Thanks for providing this information, kek. There's a lot of doom and gloom on this board with the 3-game losing streak, but this will lift the spirits of those of us who were concerned about how Glenn and Becky were getting by during the pandemic. I for one am happy to see our tax dollars going to help the truly needy.
As disgusting as Taylor getting stimulus checks is I highly doubt Glenn was behind it. With all his businesses and investments he most assuredly has a team of tax lawyers working for him, looking to keep his tax bill as low as possible. My money would suggest Glenn is as surprised by this as we are. That said, he could have preemptively instructed those lawyers to NOT take the stimulus.
Rubio went off for 37 points, 10 assists, 8 threes (he hit them all in a row without a miss) against Thib's defense. Rubio's hitting over 40% on 3s for season now. Cavs are 7-4. Doesn't look like the Rubio for Prince trade has been very good unless that second rounder turns into the next Jokic. Still waiting for Prince to show up.
KG4Ever wrote:Rubio went off for 37 points, 10 assists, 8 threes (he hit them all in a row without a miss) against Thib's defense. Rubio's hitting over 40% on 3s for season now. Cavs are 7-4. Doesn't look like the Rubio for Prince trade has been very good unless that second rounder turns into the next Jokic. Still waiting for Prince to show up.
I seem to remember having a discussion with a poster who thought Rubio had no chance to shoot 34% on 3's this season.
KG4Ever wrote:Rubio went off for 37 points, 10 assists, 8 threes (he hit them all in a row without a miss) against Thib's defense. Rubio's hitting over 40% on 3s for season now. Cavs are 7-4. Doesn't look like the Rubio for Prince trade has been very good unless that second rounder turns into the next Jokic. Still waiting for Prince to show up.
Ah, just saw this after I posted in the other thread. No doubt, Prince has been a massive disappointment. Of course, Rubio was a disappointment for us last season as well. Funny how guys come in and out of our team and always seem to do better in whatever situation they were in before and after the Wolves. But while with the Wolves, they under-perform, especially when it comes to shooting 3's. It's freakin' amazing how guys struggle to shoot the ball if wearing a Wolves uniform. But put a different uniform on in a different city and suddenly they can see straight again. Even places like Cleveland! I mean, WTF!?
KG4Ever wrote:Rubio went off for 37 points, 10 assists, 8 threes (he hit them all in a row without a miss) against Thib's defense. Rubio's hitting over 40% on 3s for season now. Cavs are 7-4. Doesn't look like the Rubio for Prince trade has been very good unless that second rounder turns into the next Jokic. Still waiting for Prince to show up.
Ah, just saw this after I posted in the other thread. No doubt, Prince has been a massive disappointment. Of course, Rubio was a disappointment for us last season as well. Funny how guys come in and out 43 of our team and always seem to do better in whatever situation they were in before and after the Wolves. But while with the Wolves, they under-perform, especially when it comes to shooting 3's. It's freakin' amazing how guys struggle to shoot the ball if wearing a Wolves uniform. But put a different uniform on in a different city and suddenly they can see straight again. Even places like Cleveland! I mean, WTF!?
Lol, I always enjoy your "players make threes everywhere but here" narrative, Q, but this instance seems to be different. Unlike other situations where good shooters come to Minny and forget how to make threes (and you have chronicled many!), Ricky has never been a good shooter or consistent scorer. But something happened to him over the summer and he just decided to become a scorer...heck, at one point he was second to Luka in Olympic scoring! And it's carried over to the regular season as he's making 43% of his threes on almost 7 attempts a game.
A deeper look at his stats though show he hasn't been as effective as usual in other areas of his game though. While his 3-point shooting has been stellar, he's only making 39% of his 2-point attempts (five percentage points worse than his record with us last year), is only getting to the line 2.8 times per game (worst of his career),and is averaging 3.9 TOs per 36 (also worst of his career). As a result, his ORTg of 106 is slightly worse than his career average. It looks like he has decided to be an entirely different kind of player...essentially a 3&D PG who doesn't protect the ball as well as he used to. All that said, good for Ricky and good for Cleveland. Adding Rubio and Mobley has turned the Cavs into one of the most fun teams to watch this year.
KG4Ever wrote:Rubio went off for 37 points, 10 assists, 8 threes (he hit them all in a row without a miss) against Thib's defense. Rubio's hitting over 40% on 3s for season now. Cavs are 7-4. Doesn't look like the Rubio for Prince trade has been very good unless that second rounder turns into the next Jokic. Still waiting for Prince to show up.
Ah, just saw this after I posted in the other thread. No doubt, Prince has been a massive disappointment. Of course, Rubio was a disappointment for us last season as well. Funny how guys come in and out 43 of our team and always seem to do better in whatever situation they were in before and after the Wolves. But while with the Wolves, they under-perform, especially when it comes to shooting 3's. It's freakin' amazing how guys struggle to shoot the ball if wearing a Wolves uniform. But put a different uniform on in a different city and suddenly they can see straight again. Even places like Cleveland! I mean, WTF!?
Lol, I always enjoy your "players make threes everywhere but here" narrative, Q, but this instance seems to be different. Unlike other situations where good shooters come to Minny and forget how to make threes (and you have chronicled many!), Ricky has never been a good shooter or consistent scorer. But something happened to him over the summer and he just decided to become a scorer...heck, at one point he was second to Luka in Olympic scoring! And it's carried over to the regular season as he's making 43% of his threes on almost 7 attempts a game.
A deeper look at his stats though show he hasn't been as effective as usual in other areas of his game though. While his 3-point shooting has been stellar, he's only making 39% of his 2-point attempts (five percentage points worse than his record with us last year), is only getting to the line 2.8 times per game (worst of his career),and is averaging 3.9 TOs per 36 (also worst of his career). As a result, his ORTg of 106 is slightly worse than his career average. It looks like he has decided to be an entirely different kind of player...essentially a 3&D PG who doesn't protect the ball as well as he used to. All that said, good for Ricky and good for Cleveland. Adding Rubio and Mobley has turned the Cavs into one of the most fun teams to watch this year.
I'll just note that Ricky shot 36% from 3 in Phoenix and averaged 13 PPG the year before he was moved to Minnesota again. Last year he shot 31% from 3 and averaged 9 PPG. So again....WTF!?
At the end of the day, Ricky will probably revert to his non-Minnesota mean. I certainly don't expect more 37-point outbursts from him. The bigger picture here is that a) it's a statistical fact that he shoots the 3 better with every other franchise he's played for, and b) his intangible positivity rubs off more on every other franchise he's played for.
A basic rule of thumb should be that whatever someone did well at his prior stints, apply about a 20% discount and that's the impact he will have on the Wolves! It will always be less effective!
Ricky Rubio played 7 seasons in Minnesota...
- He shot below 38.9% in 6 of them... and then he was traded.
Ricky Rubio has played 3+ seasons for 3 other teams.
- He's shot 40.4% or better in all of them... which is better than even his best shooting season in MN.
Ricky Rubio has a career 31.3% 3fg in Minnesota.
Ricky Rubio has shot 35.2%, 36.1% and 42.9% (so far) in other cities on three pointers.
[Note: The guy the Wolves replaced their wonky shooting PG with... is a wonky shooting F who is shooting 23.5%.]
I'll bet anyone here that Taurean Prince makes more threes and shoots at a higher percentage from three this season than Ricky Rubio even after their poor/hot starts. These guys didn't just forget who they are. Prince will inevitably figure out his shooting woes and Rubio will regress to the scorer/shooter that he's always been. The key difference between the two, and the reason for the trade, is that Minnesota needed that shooting from the combo forward spot much more than they needed another mediocre point guard. Prince just has to make his shots. He hasn't yet. Frankly, not many Wolves have been either.
Camden wrote:I'll bet anyone here that Taurean Prince makes more threes and shoots at a higher percentage from three this season than Ricky Rubio even after their poor/hot starts. These guys didn't just forget who they are. Prince will inevitably figure out his shooting woes and Rubio will regress to the scorer/shooter that he's always been. The key difference between the two, and the reason for the trade, is that Minnesota needed that shooting from the combo forward spot much more than they needed another mediocre point guard. Prince just has to make his shots. He hasn't yet. Frankly, not many Wolves have been either.
Sure. I don't think too many would dispute that since one of them shoots 36.7% for his career... and the other shoots 32.8% for his career.
But sorta like the Jimmy Butler destroyed season... after too long... the season is already lost.
And what else can Prince bring to the table? Maybe simply having him get back to 37% or even 40% on threes will show us just how much we need that shooting from the combo spot and all will be fine. But 8 games in... we're also seeing just how much we need secondary playmaking at the point.
Rubio was pretty bad last year. But he's not "another mediocre PG" in the mold of a Jordan McLaughlin if that was the intended comparison. Rubio has well established himself as a better player than that over time even with his embarrassingly bad shooting.
