Minnesota Sports Forum

monsterpile wrote:

FNG wrote:I don't think you guys are going to convince me that "Midrange Shooting" Ricky is a good strategy for him. He may have had one good game from midrange, but we all know that he is never going to be consistently efective from there. Ricky has always known his strengths and weaknesses and has been effective playing to his strengths...facilitating, protecting the ball, driving to the basket, making free throws and taking the wide-open three if the defense gives it to him. Rubio-led teams are not going to win many games with him being the leading scorer and only having one assist and 5 TOs.

You aren't getting it. At the international level Rubio is a scorer. He led Spain in scoring in 2019. Yes he also averaged 6 assists a game too for that tournament but he isn't just some guy playing like Rondo or something. At the NBA level...sure nobody is dying for Rubio to be jacking up a bunch of midrange a jumpers like Chris Paul but for some guys it should be a way they can get some good looks and easy buckets.

Meanwhile you LOVE efficiency and you are still dogging Rubio's game where he had over 66% TS% on 23 points in less than 23 minutes all because apparently Rubio is only one type of player in your mind.

Did I dog Ricky's shooting performance in this game, Monster? I don't think so...he shot great. I dogged his overall performance with only 1 assist and 5 TOs that left him with a very uncharacteristic -4...that's not Ricky. Do you think Spain goes 8-0 in 2019 FIBA play if Ricky has five times more turnovers than assists...of course not! That's why I'm saying he played poorly against the USA. I'm probably the biggest Rubio fan on this board because he makes his teammates better and is consistently a + player, but I also know what his game is and what it isn't. Ricky may occasionally have a good shooting game from the outside, but I think we all know that will not be repeated regularly...and more importantly, he knows it. He may put up 23 points in a meaningless friendly game in Las Vegas and do a poor job distributing and protecting the ball, but I expect him to return to the normal Ricky once he gets to Tokyo.

I hope the Wolves don't deal Rubio in the off-season and that he returns as our starting PG. But if he does, I don't expect to see many games where his assist to turnover ratio is 1:5. But if Ricky decides he's now a scorer and not an effective distributor, I don't want him around.

Our fighting US basketball team (-300 to win the gold) lost to France yesterday. Hopefully they can bounce back against the other two powerhouses in our group...Iran and the Czech Republic. By the way for you gamblers out there: $1 bet on Iran to win the gold will win you $50,000...if Mohammad Hassanzedad gets hot from the outside, it could be the easiest $50K you ever won, and I don't think Zach Lavine can slow his down. Go for it!

FNG wrote:Our fighting US basketball team (-300 to win the gold) lost to France yesterday. Hopefully they can bounce back against the other two powerhouses in our group...Iran and the Czech Republic. By the way for you gamblers out there: $1 bet on Iran to win the gold will win you $50,000...if Mohammad Hassanzedad gets hot from the outside, it could be the easiest $50K you ever won, and I don't think Zach Lavine can slow his down. Go for it!

The only good thing about this is seeing Popovich fail. You can always find a silver lining :)

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

FNG wrote:Our fighting US basketball team (-300 to win the gold) lost to France yesterday. Hopefully they can bounce back against the other two powerhouses in our group...Iran and the Czech Republic. By the way for you gamblers out there: $1 bet on Iran to win the gold will win you $50,000...if Mohammad Hassanzedad gets hot from the outside, it could be the easiest $50K you ever won, and I don't think Zach Lavine can slow his down. Go for it!

The only good thing about this is seeing Popovich fail. You can always find a silver lining :)

Lol. Glad to know there's someone else out there who doesn't like Popovich. :) He's been a great head coach, but he's an arrogant, sanctimonious SOB. The way he's treated reporters over the years has always annoyed me. Yes, reporters ask a lot of dumb questions. But they're just trying to do their job and most of them don't get paid a lot of money doing it.

Some fun stats:

France shot 21-35 on 2 point shots. The USA team shot 15-37.

The USA team had 4 blocks and France had zero.

Jester fun fact of the day

I been watching the 3x3 basketball and wondered why the USA team didn't qualify.

When I went to roster page Wolves great Robbie Hummel and Gopher great Joey King were 2 of 4 people on the roster.

jester1534 wrote:Jester fun fact of the day

I been watching the 3x3 basketball and wondered why the USA team didn't qualify.

When I went to roster page Wolves great Robbie Hummel and Gopher great Joey King were 2 of 4 people on the roster.

FWIW Hummel was one of the best 3X3 players in the world pre-Covid. The team he was on won the last world championship. The team that didn't qualify for the Olympics was not the same one that one the world championships...and if I remember correctly Hummel didn't play particularly well (statistically) in the qualifying games.

monsterpile wrote:

jester1534 wrote:Jester fun fact of the day

I been watching the 3x3 basketball and wondered why the USA team didn't qualify.

When I went to roster page Wolves great Robbie Hummel and Gopher great Joey King were 2 of 4 people on the roster.

FWIW Hummel was one of the best 3X3 players in the world pre-Covid. The team he was on won the last world championship. The team that didn't qualify for the Olympics was not the same one that one the world championships...and if I remember correctly Hummel didn't play particularly well (statistically) in the qualifying games.

I don't know if I should be impressed or disturbed about your knowledge of 3x3 basketball lol

jester1534 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

jester1534 wrote:Jester fun fact of the day

I been watching the 3x3 basketball and wondered why the USA team didn't qualify.

When I went to roster page Wolves great Robbie Hummel and Gopher great Joey King were 2 of 4 people on the roster.

FWIW Hummel was one of the best 3X3 players in the world pre-Covid. The team he was on won the last world championship. The team that didn't qualify for the Olympics was not the same one that one the world championships...and if I remember correctly Hummel didn't play particularly well (statistically) in the qualifying games.

I don't know if I should be impressed or disturbed about your knowledge of 3x3 basketball lol

Lol it's mostly because of Robbie Hummel participating in the sport. I follow him on Twitter (although I haven't really gone on there much the last year+) so I was aware of what was happening with 3X3. In addition to the USA team stumbling the FIBA 3X3 favored having countries participate that weren't represented in the Olympics so that's another reason why the USA team isn't competing. I was hoping Hummel would end up medaling in the sport which would be kind of a cool story.

I am biased but based on what I have seen and heard of him on broadcasts he has a very bright future as a basketball analyst on TV. He is smart, down to earth, funny and doesn't take himself too seriously. Since I don't watch a lot of sports broadcasts live I honestly don't have many broadcasters I actually want to listen to so if I like what I hear it's probably decently high praise. Lol So IMHO Hummel is going to have success in another sphere so he has plenty going for him.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:
The only good thing about this is seeing Popovich fail. You can always find a silver lining :)

Agreed - I also don't mind it damaging the NBA brand.