Thibs deserve the vast majority of credit for Ricky's shooting improvement

[BloopOracle]

Forcing him into the corner early on to be a spot up shooter in late game situations because his shooting was a detriment, to putting his name in trade rumors to scare the hell out of Ricky and make him realize he HAS to at least be able to keep the defense honest if he ever wants to be a key piece of a playoff team, Tom deserves immense credit and continues to reign as the PG whisperer. Thank you coach Thibs

[fondey [enjin:6644772]]

Does he really though? haven't past coaches tried all these things before?In fairness, ricky's been in trade rumors for the last 3 years.

Let's say next November, Ricky's shooting sucks again, are we going to blame Thibs for his bad shooting or Ricky?

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Uh....no. I think you make Thibs out to be far more Machiavellian in his methods than he really is.

I think Thibs really wanted to see Wig and LaVine develop as the team's key perimeter play makers, not only for their development, but also to see if he could then eventually get rid of Rubio for perhaps more of a care taker PG that could safely bring the ball up and hit open 3's.

Unfortunately, Wig and LaVine simply aren't up to the task of taking on this responsibility. Both have only rudimentary passing skills off the bounce. I don't consider either selfish; they just don't have great passing instincts and floor vision yet.

As Thibs came to the realization that he was going to have to rely on Ricky more to run the offense (as nearly every coach in the past), he encouraged him to be more aggressive with his shot. So sure, Thibs deserves some credit for finally putting the ball back in Ricky's hands and giving him the vote of confidence. But ultimately, it's Ricky's hard work with Ryan Saunders in the practice gym that has paid off.

[BloopOracle]

I don't know, I would tend to give more credit to a PG whisperer with a proven track record of having his PG's have career years then a player who's been playing basketball at the pro level since he was 14 for a sudden change like this. Forcing Rubio to the corner and making him realize that he has to be a scorer was very smart, and as I recall when Thibs put the ball back in his hand it didn't exactly go well right away with some layups he embarrassingly passed up to the point that even Towns was screaming at him to shoot the ball. Maybe that trade deadline scare finally broke him out of his comfort zone, because he's had years of shooting coaches before along with Ryan Saunders and that didn't seem to help anything but his free throws.

[Coolbreeze44]

I'm just going to throw this out there. Let's pump the breaks slightly on Ricky's new found offensive game. It's not unprecedented for a player to go through a two month shooting and scoring binge before regressing to his mean. Think Jeremy Lin for example. For a couple months he was the best point guard in the NBA when he was with the Knicks.

Now do I think Ricky can continue to be an improved offensive player? Certainly. I expect his 3 point shooting percentages to advance above his career averages. He may even continue to finish better around the rim. But don't be completely shocked if you see some regression in his offensive effectiveness, particularly if teams start to pay more attention to him defensively. If he can do what he's been doing since the all star break for 6 months, I'd be more inclined to accept this as the norm. I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts, and be somewhat confident he can be a bigger threat going forward.

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

This is a real stupid thread. Ricky deserves the credit for his play, not Thibs. Thibs has been a disappointment so far (I think everyone predicted a much better year and expected he would improve our defense) and this thread is even more disappointing that someone is drinking the Thibs KoolAid and praising him when he did everything in his power to marginalize Ricky early on, possibly considered trading Ricky for garbage point guards (Rose, Jackson) or at least didn't shoot down these rumors and was forced to give the full reigns to Ricky when Zach went down and his prized pick Dunn couldn't handle starting duties.

[AbeVigodaLive]

It's ALWAYS the coaches fault when players play bad.
The players get ALL the credit when they play well.

While I used to think there was some gray area/context/and some semblance of truth to both statements, I'm gonna go with the guy who has unabashedly trumped for Ricky constantly without fail to the point of having his name in his online username.

He seems like an objective type of poster I should take seriously.

[thedoper]

I wouldn't say Thibs deserves all the credit. But I do think that there have been multiple coaches and analysts that have said regardless of his numbers Ricky needs to be more agressive and shoot more. In March Ricky will have gone well over his career high for FGA/game. Somehow Thibs has let him know that he needs to look for his shot more. I like that Thibs wants professionals to shoot through their woes and that philosophically a good shot should be taken if you're on the court. He did it with Wiggins and Ricky this year to both of their benefit as I have seen it.

[fondey [enjin:6644772]]

It's ALWAYS the coaches fault when players play bad.
The players get ALL the credit when they play well.

While I used to think there was some gray area/context/and some semblance of truth to both statements, I'm gonna go with the guy who has unabashedly trumped for Ricky constantly without fail to the point of having his name in his online username.

He seems like an objective type of poster I should take seriously.

Okay now this thread's getting even stupider.

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

It's ALWAYS the coaches fault when players play bad.
The players get ALL the credit when they play well.

While I used to think there was some gray area/context/and some semblance of truth to both statements, I'm gonna go with the guy who has unabashedly trumped for Ricky constantly without fail to the point of having his name in his online username.

He seems like an objective type of poster I should take seriously.

OK, I get it now. When the Wolves lose, its always Ricky's fault. When the Wolves win, its always because of Thibs. Ricky is evil and Thibs is Santa Claus. And last year, Sam was the evil grinch. Ricky has been unappreciated by many and I justifiably stick up for Ricky when its warranted. Thanks for enlightening me, Ricky is evil and Thibs is Santa.