Minnesota Sports Forum

sjm34 wrote:

Hicks123 wrote:

60WinTim wrote:I just watched the game last night. There's no need to apologize for Ricky -- Ricky does what Ricky does: create scoring opportunities for other players and be a disruptive force on defense. It was Ricky's teammates that did not do what they usually do: score and rebound. It was a very subpar performance by many of the Spanish team's players.

Your right..."Ricky did what Ricky did"....which was absolutly nothing on offense. And while I completely realize that the whole Spain team laid an egg, the other coach's comments lay to bare Ricky's issue. He is absolutely NOT a concern for the other team at all, especially in critical moments, thus they completely ignore him and put pressure on the guys that will actually do damage on the floor. This absolutely creates a mismatch in favor of the other team as they can slide over and help defend at will, as Ricky isn't a concern around the perimiter or taking it to the hoop. This is why a similar guy like Rondo is much more valuable, IMO. While not a great outside shooter, he somehow manages to shoot nearly 48% for his career.

And you made a great point that Ricky's teammates didn't do their "typical" job of scoring the basketball. And this proves out why Ricky needs to develop his game further to be considered a top 10-15 PG. He at least needs to have some semblance of ability to score points when his team needs that from him...which they clearly could have used the other night. While his other skills are certainly an asset, I just believe that at the end of close games, when you need your ball handlers to dominate and score, he becomes a completely useless tool in too many situations. This is not the guy I want making $13-15M on my roster.

No question that Ricky has to improve his scoring ability, whether that is at the hoop or midrange, but please don't bring Rondo into this. The guy's TS% jumped the year KG and Allen came to the Celtics. He isn't the same guy without those players around him, and stating that he is "not a great outside shooter" is like saying Donald Sterling isn't a hero in the black community. Rondo is a horrendous perimeter shooter as well as at the charity stripe. Rubio shoots 18% pts better at the FT line, and 7% pts from 3.

Ricky definitely needs to change his off season priorities though. If he doesn't start putting in significant time on his shooting skills, he should be ready to accept a 10mil/yr deal. They did say on the broadcast earlier in the week that he had been working a great deal on his shooting during practices over there, so hopefully this the stage where he gets worse before getting better.

Volans19 wrote:Here is an article about Ricky from Yahoo
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ricky-rubio-still-hopes-for-brighter-future-with-timberwolves-after-losing-kevin-love-221015119.html

My favorite quote:
"I'm loyal," Rubio told Yahoo. "I want to give them back what they gave me there: a lot of love."

sjm34 wrote:I will be really surprised if Ricky turns it down. I would have to think the only reason would be if he was looking to relocate closer to the east coast in the near future.

Volans19 wrote:Some other deals that got done today

Alec Burks - 4/42
Klay Thompson - 4/70

Meanwhile Brandon Knight, Jimmy Butler, Kawhi Leonard, and Tobias Harris have all shelved extension talks with their teams.