Lengthy Wolves Thoughts

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

At what point do we bite the bullet and realize that Rubio isn't as good as we all want him to be? I'm as big of a Rubio guy as there is, but getting assists and steals and playing top notch defense might not be good enough.

I know that sounds extremely harsh and ridiculous, but if he can't score at least 10 every night with decent percentages, the Wolves have an extreme problem on their hands.

The league has evolved into a point guard driven league. It's the deepest position in basketball and we don't have a starting PG that can put the ball in the hoop. Again, I love Ricky. I know how good he is at what he can do. But not being able to score the basketball is becoming a more serious problem than I once thought it was.

This topic has nothing to do with tonight as he did score 10 points and shot well. I'm just saying that he's extremely inconsistent in even getting to that double digit number. How can Ricky go an entire game and score single digit points??? That just shouldn't happen to any point guard let alone one that is supposed to be looked at as an above average talent.

This lack of scoring ability also makes me re-think how much he's worth in dollars to the Wolves success. Is he a max player? Honestly, I can't say that he is and if he can't score, his value will never be remotely close to being a max player.

Fantasy land thought, can you imagine how great this team would be if the Cavs would have taken Derrick Williams and the Wolves had been blessed with Kyrie Irving? Things don't work out that way, unfortunately. :(

Why is Corey Brewer taking so many shots? This is becoming to really piss me off. I love Corey. I love what he does well. I love that for the start of the season he's fit his role as a defender, cutter and fastbreak menace. BUT he's averaging 11 shot attempts for the season and just over three three-point shots a game. Yes, I realize his percentages have been decent/good in both categories.

Yes, I realize Corey's had five games scoring 15+ points. I don't see how that will last. Adelman needs to get it back in Corey's head that he shouldn't be taking jumpers unless the defender is 15 feet away or some ridiculous amount of space for him. It's just not a good shot.

You pair that with the fact that Corey's averaging MORE shot attempts than Pekovic (10) and I'm about to flip out. Who's the better offensive player? Pekovic. Why aren't we feeding him more? I have no idea and it's driving me crazy. Pek's had the hot hand the last five games. RUN PLAYS FOR HIM OR JUST LET HIM WORK. I don't understand how hard that is.

We just paid Pek $12M a year to be our FOURTH scoring option??? You gotta be shitting me. Feed Pek and get him going and guess what? The rest of the offense will be even easier for others. Tell me if I'm wrong. I'm not.

Kevin Love. Well, he's brilliant. That's all I have to say about Kevin.

[Lipoli390]

I can't disagree with anything you wrote, Cam. My only caveat is that we won't know what we have in Ricky until next season. He needs the rest of this season and, more importantly, another off-season to improve his shot. If his shooting hasn't improved by the middle of next season, then I'll become concerned. But right now, I'm more concerned about our lack of length up front, our lack of athleticism, our lack of a player other than Barea who can break down defenses off the dribble create his own shot going to the hole, and our lack of a decent bench.

In the meantime, you are absolutely right that Adelman has to make sure Brewer shoots far less and that Pek gets more shots in the offense. I'll add that our assistant coaches need to work overtime developing Dieng's game. Our training staff needs to get Budinger back at 100% as soon as possible. And Flip needs to make a move to shore up our roster.

[markkbu [enjin:6588958]]

Cam.....if you put more breaks (line spaces) in your writing, it would be easier to read.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Cam.....if you put more breaks (line spaces) in your writing, it would be easier to read.

Better? I wrote that up pretty quick and didn't think about whether or not it needed breaks. My fault markkbu.

[WildWolf2813]

If Ricky isn't the player we hope he can be, then it doesn't matter what Kevin Love does. We won't win.

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

Meh, personally I'm not worried about Ricky scoring right now. He's playing most of his minutes with an elite scorer in Love, and two really good scorers in K-Mart and Pek. Everybody wants him to turn into a scorer but is that really want we need from him on this particular team?

I'm more concerned if he has a game like tonight with low assists and little steals (even though I thought he was active and positive on defense). But luckily games like this have been rare as he leads the league in steals and is (or was) 2nd in assists.

Ricky is 100 games or so into his NBA career. Right now he just needs to keep taking good shots, keep getting stronger physically, and get more experience. I bet there is a time coming this year when Ricky will start asserting himself more offensively. This team is still evolving as a unit.

As far as Brewer taking more shots, yeah It's probably not the best idea if it becomes the norm, but it's hard to argue with the scoring he's produced so far by taking those shots. But you can tell he's starting to like his own shot a little too much.

And finally to add one more point, the guy who needs MORE shots is Pek. Even when he gets the ball down low and misses he is drawing a lot of attention which frees up K-Love on the boards. But simply establishing that low post presence down low leads to better perimeter spacing and gets the team into the bonus quicker.

[markkbu [enjin:6588958]]

Cam.....if you put more breaks (line spaces) in your writing, it would be easier to read.

Better? I wrote that up pretty quick and didn't think about whether or not it needed breaks. My fault markkbu.

Yes......that is much easier for me.

Not being critical.....merely making a request. I thank you. :-) My ADD makes it challenging for me to read in big chunks.

[markkbu [enjin:6588958]]

ya...I'm with Lip. I agree with most everything that you wrote Cam. Most specifically, Brewer should never take another shot that is further than 8 ft away from the basket that is not a 3 ptr from the corner. his FG% on those shots is very close to 0% this season. We would literally be better off passing the ball to Pek, telling him to close his eyes, and having him do granny shots.

When our scorers are having off nights, Corey should never start shooting more. it is just pissing into the wind.

Corey's efficiency has gone through the roof this season precisely because he stopped taking those low percentage shots.

With that said, i'm a bit confused as to why we can't get Pek the ball more. Let that guy earn his check. I don't think that he would mind.

[mjs34]

At what point do we bite the bullet and realize that Rubio isn't as good as we all want him to be? I'm as big of a Rubio guy as there is, but getting assists and steals and playing top notch defense might not be good enough.

I know that sounds extremely harsh and ridiculous, but if he can't score at least 10 every night with decent percentages, the Wolves have an extreme problem on their hands.

The league has evolved into a point guard driven league. It's the deepest position in basketball and we don't have a starting PG that can put the ball in the hoop. Again, I love Ricky. I know how good he is at what he can do. But not being able to score the basketball is becoming a more serious problem than I once thought it was.

This topic has nothing to do with tonight as he did score 10 points and shot well. I'm just saying that he's extremely inconsistent in even getting to that double digit number. How can Ricky go an entire game and score single digit points??? That just shouldn't happen to any point guard let alone one that is supposed to be looked at as an above average talent.

This lack of scoring ability also makes me re-think how much he's worth in dollars to the Wolves success. Is he a max player? Honestly, I can't say that he is and if he can't score, his value will never be remotely close to being a max player.

Fantasy land thought, can you imagine how great this team would be if the Cavs would have taken Derrick Williams and the Wolves had been blessed with Kyrie Irving? Things don't work out that way, unfortunately. :(

Why is Corey Brewer taking so many shots? This is becoming to really piss me off. I love Corey. I love what he does well. I love that for the start of the season he's fit his role as a defender, cutter and fastbreak menace. BUT he's averaging 11 shot attempts for the season and just over three three-point shots a game. Yes, I realize his percentages have been decent/good in both categories.

Yes, I realize Corey's had five games scoring 15+ points. I don't see how that will last. Adelman needs to get it back in Corey's head that he shouldn't be taking jumpers unless the defender is 15 feet away or some ridiculous amount of space for him. It's just not a good shot.

You pair that with the fact that Corey's averaging MORE shot attempts than Pekovic (10) and I'm about to flip out. Who's the better offensive player? Pekovic. Why aren't we feeding him more? I have no idea and it's driving me crazy. Pek's had the hot hand the last five games. RUN PLAYS FOR HIM OR JUST LET HIM WORK. I don't understand how hard that is.

We just paid Pek $12M a year to be our FOURTH scoring option??? You gotta be shitting me. Feed Pek and get him going and guess what? The rest of the offense will be even easier for others. Tell me if I'm wrong. I'm not.

Kevin Love. Well, he's brilliant. That's all I have to say about Kevin.

Need a new PG and SF, Got it!

[Hicks123 [enjin:6700838]]

Hey Lip,

Not criticizing, but curious if you really think Ricky becomes a better shooter. He has been a pro for going on what, 7 years? Is there a comparable player that has played professional ball as long as Rubio that all of the sudden found his shooting/scoring touch?

My personal feeling is (and has been) that we have a poor man's Rondo in Rubio. They have similar strengths in their defensive and playmaking ability, but Rondo clearly figured out very quickly how to score efficiently. For a guy that can't buy a bucket from the outside, it is AMAZING that Rondo still shoots over 48% for his career.

I look at Rubio as a near-finished product. I like him as a player, but I would argue that in no way, shape or form is he a max or even near-max guy at this point. He is in that $8-9M per range with his skillset.

And yeah, Brewer has played well above his head to date. I was skeptical of this signing at the amount we paid, but even if his shooting falls off a bit, he is a sound addition to this team.