Minnesota Sports Forum

I always hate how they hang a team record on one player, good or bad. It's a team game. Rubio is by no means a superstar, or even an all star. The guy is a solid player though and isn't prohibiting us from winning.

TRKO wrote:I always hate how they hang a team record on one player, good or bad. It's a team game. Rubio is by no means a superstar, or even an all star. The guy is a solid player though and isn't prohibiting us from winning.

Exactly - and he allows the spotlight to shine on the guys with the most upside scoring potential. What's funny is that Dunn is probably more similar to Rubio than dissimilar.

How far did Dunn take his Providence team this past year by the way?

IF we had traded Dunn for Noel, the 24 and 26, we would have Noel, Luwahu, and Korkmaz. That would have been a nice evening at the draft. I wonder if that deal was ever on the table.

papalrep wrote:IF we had traded Dunn for Noel, the 24 and 26, we would have Noel, Luwahu, and Korkmaz. That would have been a nice evening at the draft. I wonder if that deal was ever on the table.

That was reportedly the offer to Boston for #3 so they could get Dunn, and Covington was in the package too. There were rumors that the same offer was made to us, but who knows. I would have taken it.

lipoli390 wrote:The reaction to drafting Dunn has gone way, way overboard. Ok for fans to do that I guess, but we should be able to expect more from sport writers who do this for a living. But then again.... I like Dunn and hope for the best. He could be great or more likely use good. He could even be a bust, but I don't think so. Ricky is a very good player, but not the iconic transformative player David Kahn and a few others thought he'd be. That's the reality.

I just hope we're done with the Ricky talk for a while.

Unfortunately it will only take a couple bad games by Ricky before his stalker (porkchop) and others pile on with the trade request again.

BizarroJerry wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:The reaction to drafting Dunn has gone way, way overboard. Ok for fans to do that I guess, but we should be able to expect more from sport writers who do this for a living. But then again.... I like Dunn and hope for the best. He could be great or more likely use good. He could even be a bust, but I don't think so. Ricky is a very good player, but not the iconic transformative player David Kahn and a few others thought he'd be. That's the reality.

I just hope we're done with the Ricky talk for a while.

Unfortunately it will only take a couple bad games by Ricky before his stalker (porkchop) and others pile on with the trade request again.

A lot of good things about the upcoming season (hopefully).

Among them... we should get closer to knowing whether Rubio is capable of being a key part of a playoff team and if he's good enough to help that team continue to improve. We all know he's not a bad player. But I can't say after five years watching him that I know just how good he really is. I think he'll be put in new situations where we might just find out though. It will be only the second time he'll have a team around him capable of winning more than 1/2 its games. Finally.

The one thing that I think should be noted from the article is that Rubio has only marginally improved his strength and shooting...


[Note: With Rubio being a polarizing player... and the team's #5 pick being a PG... get ready for A LOT of Rubio talk (and trade talk) this season.]

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:The reaction to drafting Dunn has gone way, way overboard. Ok for fans to do that I guess, but we should be able to expect more from sport writers who do this for a living. But then again.... I like Dunn and hope for the best. He could be great or more likely use good. He could even be a bust, but I don't think so. Ricky is a very good player, but not the iconic transformative player David Kahn and a few others thought he'd be. That's the reality.

I just hope we're done with the Ricky talk for a while.

Unfortunately it will only take a couple bad games by Ricky before his stalker (porkchop) and others pile on with the trade request again.

A lot of good things about the upcoming season (hopefully).

Among them... we should get closer to knowing whether Rubio is capable of being a key part of a playoff team and if he's good enough to help that team continue to improve. We all know he's not a bad player. But I can't say after five years watching him that I know just how good he really is. I think he'll be put in new situations where we might just find out though. It will be only the second time he'll have a team around him capable of winning more than 1/2 its games. Finally.

The one thing that I think should be noted from the article is that Rubio has only marginally improved his strength and shooting...


[Note: With Rubio being a polarizing player... and the team's #5 pick being a PG... get ready for A LOT of Rubio talk (and trade talk) this season.]

Fantastic post Abe. I've been saying for over a year this upcoming 2016-2017 season was the year to say what Rubio is or isn't if he was actually healthy. It's the first offseason he has been completely healthy since coming into the league. There is talent around him a good coach. There are no excuses for him. Let's see what he can or can't do.

One nitpick and was another reason I was annoyed with Souhan's take was the idea he hadn't gotten stronger. That's silly. If you look at pictures or video of him his rookie year compared to now it's not comparable. He has gotten stronger. It's sort of an underhanded dig at him like he doesn't actually work hard (ive heard people make that assertion) which I've never found any actual evidence to say that he doesn't work hard.

I think it's silly to suggest that somehow this is the season to determine whether Rubio is a worthy PG or not, as if it all hinges on him. Why is our success (or lack thereof) so much centered on him? He's an average to slightly above average starting NBA PG, depending on what one values. We know he is capable of being part of high-powered offenses and highly effective defensive units.

As far as the existing group of players is concerned, continued improvement on both sides of the ball by Andrew Wiggins, KAT, and LaVine is what will determine whether we reach those lofty expectations many of you have set for this team next year. Rubio can't propel the team forward a giant step, but he certainly won't hold them back either.

Thanks for the dose of sanity, Q. The time has long since passed when anyone should consider the fate of this team hinging on improvement from Ricky. He is what he is. He does a lot of things very well -- setting up the offense, passing, defense, rebounding and free-throw shooting. However, he's a poor shooter and not a very good finisher even though he's actually pretty good at beating guys off the dribble.

Thankfully, this team isn't built around the shooting prowess at the PG position. We have three scorers among our young core in Wiggins, KAT and LaVine. Gogui is also a pretty shooter/scorer. There's only one ball and a shooting PG doesn't really make much sense for this team.

So yes, the fate of this team going forward rests primarily on the development of Wiggins, KAT and LaVine. Ricky's good at putting scorers in good position to score. If Dunn proves to be as good as Rick in that area, substantially reduce his turnover propensity and give a little more scoring punch that Ricky, then Dunn will eventually become our starting PG and Ricky will either be traded or become our backup PG as suggested by Steve Smith.

But Ricky's the last guy I'll be watching closely this season. I'll be looking to see if Wiggins starts asserting himself on the boards and if he starts hitting threes with some regularity. I'll be looking to see if Zach continues to hit threes at anything close to his post-all-star clib and continues his improvement on the defensive end. I'll be looking to see what KAT has added to his game. I'll be looking to see if Gorgui's gotten stronger and can hold his position better defensively. I'll be looking to see if Belly has finally adjusted to the NBA game and whether he can play at the level many thought he might. I'll be looking to see whether Thibs has strengthened last season's pathetic bench. In the meantime, I expect Ricky to be Ricky -- organizing the offense, dishingout 8 plus assists, picking up 2 plus steals and 4-5 rebounds a game while shooting 37-40% from the field.

Lip, the problem is if Thibs hand the keys over to Dunn, then there is a very real possibility he holds the team back - at least this year. You can't say that about Ricky.

How many times have we seen 1st and 2nd year players hold this team back and struggle for long periods of time? LaVine and Wiggins as rookies both had major struggles for large stretches of their rookie seasons. We were one of the worst teams in the history of the NBA that year. How about Pek's rookie year? Yuck! In fact, Rubio and KAT may be the two most consistently good rookies we've had in the last 10 years and 20-some odd draft picks in that stretch of time.