Minnesota Sports Forum

Camden wrote:

TheSP wrote:

Camden wrote:Ricky Rubio's last 30 games (all in the year 2016): 10.5 PPG (40.1 FG%, 34.7 3P% - 0.8 3PM, 83.5 FT%), 8.3 APG, 3.9 RPG, 1.9 SPG in 30.7 MPG.

Ricky Rubio's last 15 games: 12.3 PPG (45.5 FG%, 39.4 3P% - 0.9 3PM, 85.7 FT% - 5.6 FTA), 8.9 APG, 4.2 RPG, 1.7 SPG in 31.7 MPG.

Ricky Rubio's been scoring and playing well down the stretch.

If he could just manage to play this way consistently, yeah, that'd be great!

As long as he doesn't have some type of weird injury in his near future, I don't see why he couldn't play somewhere between those two averages.

Edit: He's not doing anything that different, as in his play style has remained the same. He's not yanking a ton of mid-range jumpers. It's a bad shot and it's a useless shot for him to try and develop, IMO. I've said that before. What he has been doing in 2016 is finishing at the rim more often and making his set three-point shots. Those two aspects of scoring combined with his already elite FTr are what he needs to continue building on. If he keeps this type of play up for the rest of the season, you have to feel good about him as our point guard of the now and future.

Well, as much as I'm a Rubio fan, he has to show a sustained ability to hit those numbers. Every player has ups and downs with their shooting. Look at Zach LaVine, who had a miserable stretch of 10 or 15 games where he looked like a broken player. Lately he's been on fire.

I still say the 3-point shot is the key - even more than finishing. And he has always been close to being a solid 3-point shooter. He's certainly no Brevin Knight (Abe's favorite comp for Rubio), who took 100+ 3-pointers in his career and made only 16 total!

When people talk about Rubio being a potential liability late in 4th quarters, it's because in playoff games they may throw doubles and load up on KAT and Wiggins and completely abandon Rubio. But unlike Brevin Knight or Tony Allen, he's proven that he is willing to take and make that open 3-pointer. He just needs to get a little more accurate. He's close....very close.

So the offense is clicking, the ball is moving, the team plays better with Ricky on the floor...what's missing? Defense of a passing/mediocre/league average level and how many more wins would you expect? For a team this young, with the growth over the entire season, especially with the death of Flip before things even had a chance to roll, do we as fans really expect much more than what we have seen? If course we would all like more wins, but damn, this team is fun to watch right now (with the exception of Payne and Mitchells handing of the team). If the team keeps This up, the sky is the limit, at least with the top 7-8 players on the team right now. Buckle up boys, the training wheels are coming off and the kids are learning what it takes to play in the NBA as a team. Don't trade those top players, add to them, keep the chemistry and enjoy the ride.

It's a process. It's not always going to be pretty, it's not always going to make sense. Some nights will seem like giant leaps forward, others will leave you scratching your head. But it's something you have to go through. I wish we had a head coach that could bring this group along more quickly, but we don't. Let's just hope Glen has the stones to make the right move this offseason.