Rudy excites fans and teammates

Life is good for Rudy Fernandez, the Blazers’ ‘rock star’ from Spain

By kerry eggers

The Portland Tribune, Jan 4, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (6 Reader comments)

Portland Trail Blazer Rudy Fernandez is wowing fans on and off the court.

L.E. Baskow / Portland Tribune

The People’s Choice sits and talks with a reporter for a half-hour as people file in and out of the coffee shop at Bridgeport Village, unaware that a celebrity is in their midst.

One middle-aged man wears a puzzled look as he scrutinizes the interview subject, who has a white stocking cap pulled over his hair and a white Nike sweat suit adorning his lanky frame. The man moves on without comment.

Maybe it’s the incognito appearance, but for a few moments, at least, Rudy Fernandez is just a regular person in the City of Roses.

“Sometimes it does get a bit much,” the Trail Blazer rookie phenom from Spain says about the attention from fans around Portland.

Fernandez smiles.

“It’s good; I’m not complaining,” he says. “I love the people here. But sometimes you prefer some privacy. When I go to dinner with my family or girlfriend, I need my space. Sometimes people don’t give you that space.”

In his hometown of Palma de Mallorca on Majorca, the largest of the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Fernandez and tennis star Rafael Nadal are las más populares celebridades (translation: the most popular celebrities).

“In Spain, there’s a big difference,” Fernandez offers. “In my city, everybody knows me. When I’m walking somewhere, they may say hello, but they respect my privacy. Here, it’s, ‘Hey, hey, hey.’ I don’t like that part so much.”

Fernandez, 23, is unfailingly polite in public, though, in keeping with the players Portland’s NBA franchise has brought in to win back fans who tuned them out during the “Jail Blazer” era.

But Rodolfo Fernandez Jr. is more than just a nice guy. He is an extreme talent, a star on the 2008 Spanish Olympic team that lost to the United States in the Gold Medal game at the Beijing Olympics. A first-round draft pick acquired by Portland in 2007, the 6-5, 185-pound shooting guard signed a five-year contract worth more than $9 million last summer.

Had he stayed in Europe, where he played professionally the past three years, Fernandez could have made three times as much money, says his agent, Gerard Darnes.

Fernandez runs like a gazelle, jumps out of the gym, knocks down three-point shots and is, says Blazer General Manager Kevin Pritchard, “the best young international player” in the sport.

And the Spaniard oozes charisma, turning on the fans and, it seems, the ladies.

It’s a potent mix in Portland, and it’s just getting started.

• • •

Fernandez happily has plenty of house guests from the homeland at his residence in Lake Oswego – his parents, Rodolfo Sr., and Maita, and his girlfriend, Christina Fernandez (no relation), who all arrived in mid-December. Rudy’s parents will fly home on Jan. 4; Christina, 26, a blonde fashion model, will stay a little longer.

“It’s very good for me, that my family and girlfriend are here,” he says. “In Spain, I live by myself. I take care of cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, everything. So I am used to that.

“But sometimes I need to talk with people who are close to me. I think it’s important. Here, I have (teammates) Sergio (Rodriguez) and L.A. (LaMarcus Aldridge), good friends. But I miss my teammates from Spain. And I have missed my parents and my girlfriend.”

Fernandez’s English is improving but remains a work in progress. He is no longer taking lessons from a teacher but learns by audio tape and picks up what he can through everyday life.

“I took English classes in high school, but it’s England’s English,” he says. “Here the conversation is very different, and the slang is different.

“Sometimes when somebody talks, I have to have concentration to understand. Sometimes when I listen to music or TV, I try to learn everything. The best way is just to talk and to listen.”

Other cultural differences make Fernandez long for home.

“Sometimes I miss the food,” he says. “The weather. It’s too cold here.”

Portland’s snow caught him by surprise. He had never seen it before.

“I do not like cold,” he says with a slight smile, adding quickly, “but it’s OK, it’s OK. The people here are very good. The fans are incredible for me. I love them.”

• • •

Palma de Mallorca is the largest city on Majorca, with a population approaching 400,000. It’s about 130 miles as the crow flies from Barcelona in the Mediterranean east of Spain. Tourism is a major industry on the island.

Rudy and his older sister, Marta, had an upper-middle class upbringing as the children of Rodolfo Sr., and Maita. Rodolfo and Maita were both good enough basketball players to play for the Spanish national teams. Marta, who turned 27 on Dec. 21, played in the WNBA in 2007 as a 5-11 forward and is playing professionally in Poland.

At age 8, Rudy took up soccer and played it for two years. He enjoyed it, but basketball was in his family’s blood. “Now,” he says, “it is my life.”

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