I appreciate your point-by-point consideration but none of your responses are particularly compelling or persuasive.
For starters what is your basis for distrusting Voison? She said awhile back Rudy wanted out and fans on this board poo-poo'd all over this, as if she was inventing scenarios without merit. Well guess what her assertion was proven true. 100% true. Ailene also contended Boogie was "out of shape" last year and opponents looked to run him because they knew they could get early offense against a guy slow to change ends. This was also proven TRUE in an off-season in which Boogie revealed he had tendonitis in BOTH feet and also lost about 20-30 pounds this summer to improve his mobility with Team USA and pending season.
If all you can muster is that Rudy wants out because he wants to go to a winner, this is an unconvincing argument. Why? Because if Rudy is requesting a trade or trying to force a trade, then Vlade is under NO obligation to trade him to a contender. For all the control Rudy has, Vlade could trade Rudy to the 76ers. Its not like Rudy orchestrate a trade to the Cavs or Dubs. He just wants out.
Rudy has not said that he has requested a trade, so to bring it up as fact is false. There are reports on both sides that say he did and did not request a trade. So considering the possibility exists that he did not request a trade, your point looks pretty weak.
But let's pretend that he did request a trade, why does that shoot down the idea that he wants to go to a contender? He doesn't NEED to stay with the team he is traded to. If he is traded to the Sixers, he can easily just walk and sign with a contender next year. At least requesting a trade gives him the opportunity to play with a contender this year.
As you can see, your logic is pretty flaky here...
I think it is more accurate to say I am making educated guesses more than assumptions
and that if Rudy and Boogie were to come together as teammates on and off the court after two seasons, it would have happened already, and we would have already seen more compelling evidence of their coming together. The absence of this evidence is equivalent to writing on the wall.
Three head coaches in 2014-2015 seems like a pretty big factor. However, in the first 15 games of the 2014-15 season (Malone's tenure), Cousins & Gay played very well on the floor together. When they were on the floor together, Cousins had a 59% TS & Gay had a 61% TS. Also, when those 2 were on the floor, the team averaged 115.3 pts per 100 possessions on offense and 97.9 pts per 100 poss. on defense. That's a +17.4 point differential! For reference, the Spurs were #1 this year with a +11.8 differential. I think it's reasonable to insinuate that Cousins & Gay "came together" under a stable & competent coach that played to the teams strengths.
Then after Malone is fired, we go through two more coaches before the season ends. Coaching changes are important factors to consider especially when both Cousins & Gay were very, Very, VERY happy with Malone. They felt betrayed and who can blame them? It's pretty demoralizing to be so optimistic about the future only to have that future be stripped away from you from your very own FO.
Then this last year we had to put up with the hell that was George Karl who decided it would be wise to alienate our best player right out of the gate by suggesting that he is tradeable. I don't care if he's "technically" correct. You don't say that publicly as a head coach. EVER. There's also the fact that Cousins & Gay were battling injuries last year.
From that perspective, it's hard for me to say Cousins & Gay haven't come together when in fact, they did just that when healthy and under a competent & stable coach who used them well.
Rudy does not want to play with Boogie any more. Period.