Our biggest problem is a bench that universally can't shoot and score efficiently. Literally none of them can do this. So that leaves us with 3 players - Love, Pek, and Martin - that can be banked on for efficient scoring. Brewer is having a good year efficiency-wise, but that could go south at any time, as his career numbers indicate a regression to the mean is in order.
Agree Agree Agree
Rubio's development... from an NBA "insider"...
Re: Rubio's development... from an NBA "insider"...
Its a good article and good conversation.
Part of the reason Rubio is shooting so poorly (based on the games I have seen) is he is trying to score. He is trying to figure out what he can do and what he can't and he is pushing himself to fry and take shots that if he really probably had his way he wouldn't even take. He is young he can't just assume he is an old Jason Kid and never shot. He should be trying to find his way looking for his shot. Because of this he forces up some awful crap that isn't really something he is comfortable with. Thats fine IMO. Rubio is never going ot be a Steve Nash Stockton type shooter. There is no way he will finish around the Hoop like a Rondo. I do think he needs to take some bad looks and see what he think he might be able to make work and what is a resounding no. You can't really figure that out be just practicing in the gym. He needs to learn on the fly. Its going to hurt the team at times, but in the long run it might really pay off. The bottom lime is he needs to become at least a decent threat to score in some way inside the 3 point line. I really think the guy can be a set shot factor at the 3 point line his career numbers from back there are decent and could improve a bit and be just fine. His shot isn't great but its also not totally broke either because he can hit FTs.
As Q pointed out Rubio and his pals on this team work becasue their strengths on offense fit pretty well. Love balances out some poor shooting with his ridiculous ability to hit 3's and other outside shots. Martin is a great fit with Rubio. Basically if you added a 3rd shooter to the starting lineup instead of Brewer you might be able to live with Pek living in the paint and Rubio running around basically just passing the ball. Its will be interesting to see if the Wolves can get that 3rd guy or maybe have him be the guy that comes off the bench that makes it work. Bud is the guy on the roster if he can get healthy that might fill that role. Shabazz might have the raw theoretical skills to fit, but we have no clue if he is going to be anything at this point much less a major contributor.
The thing is we need time to see how all these guys come together its only been a few months since this team was assembled. The problem is the clock is ticking loudly already. As Q said the bench really needs to step up. We gotta have something better than Shved's awfulness. We need another big to do something worthwhile. adding Luc will help I think, but on offense we need another guy off the bench that is a factor. Hopefully we get at least one guy to make contributions sometime soon.
Part of the reason Rubio is shooting so poorly (based on the games I have seen) is he is trying to score. He is trying to figure out what he can do and what he can't and he is pushing himself to fry and take shots that if he really probably had his way he wouldn't even take. He is young he can't just assume he is an old Jason Kid and never shot. He should be trying to find his way looking for his shot. Because of this he forces up some awful crap that isn't really something he is comfortable with. Thats fine IMO. Rubio is never going ot be a Steve Nash Stockton type shooter. There is no way he will finish around the Hoop like a Rondo. I do think he needs to take some bad looks and see what he think he might be able to make work and what is a resounding no. You can't really figure that out be just practicing in the gym. He needs to learn on the fly. Its going to hurt the team at times, but in the long run it might really pay off. The bottom lime is he needs to become at least a decent threat to score in some way inside the 3 point line. I really think the guy can be a set shot factor at the 3 point line his career numbers from back there are decent and could improve a bit and be just fine. His shot isn't great but its also not totally broke either because he can hit FTs.
As Q pointed out Rubio and his pals on this team work becasue their strengths on offense fit pretty well. Love balances out some poor shooting with his ridiculous ability to hit 3's and other outside shots. Martin is a great fit with Rubio. Basically if you added a 3rd shooter to the starting lineup instead of Brewer you might be able to live with Pek living in the paint and Rubio running around basically just passing the ball. Its will be interesting to see if the Wolves can get that 3rd guy or maybe have him be the guy that comes off the bench that makes it work. Bud is the guy on the roster if he can get healthy that might fill that role. Shabazz might have the raw theoretical skills to fit, but we have no clue if he is going to be anything at this point much less a major contributor.
The thing is we need time to see how all these guys come together its only been a few months since this team was assembled. The problem is the clock is ticking loudly already. As Q said the bench really needs to step up. We gotta have something better than Shved's awfulness. We need another big to do something worthwhile. adding Luc will help I think, but on offense we need another guy off the bench that is a factor. Hopefully we get at least one guy to make contributions sometime soon.
-
m4gor [enjin:6667447]
- Posts: 459
- Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2013 12:00 am
Re: Rubio's development... from an NBA "insider"...
in czech (my mother tongue) we have proverb meaning something like this "in bad thing/situation there is always something good to be found"
Ricky shoots badly and it is concerning and bad, however even with his horrible FG% he is still legit starter PG, but if he cannot improve that shooting fast enough he is definitely NOT max value player and we should be able to extend him for cheaper than expected, as it is i would see his value somewhere around 7-9 mil per year, there are so many PGs out there :-D, so even though we expected our core to be Ricky-Love-PEK, with PEK at 12 mil and Ricky at 8 mil we could have a lot of cap room left to make something happen, and if/when Ricky improves his shooting enough he jumps into top 3 PG category right away
Ricky shoots badly and it is concerning and bad, however even with his horrible FG% he is still legit starter PG, but if he cannot improve that shooting fast enough he is definitely NOT max value player and we should be able to extend him for cheaper than expected, as it is i would see his value somewhere around 7-9 mil per year, there are so many PGs out there :-D, so even though we expected our core to be Ricky-Love-PEK, with PEK at 12 mil and Ricky at 8 mil we could have a lot of cap room left to make something happen, and if/when Ricky improves his shooting enough he jumps into top 3 PG category right away
-
AbeVigodaLive
- Posts: 10135
- Joined: Thu Jul 11, 2013 12:00 am
Re: Rubio's development... from an NBA "insider"...
I think Lowe hits on an important point late in the article:
"But I've talked to a lot of league executives who are very curious to see how Rubio and the Wolves would fare in a playoff series, against a defense and scouting army devoted entirely to stopping Minnesota."
I see visions of Kobe Bryant playing 8 feet off Rajon Rondo when I read that...
It's not so much that Rubio can't make those wide open looks... will he take them?
Avery Johnson used to be left wide open for 17 footers. It wasn't in his DNA to take them. Even a guy like Steve Nash isn't inherently a big-time scorer. Think back to 2005 when he played his former Mavericks teammates in the playoffs. The Mavs DARED Nash to shoot in that playoff series. Nash went bezerk, averaging about 40 ppg. But, there's a reason the Mavs opted to play that way... they knew it wasn't the way he wanted to play and by him shooting more, it was taking the Suns out of their rhythm and what they do best.
"But I've talked to a lot of league executives who are very curious to see how Rubio and the Wolves would fare in a playoff series, against a defense and scouting army devoted entirely to stopping Minnesota."
I see visions of Kobe Bryant playing 8 feet off Rajon Rondo when I read that...
It's not so much that Rubio can't make those wide open looks... will he take them?
Avery Johnson used to be left wide open for 17 footers. It wasn't in his DNA to take them. Even a guy like Steve Nash isn't inherently a big-time scorer. Think back to 2005 when he played his former Mavericks teammates in the playoffs. The Mavs DARED Nash to shoot in that playoff series. Nash went bezerk, averaging about 40 ppg. But, there's a reason the Mavs opted to play that way... they knew it wasn't the way he wanted to play and by him shooting more, it was taking the Suns out of their rhythm and what they do best.
-
Camden [enjin:6601484]
- Posts: 18065
- Joined: Tue Jul 09, 2013 12:00 am
Re: Rubio's development... from an NBA "insider"...
AbeVigodaLive wrote:I think Lowe hits on an important point late in the article:
"But I've talked to a lot of league executives who are very curious to see how Rubio and the Wolves would fare in a playoff series, against a defense and scouting army devoted entirely to stopping Minnesota."
I see visions of Kobe Bryant playing 8 feet off Rajon Rondo when I read that...
It's not so much that Rubio can't make those wide open looks... will he take them?
Avery Johnson used to be left wide open for 17 footers. It wasn't in his DNA to take them. Even a guy like Steve Nash isn't inherently a big-time scorer. Think back to 2005 when he played his former Mavericks teammates in the playoffs. The Mavs DARED Nash to shoot in that playoff series. Nash went bezerk, averaging about 40 ppg. But, there's a reason the Mavs opted to play that way... they knew it wasn't the way he wanted to play and by him shooting more, it was taking the Suns out of their rhythm and what they do best.
Gahh, I remember that series. Nash was phenominal. Hand down, man down. Steve was raining jumpers. Lol
-
The Rage Monster [enjin:8010341]
- Posts: 330
- Joined: Fri Nov 29, 2013 12:00 am
Re: Rubio's development... from an NBA "insider"...
Every player has some sort of weakness, Rubio's just happens to be the most obvious type. I don't want to make excuses for him because he isn't a good shooter but one thing to note is he averaging 2 less free throws per game this year. I haven't seen a majority of the games but for those that have does it seem like he isn't getting calls? I know in a few games I've seen he's gotten some contact while throwing up a wild shot but didn't get the call. If you take 1 of his misses and turn them into free throws he would be shooting 42%, still not great but it would at least show some improvement.