Q12543 wrote:Abe, Yes, his team mates really have been that bad. Just look at last season's team which played mostly without Rubio (he was 13th in total minutes last season due to the injuries). We won only 16 games and had one of the worst defenses in history. We were 7-14 when he played and 9-52 when he didn't play. I'm not sure how you could expect someone like Rubio to take a 9-52 squad and turn them into winners. May be LeBron and Russell Westbrook can do it. But that might be about it.
Now as we go to this year, the top 3 players from last season in minutes played - Wiggins, Dieng, and LaVine - are also major parts of the rotation this season. Have these guys improved? Yes, but not dramatically, and for Wiggins and LaVine, we are still very early in their careers. Hopefully we'll see much more progress, but the bottom line is the 3 top players from the 16-win version are still major rotation guys on this squad. Why should we expect them to suddenly be winners?
And don't forget his rookie year Abe where yes, he did have a winning record before getting hurt. We were 21-20 when he goes down. We then proceed to go 5-20 the rest of the way. Yes, he had Kevin Love and Pek, but he also had Wes Johnson, Luke Ridnour, and Derrick Williams as the next three top guys in terms of minutes played that year. I would characterize those three as less-than-optimal team mates as your 2nd, 3rd, and 4th players in minutes played....and he took them to 21-20, so he was a winner, right?
As for 2013-14, we definitely underachieved versus what we did on paper that year in terms of point differential. It's fair to assign Rubio his fair share of the blame for that horrible streak of close losses. But just what is his "fair share"? How much should be assigned to Love and Pek? What about Adelman sticking with Barea too long? And what about just plain old bad luck? I've said this many times, but for that horrible streak of close losses we had early in the season, we went 6-2 in close games in the second half of the season with Rubio closing out games. What happened?
I personally don't think the "he's not been on a winning team" argument holds water unless we're bickering over his MVP or HoF credentials, in which case I'd agree of course.
To your first point: Your implying that it was just Rubio who missed time that season and not pretty much every single player on the roster minus Wiggins. So that is clearly incorrect.
To your 2nd point: So they haven't improved from when they didn't play from Ricky, to now playing with Ricky, but the big thing with Ricky is that he makes everybody around him better. Kinda saying two things from that point.
Ah yes the rookie year, we've gotten to the point where it's just assumed were going to the playoffs if Ricky didn't get hurt and it was 100% in the bag. Not the case.
Last point: Rubio shot 18% in the 4th quarters that year. Yes he gets his fair share. Not only the missed shots, but he lost so much confidence, he would flat out refuse to shoot