When the news came out that the Jazz were going to be taking a salary dump from the Golden State Warriors there was a lot of disapproval from Jazz Nation. Though they eventually grew to the idea of gaining future assets, the one bright spot most people found was the acquisition of Brandon Rush, the brother of fellow NBA counterpart Kareem Rush, who now plays in the ABA. B. Rush missed the last 80 games of last season due to an ACL injury, and Jazz fans will be hoping he can come back as strong or stronger than he was the last season he played before his injury. The 2011-12 season was great statistically for Rush totalling his highest averages in Blocks, Free Throw Percentage, 3Pt. Percentage, Field Goal Percentage, Points Per Game, and tying his highest average in Assists.
Brandon Rush almost made his jump to the pros when the 2005 NBA Draft came around, as you were still allowed to enter straight from high school, but decided to get started on his degree and up his draft stock. He did just that in his first season becoming the first Freshman to make the First Team All-Big 12, as well as being the Freshman of the Year in the conference. The next season had a lot of expectations placed on him as he was a preseason All-American and preseason Co-Player of the Year in the Big 12. He was then eventually placed on the All-Big 12 Tournament Team at seasons end. After the terrific season, Brandon announced he would be entering the 2007 NBA Draft. It was before the draft took place that Rush tore his ACL during a pickup game that was involved in a scandal with the Knicks organization. Nothing happened with Rush in the scandal, but due to the fact that he had not hired an agent, he was able to rejoin the Kansas basketball team.
Rush's decision to go back to Kansas proved to be a good one because his play led him to become the Big 12 Tournament MVP and helped Kansas win the 2008 NCAA Championship. After that season, he finally declared for the 2008 NBA Draft and was picked 13th overall by Portland, but then traded to Indiana. Indiana later traded him to Golden State, and Golden State traded him to Utah. He has been traded from every team he has been on.
With Utah getting Rush in the trade, that meant Randy Foye was not returning. In my opinion, Brandon Rush is a taller, stronger, more athletic, more defensive, better shooting Foye. Randy tremendously improved the Jazz shooting last year and if B. Rush can continue the shooting he had in his season before the injury, it will improve more. One of the only problems he has is that he is injury prone. Brandon Rush has torn his ACL twice, and has only played a full NBA season once. If he can stay healthy, and do just as well as the 11-12 season, then he will be a huge factor for the Jazz next year. As always there is a highlight video below, a link to the video if you are on a mobile device, as well as a Wikipedia link. Thanks for reading!
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Rush
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