However, amongst the turmoil he was still able to give us this: Rudy would try and shake off all the rumors, but by mid-January you could tell the whole trade situation (and unfortunate death of his grandmother) was affecting his performance and concentration. He couldn't get out of his own way, and his 16+ shots a game were draining any offensive momentum the Grizzlies were capable of producing. Rudy shot an abysmal 39%-23% in Jan, and the 4+ turnover games started popping up much more frequently.
But as January crept forward, the rustling of trade rumors and luxury tax began infiltrating the locker room and the city as a whole. Gay would still amaze us with his highflying feats and acrobatic tomahawk slams (of which I am still a huge fan). How can you not love that as an NBA fan and especially as a Griz fan? When you go 12-2 there just aren't going to be a lot of problems coming up to discuss, so if there were still those major-Rudy-pitfalls, it was very hard to notice during the first month of the season. It looked like Rudy might finally be playing into his role on the Grizzlies by stretching the floor with thoughtful shots and attacking the rim when teams played him too close. Rudy shot a career high in 3P% that month (in spite of shooting a career low in FG%). There's no doubt he helped the Grizzlies off to the best start in franchise history, going 12-2 in the first month (and a day). The season did start off fluidly for the agile swingman. We came into this 2012-2013 season with very high hopes for Rudy Gay, and a belief that being a year+ removed from his shoulder injury would allow him to finally blossom into the superstar demigod we always wanted him to be. How will we ever end up on a Sportcenter highlight reel again? Whose going to take the big, clutch shots for us? He can create his shot ANYWHERE on the floor! Just look at his build! He's an athletic freak!