Re: Keep Ricky in Minnesota
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2016 5:35 am
A lot of Rubio stuff. Wow.
I'm growing weary of it... and I'm probably not alone. And yet, nothing has changed. No opinions have changed. Alas, that's what you get when you discuss a unique and very polarizing player like Rubio among avid fans. I'm not for trading him now just to trade him. I think he helps the team overall. And I think he's a lot of fun. In fact, after Steph Curry, he's probably my 2nd favorite player to watch in the entire league.
Now, here's where my problem begins...
It's humorous how long of a leash some guys get. And I don't know why he is so quickly absolved from the mess that the Wolves have been in since he's been here. I mean, we have one of the best posters here (IMO) pointing out half-season stats to prove Rubio was a "winner" (21 - 20). AHA! And we have had countless people let him off the hook for that 40 - 42 season when the Wolves were 1 - 14 (?) in close games when they mattered (only 7 - 16 for the season which still sucks balls) and Rubio shot 18% or some ridiculous percentage. Stop blaming Adelman. Love. Martin. Barea. Et al. Just accept it that Rubio sucked so much that he lost the trust of his coach with his terrible 4th quarter play. He wasn't alone. Those other guys' numbers were down too... but I don't care. We're talking about Rubio. I don't know any other fanbase who would give one of the team's best players a pass in that situation... except us.
TS% and VORP and RPM and DFL GHKDF and OIDD... there are literally dozens of stats we can use to judge players. Which ones are important? Which ones aren't? That's a debate for another time. But posting Rubio's TS% isn't going to dissuade me from knowing that Rubio sucks as a shooter. He has for 5 seasons. He's not the next Jason Kidd. He's not going to get much better. All that "improvement" cited throughout this thread is marginal. Oddly enough... none of the stats that could be used to show regression are ever used. For years, we heard how Jason Kidd... err... Ricky Rubio was such a great rebounder. Now that he rebounds slightly less are we not using that narrative anymore? Are we not still using the "Rubio would have had x more assists if his teammates could shoot" narrative anymore either?
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Rubio is an intangibles guy. I get that. In fact, I think most of us get that. It's hard to judge him next to guys who go for 20 ppg routinely. It certainly doesn't mean Rubio is the worse player. And vice versa. There are so so many factors that go into it. And it's really really hard to know for certain.
No other PG in the league has played for crappier teams in his career than Rubio. Which means that nobody loses as much as a starting PG over the past 5 years as much as Rubio. Isn't he the only guy considered in the top 15 that has not had a winning record (sorry, half seasons don't count). Even a guy like Kemba Walker, who started off 7 - 59 in 2012 is set to finish above .500 and in the playoffs for the second time (averaging 20/4/5 with 20.7 PER for what it's worth).
Is that all Rubio's fault? No. Obviously not. (The Wolves are the worst franchise in modern NBA history after all, for many reasons that go WAAAAAY beyond Rubio struggling to shoot.) And via advanced statistics, we know Rubio outplayed almost all of his teammates during his time here. He's played with a lot of stiffs.
But that doesn't mean he's off the hook either. When a team can't win. "Ever." Something is amiss. Owner. GM(s). Coach(es). And the "PG who makes his teammates better" has to accept a few fingers pointed his way, too.
[Note: This really was supposed to be a quick sentence or two post. Dammit. Damn you Ricky Rubio... you did this to me!!!!!]
I'm growing weary of it... and I'm probably not alone. And yet, nothing has changed. No opinions have changed. Alas, that's what you get when you discuss a unique and very polarizing player like Rubio among avid fans. I'm not for trading him now just to trade him. I think he helps the team overall. And I think he's a lot of fun. In fact, after Steph Curry, he's probably my 2nd favorite player to watch in the entire league.
Now, here's where my problem begins...
It's humorous how long of a leash some guys get. And I don't know why he is so quickly absolved from the mess that the Wolves have been in since he's been here. I mean, we have one of the best posters here (IMO) pointing out half-season stats to prove Rubio was a "winner" (21 - 20). AHA! And we have had countless people let him off the hook for that 40 - 42 season when the Wolves were 1 - 14 (?) in close games when they mattered (only 7 - 16 for the season which still sucks balls) and Rubio shot 18% or some ridiculous percentage. Stop blaming Adelman. Love. Martin. Barea. Et al. Just accept it that Rubio sucked so much that he lost the trust of his coach with his terrible 4th quarter play. He wasn't alone. Those other guys' numbers were down too... but I don't care. We're talking about Rubio. I don't know any other fanbase who would give one of the team's best players a pass in that situation... except us.
TS% and VORP and RPM and DFL GHKDF and OIDD... there are literally dozens of stats we can use to judge players. Which ones are important? Which ones aren't? That's a debate for another time. But posting Rubio's TS% isn't going to dissuade me from knowing that Rubio sucks as a shooter. He has for 5 seasons. He's not the next Jason Kidd. He's not going to get much better. All that "improvement" cited throughout this thread is marginal. Oddly enough... none of the stats that could be used to show regression are ever used. For years, we heard how Jason Kidd... err... Ricky Rubio was such a great rebounder. Now that he rebounds slightly less are we not using that narrative anymore? Are we not still using the "Rubio would have had x more assists if his teammates could shoot" narrative anymore either?
_______________________________________
Rubio is an intangibles guy. I get that. In fact, I think most of us get that. It's hard to judge him next to guys who go for 20 ppg routinely. It certainly doesn't mean Rubio is the worse player. And vice versa. There are so so many factors that go into it. And it's really really hard to know for certain.
No other PG in the league has played for crappier teams in his career than Rubio. Which means that nobody loses as much as a starting PG over the past 5 years as much as Rubio. Isn't he the only guy considered in the top 15 that has not had a winning record (sorry, half seasons don't count). Even a guy like Kemba Walker, who started off 7 - 59 in 2012 is set to finish above .500 and in the playoffs for the second time (averaging 20/4/5 with 20.7 PER for what it's worth).
Is that all Rubio's fault? No. Obviously not. (The Wolves are the worst franchise in modern NBA history after all, for many reasons that go WAAAAAY beyond Rubio struggling to shoot.) And via advanced statistics, we know Rubio outplayed almost all of his teammates during his time here. He's played with a lot of stiffs.
But that doesn't mean he's off the hook either. When a team can't win. "Ever." Something is amiss. Owner. GM(s). Coach(es). And the "PG who makes his teammates better" has to accept a few fingers pointed his way, too.
[Note: This really was supposed to be a quick sentence or two post. Dammit. Damn you Ricky Rubio... you did this to me!!!!!]