Carlos Danger wrote:lipoli390 wrote:criteriado wrote:Russel was 2 of 7 against Rubio on the 4th and OT.
Criteria do - Thanks for bringing some facts into the picture.
Kahns -- Ricky can't shot, Ricky can't shoot, Ricky can't shoot. I get it. But there's a whole lot more to the game than one player's shooting. The point is that Ricky's play in every other facet of the game last night was very good to excellent, making him a net positive. Over the course of his career, he's been a huge net positive and the stats bear that out. Ricky put Towns in such a bad spot last night that Towns could only score 26 points on better than 50% shooting. As for that one play involving Wiggins, Ricky was smart enough not to leave Wiggins alone at the top of the key with a defender all over him knowing the shaky state of Wiggins' ball handling.
This season's record with Ricky Rubio playing: 8-7 (.533). Record without him is 1-5 (.167).
And yeah, I realize a team should play better with their starting PG vs. their back up. But come on. LaVine and Miller both have done fine with PER ratings above league average. So, if Rubio's lack of scoring is holding us back as some suggest - it shouldn't be that big of a drop off.
People just cannot wrap their heads around the fact that Rubio makes the team better - even as a poor shooter.
Sorting by qualified NBA PGs in Real GM Rubio is top 10 in numerous categories so far this year:
4th in Rebounding Percentage
5th in Assist Percentage
10th in Steal Percentage
6th in Assist to Turnover
2nd in Free Throw to Field Goal Attempt Ratio
This is what we have to work with right now. If they can upgrade the PG position (or any position for that matter) at a reasonable cost - then go for it! But a PG that scores more points or has a better FG% is not necessarily going to be an upgrade to Rubio.
Here's the thing though, Some of the things that Rubio does is pretty overrated. Rebounding? Eh. You would think it would lead to more fast breaks, but they never do. Is he getting a rebound that Towns or someone wouldn't get? I dunno.
Steals. A lot comes from gambling but Ill admit that Rubio is done a better job of not gambling. You would think all these steals and rebounds would lead to a ton of fast breaks, but they dont.
Defense is good, but what we see, perimeter defense is not really important to interior defense. Some people see Rubio getting burned, other point out that the help defense was bad. Fact is point guards can't "shut down" other point guards. They get screens and every point guard can probably score on an other in 1 on 1. Nobody is shutting down guys like Paul, or Curry or Wall. Not one guy that is.
Even the assists are kinda overrated. Curry and Parker are considered "shoot first" point guards yet their teams are the best passing teams in the league, compared to the Wolves who do a bad job of moving the ball. In today's NBA you would much rather everybody have 2-3 assists then just one guy having double digits.
And Rubios "shooting" is way more then just shooting. It affects on how the offense runs. Nobody respects Rubio to shoot. He's not breaking down the defense to get someone an open 3 or dunk because people would rather him make the layup, which he can't do