Camden wrote:Some of you forget that just two seasons ago we could score with just about any team in the league. We had one of the most potent starting fives in basketball and that was with Corey Brewer in the damn lineup. Ricky orchestrated that. We were terrible defensively and we had a poor bench.
Suddenly, it looks like we might have corrected the problem in having guys that can fill it up (Towns, Wiggins, LaVine) AND defend, though work is still needed on that end, and you still think Rubio's the problem?
This notion that Rubio hurts your offense is one of the dumbest topics we've had on this board. Offensively, we're always a threat with him on the floor. It's not conventional, but damn, this team has shown they can score with him out there. The stats back it up. WE STILL CANNOT DEFEND. That's the bigger issue and it's one that Rubio is actually not the problem at.
This shit gets annoying.
It gets equally annoying to hear that our primary ball handler being one of the worst shooters in the league is no way correlated to our record. He is not the only problem of course not, but he certainly accounts for a huge part of our record.
I wish we could find a 2 way point guard that could supplant Ricky in the starting lineup. And then I wish Ricky could accept a backup role and play 20-25 minutes per game. Problem is these wishes have little likelihood of coming true.
Camden wrote:Some of you forget that just two seasons ago we could score with just about any team in the league. We had one of the most potent starting fives in basketball and that was with Corey Brewer in the damn lineup. Ricky orchestrated that. We were terrible defensively and we had a poor bench.
Suddenly, it looks like we might have corrected the problem in having guys that can fill it up (Towns, Wiggins, LaVine) AND defend, though work is still needed on that end, and you still think Rubio's the problem?
This notion that Rubio hurts your offense is one of the dumbest topics we've had on this board. Offensively, we're always a threat with him on the floor. It's not conventional, but damn, this team has shown they can score with him out there. The stats back it up. WE STILL CANNOT DEFEND. That's the bigger issue and it's one that Rubio is actually not the problem at.
This shit gets annoying.
It gets equally annoying to hear that our primary ball handler being one of the worst shooters in the league is no way correlated to our record. He is not the only problem of course not, but he certainly accounts for a huge part of our record.
Rubio's the main reason we even have 17 wins. Without him we likely don't have 10. He's been the best player on the floor all year. Not most talented, not best at filling up the stat sheet, the best contributing player. But here we are, yet again, talking this scoring issue into the ground.
It is an issue, but it is far from the reason why we're at the bottom of the league in wins. As I've said numerous times, team defense, three point shooting and youth are why we're losing so much.
CoolBreeze44 wrote:I wish we could find a 2 way point guard that could supplant Ricky in the starting lineup. And then I wish Ricky could accept a backup role and play 20-25 minutes per game. Problem is these wishes have little likelihood of coming true.
I agree 1000%. He would be an excellent back up PG. We wont see him as a backup for another 3 or 4 years though. Maybe we do draft Dunn and with this as the plan?
Camden wrote:Some of you forget that just two seasons ago we could score with just about any team in the league. We had one of the most potent starting fives in basketball and that was with Corey Brewer in the damn lineup. Ricky orchestrated that. We were terrible defensively and we had a poor bench.
Suddenly, it looks like we might have corrected the problem in having guys that can fill it up (Towns, Wiggins, LaVine) AND defend, though work is still needed on that end, and you still think Rubio's the problem?
This notion that Rubio hurts your offense is one of the dumbest topics we've had on this board. Offensively, we're always a threat with him on the floor. It's not conventional, but damn, this team has shown they can score with him out there. The stats back it up. WE STILL CANNOT DEFEND. That's the bigger issue and it's one that Rubio is actually not the problem at.
This shit gets annoying.
It gets equally annoying to hear that our primary ball handler being one of the worst shooters in the league is no way correlated to our record. He is not the only problem of course not, but he certainly accounts for a huge part of our record.
Rubio's the main reason we even have 17 wins. Without him we likely don't have 10. He's been the best player on the floor all year. Not most talented, not best at filling up the stat sheet, the best contributing player. But here we are, yet again, talking this scoring issue into the ground.
It is an issue, but it is far from the reason why we're at the bottom of the league in wins. As I've said numerous times, team defense, three point shooting and youth are why we're losing so much.
"He's been the best player on the floor this year", but God forbid he be responsible on any level for why we can't win games this year. By the way, his estimated wins added over a replacement level player is 5 so far (tied for 13th among PG's). Towns on the other hand is at 10 so I think we know who the best player has been on the court this year.
Doper--I agree 1000%. He would be an excellent back up PG. We wont see him as a backup for another 3 or 4 years though. Maybe we do draft Dunn and with this as the plan?
I don't think Ricky plays back up here or anywhere, he would request a trade. If we drafted Dunn and left, say, Poeltl or Hield on the board, that would unwise.
We have bigger holes on this team than PG scoring, like rim defense and 3 point shooting.
Great thread though. I agree with you Team Ricky, we can be a contender if we keep our core and Ricky plays the point.
Agree also with Cam -- team defense is a much bigger shortcoming than Ricky's crappy shooting.
bleedspeed177 wrote:I can't see trading Ricky until we have a better option in place. Or unless we are blown away with an offer. Russell from LA would be a guy I would trade him for, but the Lakers are not making that move.
Totally agree on having a replacement for Ricky. We cannot just trade him and not have another PG option. If it works out that Dunn is there when we draft, or we are able to get another PG, I'm more than willing to trade him.
Another Rubio thread and in this one some people taking very strong stands in favor of him long term. That's nice to see.
Another perspective:
In the last couple weeks I've talked to 3 people that are not Wolves fans and asked them if they think Rubio can be a PG for a Championship team. All of them said yes and quite frankly I was a bit surprised how quickly and easily said so. One of them is my friend who is a Bucks fan and always reminds me just how poorly Ricky's FG% is so that was a bit amusing. Lol
TeamRicky wrote:Where does Ricky rank among steals, assists, rebounds, plus minus, Real Plus Minus among point guards? All Ricky critics focus on his FG shooting percentage. They don't want to look past it.
How many games have we won this year with this phenomenal PG? Oh ya, not many. Good players win you games. End of story. Wall, Westbrook, Parker, Irving, Lillard, Steph, CP3, Isaiah Thomas, Goran Dragic, Kemba Walker, Kyle Lowry, Jeff Teague and on and on. You know what they all are doing? Winning more games than Ricky so what's Ricky's excuse? Towns is playing like an all-star this year and you only need two of those to be able to hover around .500, so if Ricky is so great, why are we at only 17 wins? Face it. Ricky has been a stat stuffer on a bad team, not an actual difference maker in the one thing that matters which is W-L.
You have got to be kidding Kahns. While I certainly don't consider Ricky to be the type of tour de force that Russell Westbrook or Steph Curry are, the idea that somehow he's just out there stuffing stats and not positively impacting the game is simply ridiculous. We've proven that wrong time and again.
