I wrote earlier about Rudy Fernandez being, in his own words, “pretty fucked up psychologically” during last season. Not good. But there’s another side to Rudy Fernandez. The side that dunked on Dwight Howard, drilled more threes as a rookie than any other player in NBA history and oozes talent (even if that talent comes in a frame that would be blown away by a stiff wind).

Here’s Portland coach Nate McMillan, talking about Fernandez. (CSNNE)

“The thing about it, anybody in the league can use him,” McMillan said. “He’s a good player. He’s a rotational player. For some teams, he’s going to be able to start. For some teams, he’s going to have to come off the bench. If he goes to Boston, he’s probably coming off the bench behind one of those guys, Ray Allen or Paul Pierce. So it just depends on where he goes as far as his role and how he would play. But his talent, there are a lot of teams that can use him and take advantage of what he does. But we’ll see what happens.”

“Anybody in the league can use him.” In case you guys didn’t know, that includes the Celtics. He could help the team, for sure. But with all this “demanding a trade” stuff and his own admission that he was fucked up psychologically, is Rudy worth the risk? I still say yes, even if it costs the Celtics a first-rounder. After all, talent has a way of winning out and Doc Rivers has a way of keeping players from being too disgruntled. Even the head cases.