Ricky is out

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Good news: Ricky doing full practice today.

(I hope he's wearing protective bubble wrap).

[thedoper]

Good news: Ricky doing full practice today.

(I hope he's wearing protective bubble wrap).

The NBA should think about introducing that for all PGs. The question marks still remain, so annoying.

[TheFuture]

The PG position has changed, but instead of just talking about PG's lets open the discussion up to primary ball handlers because that is what Ricky is and there are guys like Beverly who play PG, but aren't their team's primary ball handler. How many good teams have a primary ball handler who is allergic to scoring the basketball? Rondo, Ricky and Payton are the only 3 starters in the entire league I could find who are primary ball handlers who can't score. How have their teams been doing in recent years? Rondo managed to submarine one of the best offenses in the league. It's just a model that doesn't work any more. So if he doesn't increase his ability to score significantly he can't stay if we hope to attain any high level of success. You just can't have a primary ball handler be zero threat to score.

PnR and drive penetration are still king when it comes to NBA offenses and they just don't work the way they are supposed to if the ball handler can't score. Maybe Lavine can be the primary ball handler in crunch time in the future so we can keep Ricky in the game as a spot up shooter and good defensive PG, but we'll pay a steep price offensively if he is the primary ball handler. Some trends in the league just can't be bucked. Just like 3pt shooting and rim protection, primary ball handlers need to be able to score the ball in today's game to be successful.

This is spot on. We may find success with Rubio as our pg, but we will not go far in the playoffs with him as our pg/main ball handler. You absolutely need a ball handler who can penetrate to score and pull up and score to win in the playoffs. We don't have one yet, but I agree that LaVine could potentially be that guy.

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

<<We may find success with Rubio as our pg, but we will not go far in the playoffs with him as our pg/main ball handler.>>

I completely disagree. There are plenty of teams that won it all or made the finals that had worse point guards than Ricky. If Ricky is healthy, he won't hold us back.

[TheFuture]

<<We may find success with Rubio as our pg, but we will not go far in the playoffs with him as our pg/main ball handler.>>

I completely disagree. There are plenty of teams that won it all or made the finals that had worse point guards than Ricky. If Ricky is healthy, he won't hold us back.

Please tell me which teams those were. Also, you're missing a good portion of the point. You need a main ball handler who can score at will/put pressure on the defense because they are a threat to score in multiple ways. Ricky is great at what he can do, but until he starts hitting shots with any regularity, then he is actually a liability in crunch time. I'm sure you'll say the Miami heat teams with Chalmers, but LeBron was the main ball handler. Rondo for those Celtics teams? Nope, Paul Pierce. Spurs success is as much about Parker as anyone. If you have a Harden, LeBron, Paul George, MJ, etc. then you can get away with a lesser PG. All of those players are better utilized if they have a PG who can catch and shoot a three at a decent clip though.The fact is that until Ricky learns to shoot he cannot be the player with the ball in his hands at the end of games or we will lose more often than not, and if he doesn't have the ball in his hands then he offers almost nothing offensively.

[maelstrom11 [enjin:6599701]]

Who's to say Ricky doesn't let LaVine or Wiggins handle the ball at crunch time(under 2 minutes)? As those other two grow I see more and more of that happening..

Regarding Ricky's offense in late game: His spot up three game is coming along. Having him on the court at crunch time for defense, ball handling, decision making, and free throw shooting is not that bad of a liability. He will be fine and having him to guard the other teams PG will be a plus. He's a steals machine and has great size for his position...

[TXviking [enjin:6602528]]

At the end of the day, it's his health that matters. We really do not have enough of a sample to measure against and we can not continue to wait and hope. I wish we could debate his value on the court, but he's just not available enough.

If he cannot stay healthy all year and show shot percentage improvement, then we need to go after an established pg. examples include:
Brandon Jennings
Greivis Vasquez
D.J. Augustin

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

I don't buy the argument that you need more of a scoring PG. there's only one ball, and just because Ricky shoots 37% instead of 44% doesn't mean he's not a threat to score

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

I don't buy the argument that you need more of a scoring PG. there's only one ball, and just because Ricky shoots 37% instead of 44% doesn't mean he's not a threat to score

37% and less than 10 PPG's in more than 30 MPG's is a non-scoring threat. How anyone can argue Ricky is any kind of scoring threat is baffling to me. We couldn't finish off games two years ago because we had no ball handler who could score or penetrate the defense to open up other opportunities. Love and Martin could score, but neither could beat their guys off the dribble to score or create for others which is why the offense would stall in the 4th. Ricky can't do it either.

Going off that the question then becomes if Lavine and Wiggins will become those guys, is Ricky the best PG to put next to them to benefit off the opportunities they create? That comes down to how he does in spot up situations this year because he is still a good defending PG and will look even better with rim protectors behind him letting him gamble a little more in passing lanes.

Also, there have been PG's who have won titles who couldn't score. Derek Fisher, Chalmers, Rondo, Kidd for the Mavs. The one thing they all had in common is the ball wasn't in their hands to make the big plays (Fisher's big 3's were spot ups). Kobe, Lebron, Pierce and Dirk were the go to guys on those teams who either ran the offense themselves or in Dirk's case the offense was run through him first. That's why the argument is primary ball handler and not just PG. Ricky's offensive value comes from having the ball right now which he isn't a good enough threat to score to get the ball as much as he does. That's fine as long as we have other guys who can do it and if Ricky can be effective next to them without the ball. That needs to be proven and not another thing Ricky can theoretically do.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

So we're not going to let our best ball handler and distributor be our main source for this in the 4th quarter? Only in the first 3? Got it.