of 5.9 / 6.1 (PR / UR). For information concerning the Rivals.com Rating Scouting Index click the Rivals Rating Index link