Minnesota Sports Forum

Q12543 wrote:Boy, the Olympics is a different animal of course, but the contrasting minutes and play of Rubio and Bolmaro makes it harder and harder for me to see us trading Rubio unless we feel we can sign a solid backup to take his place. I'm not ready to put that role in Bolmaro's hands. He's a 3rd string PG coming into camp.

Maybe Summer League will change my mind, but I have to agree that I see little chance of Bolmaro being in the rotation next season. I've been joking about Rubio's scoring in the Olympics, but it truly has been extraordinary. There are only 2 players averaging more than a point per minute...Luka Doncic, and Ricky. I recognize that the international game is different than the NBA and Ricky has generally been more of a scorer playing for Spain, but his play this summer is at a different level. We know how superb Ricky is at facilitating, protecting the ball and defending. If he could shoot in the NBA anywhere close to his international rate, he would be an All-Star.

From time to time there has been talk about whether Rubio could make a Jason Kidd type leap in his shooting. Through the age of 30, their 3-point rates are almost identical...32.8 for Kidd vs. 32.5 for Rubio. Kidd notoriously was known as ason Kidd because he had no J and defenders could sag off of him. But everything changed in his 30s and he made 37.2% of his threes for the rest of his career. He never became a huge scorer (his 12.6 career average is comparable to Ricky's), but being able to show opponents he could make the open three greatly improved his game. Like Kidd, Ricky is an excellent free thrower with poor outside shooting form, and I have watched him pre-game and at halftime drain 3-pointers at an 80% rate. 90% of shooting is half mental as Yogi would say, and it would be incredible if Ricky could turn this Olympic breakout into a 30s shooting emergence like Kidd did.

By the way, even with the improvement of his 3-point shot in his second decade in the league, Kidd's TS% for his career is lower than Ricky's. If you add in that their assist, turnover and steals numbers are quite similar, you can see why I would not be happy to see Rubio leave this summer unless the return is significant (and his Olympic breakout could increase that possibility). He should be our starting PG next season.

While a Kidd-like renaissance for Rubio as a shooter would be extremely welcome, we absolutely can't count on that happening. He's dabbled in recent years with being a competent 3-point threat, shooting 35% with Utah in '17-18 and 36% with Phoenix in '19-20. But it is always followed by a year where he struggles and even his "good" years aren't all that good by today's standards.

Rubio winning gold on 40% shooting from 3 would be a Godsend heading into free agency and trade season. He may be considered more than just an expiring contract by a team with shooters that needs a decent facilitator at the 1.

Well, Okogie appears to have flamed out a bit with Team Nigeria. You'd expect one of the few NBA players on that roster to make more of an impact....

I've felt all along that besides getting a defensive-oriented C or PF to pair with KAT in the frontcourt, we needed to upgrade our backup SF position, i.e. Okogie. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if Prince is that guy. I wonder if Prince is less of a problem defensively as a SF vs. PF?

Q12543 wrote:Well, Okogie appears to have flamed out a bit with Team Nigeria. You'd expect one of the few NBA players on that roster to make more of an impact....

I've felt all along that besides getting a defensive-oriented C or PF to pair with KAT in the frontcourt, we needed to upgrade our backup SF position, i.e. Okogie. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if Prince is that guy. I wonder if Prince is less of a problem defensively as a SF vs. PF?

I've had high hopes for Okogie since we drafted him. And his start in the Olympics started to renew my hopes for him. But you're right that his play has regressed since the first couple games. It's fascinating how some players develop and some don't once they get to the NBA. Okogie came to the NBA with freakishly impressive length and athleticism. While not known as a great shooter in college, he hit 38% of his threes in both of his college seasons and has always been a very good free-throw shooters. But here we are, three years into his NBA career, and he can't hit corner threes and hasn't developed any semblance of an offensive game other than showing some improvement in his ball-handling and body control. He's established himself as a very good defender and he has a knack for drawing fouls, which he takes full advantage of with his good free-throw shooting. He's clearly not a bust and can contribute positively on the court with his defense, energy and ability to draw fouls. But his lack of development on the offensive end continues to confound me given the tools he has and the numbers he put up in college.

lipoli390 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Well, Okogie appears to have flamed out a bit with Team Nigeria. You'd expect one of the few NBA players on that roster to make more of an impact....

I've felt all along that besides getting a defensive-oriented C or PF to pair with KAT in the frontcourt, we needed to upgrade our backup SF position, i.e. Okogie. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if Prince is that guy. I wonder if Prince is less of a problem defensively as a SF vs. PF?

I've had high hopes for Okogie since we drafted him. And his start in the Olympics started to renew my hopes for him. But you're right that his play has regressed since the first couple games. It's fascinating how some players develop and some don't once they get to the NBA. Okogie came to the NBA with freakishly impressive length and athleticism. While not known as a great shooter in college, he hit 38% of his threes in both of his college seasons and has always been a very good free-throw shooters. But here we are, three years into his NBA career, and he can't hit corner threes and hasn't developed any semblance of an offensive game other than showing some improvement in his ball-handling and body control. He's established himself as a very good defender and he has a knack for drawing fouls, which he takes full advantage of with his good free-throw shooting. He's clearly not a bust and can contribute positively on the court with his defense, energy and ability to draw fouls. But his lack of development on the offensive end continues to confound me given the tools he has and the numbers he put up in college.

Yeah, his hustle and defense are nice attributes, but at this point, he needs to be more of a situational player versus a guy in the top 8 or 9 of a playoff-caliber rotation. Culver and Okogie have just been massive disappointments in that neither have shown any discernible improvement with their shooting. Depressing.

Bring on Spain

Rubio putting Spain on his back against the USA in the 1st half

Whoa, Rubio with 38 points. Would have been embarrassing if the U.S. had lost though. That Spain team doesn't look as good as it used to be. Pau is old and Marc is looking like he's been eating a lot of Memphis barbecue again.

Saw Spain-Argentina the other day and there was this old gray-haired dude playing for them who looked like a doppelgänger for Villanova coach Jay Wright and then I realized it was Luis Scola! He also looked pretty good as a player too actually! Totally different look with short hair.

OK, so Rubio may be lighting it up in Japan. But let's not forget that we now have defensive stopper and rebounding savant Taurean Prince. We're so lucky to be able to sit back and watch Rosas playing chess when everyone else is playing checkers.