alexftbl8181 wrote:Building around Rubio would be disastrous. The difference between how Rubio was in his rookie year and last year wasn't because Adelman wouldn't let him play his style. The difference was that teams scouted Rubio and just play the passing lanes. Rubio shot 38% this year and that's with teams barely guarding him.The So even IF Rubio improves his shooting, he still has to be able to shoot effectively when teams actually try to stop him if he is to be the MAN on the wolves.
Don't get me wrong I love Rubio, but to think that Love was holding him back in anyway is dumb. You still have to have shooters around Rubio and take away Love and you have Martin and maybe Bud. That up and down style also won't work at the end of games
While I don't think it was necessarily Adelman holding Ricky back, it was Adelman's fault. Go read the article in the thread "a good read". The wolves were poised to make the PO's in Rick's first season here. What we should read into that is the personnel wasn't the problem. It wasn't until Adelman gave Kahn his list of players to move (read young and athletic undeveloped guys that I may have to coach up) before the second season that we became a very predictable offensive team with little defensive ability.
The wide open style was swapped for the "get the ball in pek's hands twenty feet from the basket" plodding half court offense. It is the reason we were so pathetic late in close games. Two of our three greatest weaknesses were on full display in the final five minutes of those games.
The "teams barely guarding him" BS is really getting old. Rubio isn't guarded any less than any other perimeter player in the NBA. He is continually guarded while handling the ball, draws a second help defender when driving, and is occasionally left open when on the weakside due to help defense. That help defense is schemed the same way on almost every other team. It is the same reason why guys like Korver, and Allen get open 3pt looks repeatedly during the course of a game.