Q12543 wrote:Rubio has never been an elite one-on-one defender. There are very few "stoppers" that play PG because of the pick and roll game and how hard it is to defend. Beverley might be the closest thing. I actually think Dunn some day has the ability to be an elite PG/SG defender.
But Rubio is an elite team defender. While last year wasn't his greatest on the stat front, his total body of work puts him right in that 2nd tier of PG defenders IMO, after Beverley and Chris Paul.
By the way, Rubio won us a game last year in Charlotte with his end-of-game defense on guess who....Kemba Walker! Mmmm, let's see if we can drag up the play-by-play......
:39 - Minnesota down 100-104 after a LaVine 3-pointer.
:38 - Kemba steps out of bounds on the ensuing in bound (guess who was pressuring him?).
:32 - Rubio makes a 3-point shot to make the game 103-104
:15 - Walker makes 2-point shot to take a 106-103 lead
:09 - Wiggins makes a 3-pointer to tie it up
:02 - Walker misses a 2-point shot, with Rubio right in his face
Overtime synopsis: Kemba 0-3 from the field with a turnover. Wolves win.
But remember, Ricky can't play defense and never performs in the clutch.
I told you this thread is going to get annoying. I ranted about it and it will last all year. Every good ricky game the non trade supporters will come out and say we would be better with ricky. Every good teague game same thing, "we would have lost with ricky".
Going to a long season on that front.
As a guy who supports the trade it is silly to me to say ricky is not a good defender. I am going out on a limb here I know but I have a gut feeling that Teague will get lit up a couple times this. I know super bold statement.
Still in the boat ricky and teague are in the same tier of pg but teague is a better fit because I believe ricky needs the ball to be a plus player and imo a net negative when he dosen't and I would rather have butler, Wig or Kat have the ball when it matters
