AbeVigodaLive wrote:If LaVine remains Rubio's primary backup the rest of the season... I'd expect those differences with/without Rubio to grow even more.
Abe, these numbers are from whole games with Rubio. So they contain also minutes that Rubio has been in bench in games that he has played. That is one reason why they are so impressive. Currently it seems somehow that players play better even when Rubio is in bench and he is not injured. (most probably this is partially because of small sample size)
Based on basketball reference on/off numbers (without last night Golden State game) Wolves were +3.5 pts/100 possessions with Ricky on court and -10.9 pts without him.
AbeVigodaLive wrote:If LaVine remains Rubio's primary backup the rest of the season... I'd expect those differences with/without Rubio to grow even more.
Abe, these numbers are from whole games with Rubio. So they contain also minutes that Rubio has been in bench in games that he has played. That is one reason why they are so impressive. Currently it seems somehow that players play better even when Rubio is in bench and he is not injured. (most probably this is partially because of small sample size)
Based on basketball reference on/off numbers (without last night Golden State game) Wolves were +3.5 pts/100 possessions with Ricky on court and -10.9 pts without him.
The Wolves are obviously better with Rubio. Didn't mean to discount his impact... while making a cheap shot at how overwhelmed LaVine is out of position at the 1.
AbeVigodaLive wrote:
The Wolves are obviously better with Rubio. Didn't mean to discount his impact... while making a cheap shot at how overwhelmed LaVine is out of position at the 1.
I basically meant that Lavine being main backup will probably drop those numbers that I have been calculating since bench will play worse with Lavine than it has played with Mo.
I agree that most probably it will also mean that Rubio's on/off numbers will be close to league leading in the end of season since even Mo had +7.0 pts/100 possessions. (mainly because offense and defense with Lavine were that much worse. Since Rubio is clearly better than Mo, I believe he will have better than +20 on/off numbers in the end of season. (Last year he had +12.6.)
Yeah, I really question Flip's decision to keep going to the well with LaVine at PG. It seems like that experiment should have been snuffed out weeks ago. While LoBro isn't exactly an offensive dynamo, he certainly seems capable of quarterbacking an offense for 15 minutes a night. LaVine should be learning how to play SG, preferably in the D-league.
We're currently a -16.5 Ortg differential when Zach is in the game. The only person with a worse differential on the team is - I'm sure folks will be shocked - Anthony Bennett. Neither of these two guys really are deserving of regular rotation minutes. And it's especially unfair to the other players we're trying to develop to have Zach play PG.
In addition to making another trade or two (possibly - we have a 6+ mil trade exception!), Flip needs to decide whether to keep LoBrown for the remainder of the season.
Flip has repeatedly stated that he's not looking to move Martin. But not a peep about Young...
Q12543 wrote:Yeah, I really question Flip's decision to keep going to the well with LaVine at PG. It seems like that experiment should have been snuffed out weeks ago. While LoBro isn't exactly an offensive dynamo, he certainly seems capable of quarterbacking an offense for 15 minutes a night. LaVine should be learning how to play SG, preferably in the D-league.
We're currently a -16.5 Ortg differential when Zach is in the game. The only person with a worse differential on the team is - I'm sure folks will be shocked - Anthony Bennett. Neither of these two guys really are deserving of regular rotation minutes. And it's especially unfair to the other players we're trying to develop to have Zach play PG.
Zach Lavine is in the rising stars challenge game. He is currently #7 on the NBA.com Rookie Ladder. He's the 3rd leading scorer among active rookies. He made almost 40% of his 3 point attempts in January and shot over 80% at the line. Can we please stop saying how terrible this kid is? Every team in the league would like to have him. But a couple of respected posters on this board have to rip him at nearly every opportunity. I just don't get it.
What is it that you want in a mid first round pick instead? Why does he have to fit "your" model for how a rookie should fare statistically? Most importantly, why can't you see why 95% of the NBA thinks this kid has the goods. D league? I don't think so.
Q12543 wrote:Yeah, I really question Flip's decision to keep going to the well with LaVine at PG. It seems like that experiment should have been snuffed out weeks ago. While LoBro isn't exactly an offensive dynamo, he certainly seems capable of quarterbacking an offense for 15 minutes a night. LaVine should be learning how to play SG, preferably in the D-league.
We're currently a -16.5 Ortg differential when Zach is in the game. The only person with a worse differential on the team is - I'm sure folks will be shocked - Anthony Bennett. Neither of these two guys really are deserving of regular rotation minutes. And it's especially unfair to the other players we're trying to develop to have Zach play PG.
I don't get it.
All this Lavine negativity is ridiculous. So you take a 19 year old rookie SG and throw in into the STARTING PG role (which he has little to no experience playing) for what 2 months (where he wasn't terrible) and you are ready to dump him in the NBADL as soon as the team gets healthy? That doesn't make sense in this situation. He's the type of guy that needs to be around Ricky especially minutes at SG with him. He also needs practice time guarding the likes of Wiggins, Rubio & Martin too. If the team was making a playoff push and Lavine wasn't seeing the court then I could maybe see the NBADL, but they're not.
I totally agree that Brown should be getting some backup PG minutes, but then Lavine should being the backup SG as long as Martin is starting.
Q12543 wrote:Yeah, I really question Flip's decision to keep going to the well with LaVine at PG. It seems like that experiment should have been snuffed out weeks ago. While LoBro isn't exactly an offensive dynamo, he certainly seems capable of quarterbacking an offense for 15 minutes a night. LaVine should be learning how to play SG, preferably in the D-league.
We're currently a -16.5 Ortg differential when Zach is in the game. The only person with a worse differential on the team is - I'm sure folks will be shocked - Anthony Bennett. Neither of these two guys really are deserving of regular rotation minutes. And it's especially unfair to the other players we're trying to develop to have Zach play PG.
I don't get it.
All this Lavine negativity is ridiculous. So you take a 19 year old rookie SG and throw in into the STARTING PG role (which he has little to no experience playing) for what 2 months (where he wasn't terrible) and you are ready to dump him in the NBADL as soon as the team gets healthy? That doesn't make sense in this situation. He's the type of guy that needs to be around Ricky especially minutes at SG with him. He also needs practice time guarding the likes of Wiggins, Rubio & Martin too. If the team was making a playoff push and Lavine wasn't seeing the court then I could maybe see the NBADL, but they're not.
I totally agree that Brown should be getting some backup PG minutes, but then Lavine should being the backup SG as long as Martin is starting.
To be fair... is Q ripping LaVine... or Flip? To me it seems like he's ripping Flip.
And that's a BIG, big difference. He's not a PG. It's clear. By some metrics, he's the worst rotation player in the league when at the 1. That's not necessarily LaVine's fault. He's not a PG. He doesn't have the ability.
So, as Q points out, wouldn't he be better served improving as a young guy at a position where he does have an NBA future and where he isn't stunting the growth of other young guys around him?
