Here are two articles: ESPN reports Rudy Fernandez is upset and The Oregonian reports Rudy Fernandez is not upset. Ignoring the difference in position, I think Fernandez will end up being a better player than Turkoglu. For comparison’s sake, here’s Fernandez’s rookie season statistics:
Season Tm G FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS 2008-09 POR 78 4.8 11.4 .425 2.9 7.2 .399 2.2 2.6 .839 3.7 2.9 1.2 0.2 1.6 2.0 14.7
And Turkoglu’s at similar ages:
Season Tm G FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS 2000-01 SAC 74 4.0 9.7 .412 0.8 2.5 .326 2.5 3.2 .777 6.1 2.0 1.5 0.7 1.6 4.0 11.3 2001-02 SAC 80 5.3 12.6 .422 1.2 3.1 .368 3.1 4.2 .726 6.6 3.0 1.0 0.6 1.5 3.4 14.8 2002-03 SAC 67 5.1 12.0 .422 0.9 2.4 .372 2.7 3.4 .800 5.8 2.7 0.8 0.4 1.5 3.8 13.7 2003-04 SAS 80 4.5 11.2 .406 1.8 4.2 .419 2.0 2.8 .708 6.2 2.7 1.4 0.6 1.6 2.9 12.8
Here’s hoping the Oregonian has the story straight and ESPN is wrong, because he’s my second favorite player on probably my favorite team.
[Update: Those are stats per 36 minutes.]