Minnesota Sports Forum

Why would anyone assume a team would give up a 2nd round pick for Ricky?!? Oh to fit their narrative. Last I checked NBA teams have access to game tapes.

Duke13 wrote:Why would anyone assume a team would give up a 2nd round pick for Ricky?!? Oh to fit their narrative. Last I checked NBA teams have access to game tapes.

Expiring contract next season. That's worth something.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Camden wrote:For the record, yes, Rubio was brutal, but he shouldn't have been checked into the game down the final stretch. It was clear he didn't have it tonight and McLaughlin did. Once again Saunders fails to recognize what's so obvious to many.

I've probably written this 1,000 times... this is the NBA, not high school. For all we complain about the wrong rotations depending on what happens in each game... players repeatedly request set rotations and clearly defined roles and the highest paid, most experienced ones often have a say in those rotations. It's just the way the NBA is.

Rubio is a seasoned vet. I doubt he gets nearly as much say as Towns or others. BUT... McLaughlin is a 2-way rookie. Benching Rubio the game after he went for 20/13 with only 1 TO for a two-way rookie would not sit with a single veteran in the league... even those watching the Wolves from afar.

Does that make it right? No. Did Rubio suck balls? Yep. Was he a big reason the Wolves lost? Yep. But that's the NBA... the same game we've all watched for many years. There's really no story here.

Case in point... Fred Van Fleet was 4 - 20 fg. And he had 5 TOs. He stunk. There was no way he was being pulled for Malachi Flynn regardless if Flynn could actually play hoops or not.



[Note: Eventually, we'll all get our wish. But these things take time. The changing of the guard has happened hundreds of times previously... it's been happening for the last 20, 30, 50 years... but it rarely happens overnight from one game to the next.]

It wasn't just that Ricky was playing poorly tonight. JMac was playing particularly well and the team was having success with him on the floor tonight. Any vet watching the game would have seen a decision to play JMac down the stretch as the right move for the team. Playing JMac down the stretch might not have sat well with Ricky, but it was the right move to make. Ricky has no clout with this organization. I don't know why what other vets watching might have thought should matter to Ryan. And seriously, no other player in the League would have cared whether Ryan played Ricky or not those final 5 minutes tonight. In fact, they'd probably respect Ryan for that decision because it was so clearly the right basketball decision in that moment.

Having said all that, I'll come back to the view I had on draft day - i.e., Rosas should not have traded for Ricky. And that was before I knew how much Ricky has regressed. Ricky dribbled the ball off his foot and a play later just fell down. There is clearly something wrong with him physically.

lipoli390 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Camden wrote:For the record, yes, Rubio was brutal, but he shouldn't have been checked into the game down the final stretch. It was clear he didn't have it tonight and McLaughlin did. Once again Saunders fails to recognize what's so obvious to many.

I've probably written this 1,000 times... this is the NBA, not high school. For all we complain about the wrong rotations depending on what happens in each game... players repeatedly request set rotations and clearly defined roles and the highest paid, most experienced ones often have a say in those rotations. It's just the way the NBA is.

Rubio is a seasoned vet. I doubt he gets nearly as much say as Towns or others. BUT... McLaughlin is a 2-way rookie. Benching Rubio the game after he went for 20/13 with only 1 TO for a two-way rookie would not sit with a single veteran in the league... even those watching the Wolves from afar.

Does that make it right? No. Did Rubio suck balls? Yep. Was he a big reason the Wolves lost? Yep. But that's the NBA... the same game we've all watched for many years. There's really no story here.

Case in point... Fred Van Fleet was 4 - 20 fg. And he had 5 TOs. He stunk. There was no way he was being pulled for Malachi Flynn regardless if Flynn could actually play hoops or not.



[Note: Eventually, we'll all get our wish. But these things take time. The changing of the guard has happened hundreds of times previously... it's been happening for the last 20, 30, 50 years... but it rarely happens overnight from one game to the next.]

It wasn't just that Ricky was playing poorly tonight. JMac was playing particularly well and the team was having success with him on the floor tonight. Any vet watching the game would have seen a decision to play JMac down the stretch as the right move for the team. Playing JMac down the stretch might not have sat well with Ricky, but it was the right move to make. Ricky has no clout with this organization. I don't know why what other vets watching might have thought should matter to Ryan. And seriously, no other player in the League would have cared whether Ryan played Ricky or not those final 5 minutes tonight. In fact, they'd probably respect Ryan for that decision because it was so clearly the right basketball decision in that moment.

Having said all that, I'll come back to the view I had on draft day - i.e., Rosas should not have traded for Ricky. And that was before I knew how much Ricky has regressed. Ricky dribbled the ball off his foot and a play later just fell down. There is clearly something wrong with him physically.

It wasn't that we just played Ricky, it's the Wolves ran every action through him late. Ricky played bad, its going to happen, nobody is perfect. But to continue to run action through him when he was bad tonight was pathetic.

Jmac will walk in free agency, what I understand probably won't be life or death but we are also doing 2 things we could have a good cheap backup pg what the Wolves will now need to find another in a year and we are lowering Ricky value when he is playing bad.

I also want to say in general I understand your point but I don't agree with the Rubio vs FVF comp because FVF wasn't playing well.

Wolves will still have to respect FVF even if he is struggling, defense does not change because he can still kill you. Rubio struggling kills everything because so much more focus goes to guys like Kat, Beasley and Ant because they don't have to respect Ricky.

lipoli390 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Camden wrote:For the record, yes, Rubio was brutal, but he shouldn't have been checked into the game down the final stretch. It was clear he didn't have it tonight and McLaughlin did. Once again Saunders fails to recognize what's so obvious to many.

I've probably written this 1,000 times... this is the NBA, not high school. For all we complain about the wrong rotations depending on what happens in each game... players repeatedly request set rotations and clearly defined roles and the highest paid, most experienced ones often have a say in those rotations. It's just the way the NBA is.

Rubio is a seasoned vet. I doubt he gets nearly as much say as Towns or others. BUT... McLaughlin is a 2-way rookie. Benching Rubio the game after he went for 20/13 with only 1 TO for a two-way rookie would not sit with a single veteran in the league... even those watching the Wolves from afar.

Does that make it right? No. Did Rubio suck balls? Yep. Was he a big reason the Wolves lost? Yep. But that's the NBA... the same game we've all watched for many years. There's really no story here.

Case in point... Fred Van Fleet was 4 - 20 fg. And he had 5 TOs. He stunk. There was no way he was being pulled for Malachi Flynn regardless if Flynn could actually play hoops or not.



[Note: Eventually, we'll all get our wish. But these things take time. The changing of the guard has happened hundreds of times previously... it's been happening for the last 20, 30, 50 years... but it rarely happens overnight from one game to the next.]

It wasn't just that Ricky was playing poorly tonight. JMac was playing particularly well and the team was having success with him on the floor tonight. Any vet watching the game would have seen a decision to play JMac down the stretch as the right move for the team. Playing JMac down the stretch might not have sat well with Ricky, but it was the right move to make. Ricky has no clout with this organization. I don't know why what other vets watching might have thought should matter to Ryan. And seriously, no other player in the League would have cared whether Ryan played Ricky or not those final 5 minutes tonight. In fact, they'd probably respect Ryan for that decision because it was so clearly the right basketball decision in that moment.

Having said all that, I'll come back to the view I had on draft day - i.e., Rosas should not have traded for Ricky. And that was before I knew how much Ricky has regressed. Ricky dribbled the ball off his foot and a play later just fell down. There is clearly something wrong with him physically.

I'm just telling you how the NBA works... not whether I agree with it or not.

That sort of move is very rare... even rarer if it's coming from the youngest, greenest coach in the L.

Abe is right. The only other option would have been to play JoMac and Rubio together, but that means going really small up front with Beasley and Edwards as your forwards or benching one of those two.

I think the other problem is that Rubio should be purely a table setter in these end of game sets versus the guy that carries all the responsibility to create offense (that's not to absolve him of blame for the unforced errors he made).

A fully formed and matured Edwards is theoretically the perfect compliment to Rubio - a Donovan Mitchell clone that can handle the ball, get into the paint, and make shots or the right pass. The problem is Edwards is simply not that guy yet. He has all the confidence, swagger, and raw talent, but not the shooting touch or decision making skills yet.

Then you have Beasley, who has the size of a shooting guard and the handles of a Center. He simply can't create much separation off the bounce so he is almost entirely dependent on others.

When or if we see DLO again this season, will he help? For sure on offense, but may be we give up 96 to the Raptors instead of 86 if he plays.

The only silver lining in all of this is that we have literally been competitive and in every one of the last 12 games. I'm not sure how else to measure progress in the absence of wins....

WolvesFan21 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Rubio led the way in terms of choking away the win, but let's not forget KAT missed a wide open 3 and turned it over on a moving screen and Beasley was getting his 3's blocked trying to force a shot up. It's a collective failure, starting with Ryan and his point guard and then infecting everyone else.

True story. The entire offense failed down the stretch, but Ricky turned it over twice in the last 4 minutes then had zero assists to boot since they defense never collapses on him.

It actually did collapse on him once and he fed KAT for a wide open 3 from one of his favorite spots (straight on). KAT missed. Later KAT set an illegal screen that turned the possession over. It's a collective failure, with yes, Ricky helping to lead the way.

Jester1534 wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Hello Mr. McDaniels

I know he got bunch of techs in college. But what was the deal man. He seems so calm and collected for a rookie. I don't see how this guy was consider a hot head. Maybe he just grew up real fast.

I was going to comment on this last night, but forgot....I'm also befuddled by McDaniels. If I didn't know a thing about him prior to the Wolves, I would be shocked to find out he had 9 technicals and got yanked from the starting lineup for a stretch of time last year. Like, the guy almost never reacts to anything, good or bad.

McDaniels currently contributes more to winning basketball than Edwards and may be even Beasley. His defense is crazy-good. Besides making Siakam look silly, he matched up against Van Fleet on a switch and FVF could go absolutely nowhere against him. Once he learns to stay down a bit better and puts on a bit more weight to help on the defensive glass, he will be a top 5 or 10 NBA defender.

I think we all would have preferred Ricky standing in the corner. So yes Ryan screwed the pooch. I do wonder if they are trying to help build Rubio's confidence and value, but it's not working and backfiring.

The only other real option though to be fair is give it to the 19 year old rook as he seems the most competent ball handler and scorer between the two (obviously).