longstrangetrip wrote:Q12543 wrote:Ricky knocked down his 3's today for his second solid game in a row. He's now 2nd on the team in +/- to Gasol, despite playing nearly 10 fewer minutes per game. So basically he's just doing what he always does - makes the team better when he's on the court, whether his shot is going down or not.
Yeah, more evidence that the theory that teams will sag off of him come playoff time to dare him to shoot open threes is folly...3 for 3 on threes today, and he made them look as easy as free throws. Ricky's 3-point shot isn't pretty, but when left open it's going to go in more frequently than the league average.
I think it's absurd that Spain's coach plays Rubio so few minutes. The offense runs smoother when he is on the court, and none of the other point guards are even close to him defensively. Ricky seems to be the kind of guy who is more successful the more minutes he gets. Well, at least this isn't likely to be an issue with Thibs...my guess is that he will play Ricky 36-38 MPG, and Ricky will thrive with that kind of workload.
I just heard a podcast with an NBA coach.
He mentioned teams going under the pick and roll vs. Ricky Rubio to muck things up. It's not a contrived narrative. There are legitimate NBA examples of this happening. It happens EVERY single season. It even happens to guys like Jeff Teague who is a 35.5% career three point shooter. (Rubio is 31.8% on fewer attempts per game).
As noted previously... probably countless times... it's not just about leaving Rubio wide open. Teams will dare him to shoot for a couple of reasons:
1. He is not a great shooter. 31.8% is a poor percentage. He's never been a league average shooter behind the arc despite taking mostly open shots from there.
2. He is not a willing shooter. He doesn't have the mentality to take 25 - 30 shots, even if wide open. I've used the Steve Nash example before. In 2006, the Dallas Mavericks basically dared Nash to shoot in the playoffs. It was actually fairly successful initially. Sure. Nash went crazy. But scoring wasn't his first instinct. The Suns were out of rhythm as a result. Granted, Nash averaged something like 40 ppg on 60+% fg as the series went on so they were able to overcome it. Nash vs. Rubio is a very large difference. (By the way, the Heat were successful vs. Atlanta and Teague in part because he was so unsure about when and how often to shoot all those open jumpers.)
