Minnesota Sports Forum

This board has the most well thought out basketball minds I've been around and I know my posts aren't near as well thought out and can be a jumbled mess sometimes but I appreciate you guys accept them for what they are without to much razzing. So in no way would I ever look down on your opinions and I hope you don't take any of my comments that way.

Arent Rickys shooting numbers across the board always going to be small sample sizes tho . If he takes 10 shots in a game that's a lot. I've honestly always wanted to see him shoot more just to see if he can catch a groove. A lot of players need some volume to get hot. Of course he'll never ever ( I do mean ever ,go Glenn rice out there) but if he misses 5 in a row it would be nice to show your opponent you ain't gonna stop shooting so you better at least keep your body with arms reach . Teams have seen enough of him now to know he'll just jump ship on shooting after 5-7 shots.

LST is absolutely right that Rubio being our primarily ball-handler running the offense and Wiggins being a star are NOT mutually exclusive. And Thibs' use of Ricky is clearly bad for the team without any discernible long-term payoff.

However, if we could deal Ricky and Zach for Wall I'd do it. And I'm a big fan of both Ricky and Zach. But Wall is the complete package now that he's added a reliable 3-point shot to his arsenal.

Brooklyn_Wolves wrote:I like Patty Mills a lot. The guy has been better than Parker for the Spurs for some time now. He's always a plus for them. If the ball is going to be in Andrew's hands Mills would be a great fit.

Stealing Spurs players is never a bad idea.

Cory Joseph would be a pretty good fit if he could hit 3's. Just a reminder that Patty Mills and Joseph took time to develop on the Spurs and are now nice players. We have Tyus and to some extent both of those guys that were/are Spurs backup PGs have some parallels to Tyus in how they developed in some ways and neither guy was as gifted as Tyus as a pure PG. Honestly Tyus offensively is a terrific fit for this team if he can make jump shots. The question has been his ability to defend. We have already seen him improve his body to a solid extent in 1 year and he is still just 20. I think i would be more pissed if we traded him right now than Rubio. I know that sounds crazy in a few ways but he could be a good compliment to Dunn.

PC thanks for framing your thoughts and being respectful.

I'm one of the biggest Rubio supporters here and I always have been but I have had lower expectations for him from the start and have also absolutely acknowledged his flaws along the way. Here is where I am with Rubio.

The bottom line is I just don't think Rubio has been the impact player doing the Rubio things to the extent we expect. How far off is he? Probably not all that far. His stats are still pretty solid. Is it coaching? Sure maybe. Is it him losing a few games to injury? Maybe a bit.

On one hand Rubio is a young vet he should be able to play in a system and be ok. What I have seen from Thibs system is he wants guys to run things but guys get quite a bit of freedom to do their thing. That's why this team has a high offensive rating...before that last Memphis game anyway lol.

On the other hand while Rubio has been in the league and playing professionallly forever let's also keep in mind because of injury he has only played 285 games which is less than 3.5 seasons worth of games. To put that in perspective that's only 110 more games than Andrew Wiggins has played in the league. It's his 4th coach in 6 years in the league. I don't want to make it sound like I am making excuses for Ricky or suggesting he has some amazing untapped upside but I do think sometimes we forget the reality of how much he has and hasn't played in his career. It's easy to expect certain things from him because in some ways he has always been so advanced in aspects of the game we forget he is a 26 year old PG with around 3.5 years of game experience but a chunk of that he was just working himself back from injury. So maybe we should have expected him to take a bit of time to figure things out more than we did.

Again my bottom line is he and Kris Dunn haven't been good enough most nights. Expectations for Tyus are lower but it's hard not to say he has done his job well enough when called on. I'm guessing Rubio will find a groove and do more of his Rubio things having a solid impact as the season goes on and Dunn will get better also. I think he had a slow stretch there earlier in the season last year after he came back from injury when he was Rubio but wasn't really playing well. A few games later he was playing well most nights and last year was when he really made strides defensively. I don't know what Thibs has asked him to do this year but he seems to be back to playing too aggressive at times which was a problem before last year where he was dialed back a lot more. If this team wants to make a run toward winning games Rubio has to play better one way or another. His resume says he will.

After writing this post I feel better now about Rubio for this season because I realize Rubio will start playing better. What needs to happen with him long term? Idk That's probably more up to Kris Dunn or possibly Tyus.

Thibs and Layden weren't willing to include Zach LaVine in a deal for Jimmy Butler. So, I personally doubt they'd include him in a deal for John Wall, especially with the growth LaVine has shown so far this season. I also think he's much more valuable to this team than a lot of people would like to think. His 3P shooting and ability to be a secondary ball-handler has proven to be a big punch for the offense. And while the numbers don't show it, I do believe he's improved defensively. I'd hang on to him.

(Also, Washington already has Bradley Beal. It'd make sense for them to want pieces in return that would compliment him -- not a player that would seem redundant to what they already have.)

monsterpile wrote:


The bottom line is I just don't think Rubio has been the impact player doing the Rubio things to the extent we expect. How far off is he? Probably not all that far. His stats are still pretty solid. Is it coaching? Sure maybe. Is it him losing a few games to injury? Maybe a bit.

You wrote a lot. And a lot of it makes sense. But this jumped off the page. I just couldn't let it slip by...

Rubio: 6.1 ppg / 7.0 ast / 33% fg

Per 36:
7.2 ppg / 8.2 ast

His stats are terrible this season, in virtually every way. Somewhere, Brevin Knight is considering a comeback.

Camden0916 wrote:Thibs and Layden weren't willing to include Zach LaVine in a deal for Jimmy Butler. So, I personally doubt they'd include him in a deal for John Wall, especially with the growth LaVine has shown so far this season. I also think he's much more valuable to this team than a lot of people would like to think. His 3P shooting and ability to be a secondary ball-handler has proven to be a big punch for the offense. And while the numbers don't show it, I do believe he's improved defensively. I'd hang on to him.

(Also, Washington already has Bradley Beal. It'd make sense for them to want pieces in return that would compliment him -- not a player that would seem redundant to what they already have.)

If they could score Wall almost straight for Rubio that would be highway robbery. In a third team scenario we would still likely have to give up another major piece. I think Lavine is good for all the reasons you mention, but our best 2 is Wiggins, and there is some redundancy with Wig and Lavine (ball dominant scorers). I think a threesome of Wig, Wall, and Towns is more complimentary than Wig, Lavine, and Towns. I'm happy to roll with what we have, but Wall would be one of the splashier targets.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

monsterpile wrote:


The bottom line is I just don't think Rubio has been the impact player doing the Rubio things to the extent we expect. How far off is he? Probably not all that far. His stats are still pretty solid. Is it coaching? Sure maybe. Is it him losing a few games to injury? Maybe a bit.

You wrote a lot. And a lot of it makes sense. But this jumped off the page. I just couldn't let it slip by...

Rubio: 6.1 ppg / 7.0 ast / 33% fg

Per 36:
7.2 ppg / 8.2 ast

His stats are terrible this season, in virtually every way. Somewhere, Brevin Knight is considering a comeback.

Good point Abe. To clarify I meant the stats are solid for Rubio. You are right in relation to other players they are terrible. Also as you probably remember I liked Brevin Knight so I'm all in on him coming back...

Remember back when Wall signed that big deal and there was plenty of chatter about him being overpaid? Good times. Kemba Walker too.