Struggling Rudy Gay Guarantees His Jumper Will Start Falling


Toronto Raptors forward Rudy Gay doesn’t need to peek at the statsheet to know that he isn’t shooting very well — in fact, Gay is mired in the worst shooting slump of his 8-year NBA career. He’s working hard to fix that broken jumpshot, and Gay promises that the numbers will improve. Per the Toronto Sun: “Shooting a dismal 37.5% from the field with more missed shots and turnovers than just about anybody else in the league, Gay is at a loss as to what is wrong. But he’s determined to fix it. Gay got up 500 shots following Tuesday’s last-second loss to Brooklyn. ‘You just have to get back into the gym and get back to the basics. The only thing I could do after that game was to go out and shoot some jump shots. Get that out of my head and work on my game,’ Gay explained after a spirited practice Thursday. Gay said he is particularly frustrated with his work in close, where he’s shooting 10-15% worse than his career norms in the paint and around the free throw line. Gay believes those numbers will even out and is defiant that he will not change his game. ‘It’s not something I’m going to stop doing. Obviously everybody wants a shot in the paint, (I) just haven’t been making them. I will start making them, I can guarantee that,’ he said. Some have posited Gay’s off-season weight gain, in an attempt to play more power forward as a reason for his decreased lift and poor finishing inside, but Gay said he couldn’t point to any one thing. ‘It will even out, we’re still getting wins even with my poor shooting and when it picks up, hopefully we’ll be playing better as a team.’ Gay can and does take some solace in his excellent play defensively so far. His defensive rating, blocks and steals are at or near career-best levels. ‘Even when your shot’s not falling, you can still give effort on the defensive end and still be an asset to your team,’ he said.”