FIBA Tournament Play

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

Whoa. Exciting stuff. Another guy to look forward to this season.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Bjelica highlights.....Mmmm, crazy as this might sound, he seems like a guy that has unique skills for a big and could potentially help close games for us. :)

https://youtu.be/_mbMw5rYJB0

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

Shooting may be overrated, but it's the main reason Spain has always prefered Rodriguez over Rubio

Thanks for the info, q...really terrific news for Wolves fans in two ways:

1) It looks like Nemanja can really play.

2) The Spanish team is lost without Rubio, even with all those other NBA players on their roster!

Rubio has never been good for Spain because he can't shoot. Marc is the bigger missing piece at this point. Also, it's great to hear Bjelica play well. It's looking like there's gonna be some good competition for the PF spot after KG.

Shooting is so overrated. Ricky just does everything else at a high level that he's very valuable. If he ever becomes a good shooter, he's in the Hall of Fame.

Shooting may be overrated, but it's the main reason Spain has always prefered Rodriguez over Rubio. Spacing is even worse in international play and Pau and Marc need all the room they can get to operate and Rubio just doesn't provide that. With spacing becoming more valued by the year, Ricky has to improve his shot or he's gonna be the next Rondo and not have much of a place in the league. Rondo just blew up one of the best offenses in the league. If Ricky doesn't figure it out at least to a respectable level, we are going to have to move on from him eventually to take the next step. Unless Lavine, Wiggins and Towns become the next Allen, Pierce, and KG, I just don't think we're going to be able to be a great team with our primary ball handler not being any kind if threat to score.

The parts in bold above are simply unwarranted jabs at Ricky and its total BS. I don't understand the hatred of Ricky. You sound like Porkchop.

Ricky was the starter, getting the most minutes at point guard and putting up the best numbers that translated into the outcome of the game. Check out the plus minus stats of Rubio and Rodriguez ( http://www.fiba.com/basketballworldcup/2014/Spain ) and you get the truer picture of their respective contributions. Read this article: http://www.canishoopus.com/2014/9/10/6131243/some-thoughts-on-ricky-rubio-at-the-fiba-world-cup (Despite playing only 19.8 minutes a game, however, Rubio is having a huge impact on the tournament, arguably as much as any single player, though it's hard to say given his star-laden team. He leads the competition in assists and steals per game even given the playing time, and is averaging an astounding 11.8 assists and 7.4 steals(!) per 40 minutes, both of which are Cup leading figures by significant margins.

He also is tied second (with Marc Gasol) in raw plus-minus, behind only James Harden who has played an extra game. He is tied first with Gasol in plus-minus per game, again, in limited minutes. Of course, this has a lot to do with how good Spain is as a team, but even so he is out front of his teammates, and even the U.S. players in plus-minus stats. Spain has outscored it's opponents by 159 points in this tournament; Rubio's raw plus-minus is 144. His primary backup, Sergio Rodriguez, has a net 0 plus-minus, and Sergio Llull, who has actually played more minutes than Rubio despite not starting, is a +41. Of course, Rubio benefits from starting the game with the best (maybe) players on the roster, but even so, he's dominating proceedings.

This coincides with my eye test: When Rubio is on the floor, the team plays at a noticeably higher tempo, with more aggressive defense leading to transition points, big runs, and in the end, blowouts. The truth is, Rubio is doing what he always does--affecting the game at both ends, disrupting opponent offenses, leading the break, finding open players off the pick and roll. He's just doing more of it. Which is a good thing.)

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

I don't hate Ricky. It's just incredibly frustrating to watch a team who's primary ball handler is allergic to scoring the basketball especially when games are close. He was a significant reason we couldn't close games out two years ago being the primary ball handler and shooting 29% from the field in clutch situations. We had a 104.8 offensive points per 100 possessions (normally 114.1) and 129.8 defensive pp100p (normally 106.7) and went 12-21 in games within 5 points with less than 5 minutes to play that year. He shot 27% in the clutch in 16 games last year. The pp100p were much better at 108.1 to 107.3, but we were still only 8-7 overall. So as much of a positive impact Ricky makes during the game, he's not a reliable option during clutch situations to win us games which we typically have been in a lot and will be in a lot until we get some all-star play out of our guys (16/22 games he played last year and 33/81 in 13'-14'). Outside of a very few guys like Kidd and Rondo, I just don't know of many successful teams that had a primary ball handler not score the ball at a decent level.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

TeamRicky- Thanks for the interesting stats on Ricky's contributions to the Spanish national team. I always thought he was the straw that stirred that drink, and was occasionally frustrated by his limited minutes...too many mouths to feed on that roster, I guess.

Anyway, Serbia's victory over Spain says a lot about how much they miss Rubio, just like the Wolves miss Ricky when he is out. He hasn't been much of a scorer in international play, but his distributing and defense result in some astonishing +/- numbers. With scorers like Martin, Wiggins and Muhammad (plus others) on the current roster, we don't need Ricky to think shoot-first. Yes, he needs to take what the defense gives him...the wide-open 3-point set shot and occasional jumper when the defense leaves him alone...and the team would be better if he developed a more polished finishing game, since he has little difficulty getting to the basket. But ultimately his value with the Wolves is going to be defined just like it has been with Spain...through extraordinary +/- numbers that are a product of his playmaking and defense.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I just finished watching a very entertaining 4th quarter of the Serbia/Germany game...Bjelica won it on a floater with 1 second left. He also put them ahead with 2 minutes left on a cold-blooded three.

This was my first time watching Bjelica live, and it's easy to get excited about him. Somehow, he only scored 12 points, but I saw 7 of them in the last half of the 4th quarter (a wide-open 3, a nice reverse layup after he beat his man off the dribble, and the winning floater). Although I didn't see the first 3 1/2 quarters, I have to believe Bjelica's production was suppressed by the ridiculous gunning of Milos Teodosic. The same Teodosic who scored 26 against the Wolves for Moscow in pre-season two years ago, forced three after three and ended up 0 for 10 from beyond the arc...Serbia overall was 4 for 30! To Teodosic (and the coach's) credit, he did find Bjelica coming off a screen to set up the winning basket.

There's a lot to like about Nemanja. He puts the ball on the floor with his right hand adeptly, and seems to be able to beat his man off the dribble (I didn't see any evidence of a left hand). He also is very skilled at getting into the lane and kicking the ball out to an open shooter. And his 3-point shot looks smooth and reliable.

I didn't like his rebounding. He was lined up against Dirk much of the time I was watching, and didn't seem interested in competing for rebounds. A couple times he didn't even go to the basket to block out after the shot went up. I don't know how many rebounds he had for the game, but I think Dirk had 12. I have heard that Bjelica is a decent rebounder, so perhaps I was watching a tired player in the 4th quarter...he's certainly big enough to be a decent rebounder.

He does not appear to be a particularly athletic guy, but he is big and polished, seems to have a little bit of a mean streak, and clearly wants the ball with the game on the line...and he has a very nice looking offensive game. I know I have been advocating for AB to be KG's backup, but that doesn't appear likely with his contract situation, so I have jumped on the Bjelica bandwagon. Check out his next game on ESPN3 early Tuesday morning if you can.

Edit: Box score is up, and my suspicions about Bjelica's rebounding are true...only three rebounds in 27 minutes, all defensive. That's on him, but his only getting 7 shots for the game is largely on Teodosic and Bogdonavic, although Bjelica does tend to float around the 3-point like and sometimes take plays off.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

LST, Boy, it's tough to judge rebounding by watching one-half of a quarter on the second day of a back-to-back. He didn't even get 24 hours of rest! You do realize he snagged 10 rebounds in yesterday's game in 33 minutes of action? He averaged 8.5 rebounds in 28 minutes per game in Euroleague play last season. So while I doubt he will be the next Kevin Love on the boards, I'm pretty sure he will be at least average based on how Euro stats have historically translated to the NBA.

His clutch basket today against Germany is another indicator of his ability to close out games. Spain and Germany are no slouches - these teams have regular rotation NBA players and are extremely well coached. This isn't like Gorgui Dieng putting up huge numbers against Uganda.

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

I like what I see in Bjelica too. He seems like a real high IQ guy, who has a lot of range, can create his own shot, rebound, pass and stay in position on defense. I really think he could be a nice fit in our rotation. I'm glad that they have replays of all the games on ESPN as this is the first opportunity I've had to see him in game action.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

LST, Boy, it's tough to judge rebounding by watching one-half of a quarter on the second day of a back-to-back. He didn't even get 24 hours of rest! You do realize he snagged 10 rebounds in yesterday's game in 33 minutes of action? He averaged 8.5 rebounds in 28 minutes per game in Euroleague play last season. So while I doubt he will be the next Kevin Love on the boards, I'm pretty sure he will be at least average based on how Euro stats have historically translated to the NBA.

His clutch basket today against Germany is another indicator of his ability to close out games. Spain and Germany are no slouches - these teams have regular rotation NBA players and are extremely well coached. This isn't like Gorgui Dieng putting up huge numbers against Uganda.

Q, I think you can judge someone's rebounding based on 1/2 a quarter, or even one series...you just can't form any solid conclusions about it. But they are valid observations nonetheless, taken in context. And I saw some things in today's 4th quarter that concerned me. As I mentioned in my first post, it's odd to see a big man turn after his man takes a shot, but make no effort to block out or even go to the basket. Hopefully he was just gassed and this is not indicative of his rebounding philosophy. I hope you're correct that he will be at least an average rebounder, and his 8.5 per game last year lends some support to that assertion. But I look at his lifetime average of 4.7 rebounds per game and my observations from yesterday when he only snagged 3 for the game, and think he projects to be a below average rebounder in the NBA.

That said and even if he was gassed in the 4th quarter, his offensive game was quite impressive. And as you mentioned, his desire to want to make the last shot (and to actually make it) is something we haven't seen much of with this franchise.

[60WinTim]

Q having to pump up LST on a Wolves' player. Go figure! ;-)