The decision to keep or Trade Rudy is a gamble. Decide to retain him and the gamble is that he will sign a deal with the Kings. The last time Rudy did this Vivek fired Mike Malone who Rudy had just re-upped to play for. Rudy might just sign elsewhere. If you trade Rudy you gamble that the player/players coming in play at least as well as Rudy. But for me it comes down to this. If you do not trade Rudy and he leaves you get nothing.....nada.....zip......zilch. If you trade Rudy you have who you traded for assuming it is not another expiring deal.
So for me the path with the least risk is to trade Rudy. This also applies to Darren Collison, Ty Lawson, Omri Casspi and Matt Barnes. Rudy and Matt do have players options. Matt may stay, Rudy will test the market. So it becomes imperative to land a PG who is signed for a couple of seasons. I trade Rudy and Darren. Then sign Omri, Ty and Matt.
I like Cameron Payne but there are others out there. Who do you like that the Kings might trade for?
I can't, or rather wouldn't feel comfortable, answering who do I like that the Kings might trade for. The reason being, is that if I were making these decisions, I would likely have a better feel for where Demarcus' head and heart is than I do as a fan. If I were in Vlade ( and Ken )'s shoes, this is the determing factor for everything going forward.
DMC is our best player and asset and there are nuances to many of the angles with regards to him. All these nuances and possible directions should influence everything else, including what to do with Rudy. Not to mention you have Vivek, at least verbally, committed to convincing Rudy to stay.
Questions and possibilities that tie in with DMC and thus the rest of the team moving forward:
1) Do you feel confident he will stay
2) If you do, is it with strings or expectations attached? i.e. "Only if we make the Playoffs this season" or " Only if DMC is confident we make them by next season"
3) Would DMC stay through a major overhaul resulting from missing the playoffs and retaining our top ten pick this year and or trading assets for young players and or picks?
I am sure there are a few, if not many more, variables but you get the gist of what I am thinking. So with regards to Rudy, a lot has to do with numbers 2 and 3. If number 1 is that you do not feel confident DMC will be here long term, then you would get young players or picks for Rudy.
If playoffs need to be in the very near future it makes things more difficult, since you would need to either retain Rudy somehow, or get assets in return that can help in the very near future. If number 3 is in play, that against all recent trends in NBA player behavior DMC is down for whatever and will be a King till the end no matter what happens, then things get more interesting with regards to what we can do moving forward with our entire roster. You have the possibility of a ton of cap space next season as well as Rudy as an asset to move, and young prospects in Skal,Malachi,WCS, Papa, and hopefuly Bodanavic next season.
I will stop my ramblings for now. Just wanted to illustrate how I am thinking with regards to Rudy and really our whole team moving forward. It all comes back to DMC and if he and Vlade have spoken on levels that answer questions 1-3, and more.