Minnesota Sports Forum

Love what we're seeing from Dieng so far in FIBA. But Haddadi had 29 points and 4 steals today, so I'm not going to get too excited about Dieng's numbers to date. Yet, hard not to be encouraged.

A few random comments about things written in this thread:

1. Rubio is who he is. We're three years in with Rubio. He is a disruptive defender. Great passer. Atrocious shooter and poor finisher. None of that has changed much at all through three seasons... (and many more overseas prior to them). He's not going to be a good shooter... or even average shooter. The best bet is to build a team around him that can play to his strengths and mask his weaknesses.

2. Dieng seems to be thriving in his new role. Good for him. The guy posted legit NBA stats when he got run. It didn't translate to wins though. Good to see it is with Senegal.

3. Speaking of meaningless stats guys... Andray Blatche can produce. But is he worth the extra stuff. Is he still a knucklehead? Will he ever have the type of game to win games when he's a focus?

Abe, When I read this I wonder how much of a market is there outside MN for Rubio. I would think it would be pretty small.

I harken back to those posts during Summer League where posters were making knee jerk reactions to Diengs play. At the time I said Dieng was going to be fine. And now we are seeing that he is.

I disagree with the people saying Rubio is who he is and won't get better shooting.

If you look at Tony Parker's first few years in the league, he was taking more 3 point shots than he is now (less than 1 attempt per game the last few years). His FT attempts went up as well (2.1 his first season to around 5 the last 4-5 years). See any similarities here?

Abe to answer question #3 the answer is basically No. Blatche can help you off the bench but that's it.

I'm sure there are a. Pretty good chunk of teams that would have interest in Rubio. Elite passing PGs that also play high level of defense and are good rebounders aren't too common. Rubio adds the dimension of actually having the length to guard SGs which is pretty handy. He might not score but he can hit set 3 point shots and can hit FTs.

BizarroJerry wrote:I disagree with the people saying Rubio is who he is and won't get better shooting.

If you look at Tony Parker's first few years in the league, he was taking more 3 point shots than he is now (less than 1 attempt per game the last few years). His FT attempts went up as well (2.1 his first season to around 5 the last 4-5 years). See any similarities here?

No not at all. Parker was never as bad of shooter as Rubio. Wolves also don't have the Spurs coaching staff, which seem to make everyone better

alexftbl8181 wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:I disagree with the people saying Rubio is who he is and won't get better shooting.

If you look at Tony Parker's first few years in the league, he was taking more 3 point shots than he is now (less than 1 attempt per game the last few years). His FT attempts went up as well (2.1 his first season to around 5 the last 4-5 years). See any similarities here?

No not at all. Parker was never as bad of shooter as Rubio. Wolves also don't have the Spurs coaching staff, which seem to make everyone better

The problem with comparing Parker and Rubio is Parker was always really good scoring in the paint and quickly became elite in that area. Very different type of guards really although Parker played a different role early in his career than he does now.

monsterpile wrote:

alexftbl8181 wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:I disagree with the people saying Rubio is who he is and won't get better shooting.

If you look at Tony Parker's first few years in the league, he was taking more 3 point shots than he is now (less than 1 attempt per game the last few years). His FT attempts went up as well (2.1 his first season to around 5 the last 4-5 years). See any similarities here?

No not at all. Parker was never as bad of shooter as Rubio. Wolves also don't have the Spurs coaching staff, which seem to make everyone better

The problem with comparing Parker and Rubio is Parker was always really good scoring in the paint and quickly became elite in that area. Very different type of guards really although Parker played a different role early in his career than he does now.

Ricky is further away then just looking at percentages. Just watching Ricky, he has zero pull up game. Like none. If Ricky is going one on one, it's either pass or go to the hoop. He can't shoot a step back or even hit a jumper off a screen. His form just looks took jerky and super slow.

The point I wanted to make with Parker was that he realized (and the coaches) he wasn't going to be a deep outside threat and his game changed to be more of a rim attacker. I think Rubio can make those same adjustments.