Why does Ricky get so much leash on this board?

[Porckchop]

When I watch him play i cant help thinking he's better served as a back up pg right now. And we got fans on here discussing paying him 8-9 mil a year!! Wha wha what?

Think about it, whats the ideal productive minutes from a backup pg? Play a lil d, run the offensive , get a few assists and dont mess up to much while the starter rests. He can do all of that as long as hes not asked to shoot. Plus hed be a great situational substitution.

[TAFKASP]

If Rubio is the back up then who's the starter?

As for his long leash, he's a guy who bring many positives to the floor with his one great deficiency being an obvious one. There are only a few complete players in the NBA, and outside of CP3 I cannot think of another PG who would be truly complete. Lilliard is an offensive phenom, but he doesn't create offense for his teammates at anywhere near Rubio's level, nor does he create turnovers on defense like Rubio. Every player outside of a select few are going to be a give and take proposition, Rubio is no different. The bottom line for me is that what Rubio brings on the positive side outweighs the baggage he brings on the negative, combined with his desire to win and improve I believe in time he will be serviceable scoring the ball and that's all they need from him.

[slimcalhoun27 [enjin:6640095]]

I am starting to be standoffish about Rubio of late. Last night was a perfect example of why. Lillard is a special player, very special on the offensive end, but his defense has and is always in question. Rubio is known for his creativity, ball control and defense. Well, he lacked in all three last night. I think the ceiling for Rubio is here. I don't see him getting better nor getting stronger in areas of absolute need. (Shooting). He desperately needs a PG coach...one like Sam Cassel who can teach Ricky to be crafty and learn a 10-12 foot jumper or soft floater. He drives all the way in and gets trappedbetween the guy he burns and the C or PF. Sloppy...he needs to adapt and get that little floater going.

[JasonIsDaMan [enjin:7981157]]

Great. So where's this stash of PG's who are better than Blonde Ricky and are also Bill Duffy clients?

[bleedspeed]

I am wondering if he is overated on the defensive end because of the number of steal.s Anyone know of any metrics to show how he does reducing FG% of opposing PG's?

[JasonIsDaMan [enjin:7981157]]

Sorta. MIN PG's eFG% for is 43%, and against is 52%. Doesn't take account for time JJ is PG, or switches.

And can I just say: Fine. He's the worst ever. In a year and a half, he'll be a FA. If Love also leaves, that will basically leave Pek, Martin, Brewer, and cap room. Then the mighty Flop can go get some real players and you guys can go back to complaining about Mark Dayton.

[markkbu [enjin:6588958]]

I'm going with what TheSP said..........who is starter then? It seems very obvious to me that he is a starting caliber PG in the NBA.

[m4gor [enjin:6667447]]

This is Ricky's LAST season -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player 48-Minute Production by Position
Position FGA eFG% FTA iFG Reb Ast T/O Blk PF Pts PER*
PG 14.7 .397 7.2 29% 6.3 11.3 4.9 .2 3.8 17.4 16.3
SG 14.4 .358 8.2 30% 6.9 13.3 4.8 .1 4.8 16.9 17.3
Opponent Counterpart 48-Minute Production
Position FGA eFG% FTA iFG Reb Ast T/O Blk PF Pts PER*
PG 19.1 .517 3.8 20% 4.4 8.6 4.5 .6 4.7 22.9 18.6
SG 16.3 .580 4.7 21% 5.6 5.9 2.9 .7 3.8 22.9 22.0
Stat ON Court OFF Court Net
Minutes 1691 2254 42%
Offense: Pts per 100 Poss. 104.5 104.3 +0.2
Defense: Pts per 100 Poss. 106.3 105.9 +0.4
Net Points per 100 Possessions -1.9 -1.7 -0.2
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is Ricky's ROOKIE season ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player 48-Minute Production by Position
Position FGA eFG% FTA iFG Reb Ast T/O Blk PF Pts PER*
PG 13.4 .389 4.9 24% 6.1 12.3 4.5 .3 3.2 14.5 14.8
SG 12.8 .455 8.2 25% 4.2 7.0 4.4 .2 4.2 17.3 12.6
Opponent Counterpart 48-Minute Production
Position FGA eFG% FTA iFG Reb Ast T/O Blk PF Pts PER*
PG 16.9 .462 4.9 24% 5.4 8.8 4.0 .5 3.8 19.8 16.4
SG 20.7 .489 3.3 17% 6.1 3.5 4.4 .0 5.6 22.4 12.1
Stat ON Court OFF Court Net
Minutes 1403 1784 44%
Offense: Pts per 100 Poss. 105.6 105.3 +0.3
Defense: Pts per 100 Poss. 103.2 110.5 -7.3
Net Points per 100 Possessions +2.4 -5.1 +7.6
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


This info is copy+paste from 82games.com and there are no current data for this season, also it would be interesting to see how Ricky's defense worked last season post ALLSTAR when we could say that he was +- 100 percent healthy

However as it is, it looks like Ricky has improved slightly in offense but dropped much more in defense, which might be partly influenced by probably permanent slight reduce in lateral quickness after ACL, which results in Ricky having much more troubles to slow down athletic guards and fight through screens, and as result we are torched by those guards on regular basis

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

There is no question we're better starting Rubio versus any other alternative on the current roster. That's a no-brainer. Where does he rank versus the rest of the NBA's starting PGs? Tough to say, but I would put him somewhere in the middle of the pack. He's brilliant in some ways and atrocious in others. Average it out and what you have is a solid starting PG. He's certainly an upgrade over Luke Ridnour, JJ Barea, Jonny Flynn, and Ramon Sessions - our collection of PGs just prior to and during Ricky's tenure with us.

As for his defense, I think it's tough to fully assess his impact in light of the fact we have no protection behind him. Defending the pick and roll game is a massive team effort, especially with quick PGs like Lawson, Lillard, Irving, etc. One area Rubio could improve on is getting around/through screens quicker. He seems to be slow to recover on high screens.

[thedoper]

The bottom line to me for Ricky is that he has to start working out. Put on 5lbs of muscle and be able to use his body as an advantage. His training has been suspect as far as I am concerned and it could cost him in the long run. I know there have been injuries but this should be the offseason where there are no excuses. The talent really is there but if he wants to be serious about being a star then he needs to be surrounded by notch development people around him working on his shot and his strength. I think the team has had the kid gloves on with him so far because of the great fanfare and then the injury. But it will be to his benefit to be frank with him at the end of this year about his future in the league if he fails to improve.