The Prince of the 1st. Fun Stats with Ricky Rubio.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Ricky Rubio is shooting 7 - 35 fg (20%) over his last 5 games. But it's even weirder than that... take out the 1st quarter of those games (5 - 15) and he's only 2 - 20 fg over the other 15 quarters!

This is now a legit trend. Over the past 9 games, Rubio is shooting 16 - 29 (55%) in the 1st quarter.
He's shooting 11 - 42 (26.2%) the rest of the quarters combined.

That's weird.




[note: is this by design? i know nobody would want those percentages... but even the shot attempts are skewed.]

[FNG]

Ricky Rubio is shooting 7 - 35 fg (20%) over his last 5 games. But it's even weirder than that... take out the 1st quarter of those games (5 - 15) and he's only 2 - 20 fg over the other 15 quarters!

This is now a legit trend. Over the past 9 games, Rubio is shooting 16 - 29 (55%) in the 1st quarter.
He's shooting 11 - 42 (26.2%) the rest of the quarters combined.

That's weird.




[note: is this by design? i know nobody would want those percentages... but even the shot attempts are skewed.]

After a two-week stretch where he shot well, he's fallen off a cliff recently...only making 37% of his shots his last 10 games. In all fairness, he's a pass-first guy, and I suspect 8.2 APG with only 1.3 turnovers per game his past 10 leads the league in A/TO ratio and exactly what Finch wants him to do. But his shooting has been terrible. Your question about the first quarter being by design is a good one and something I have noticed too. Defenses come out sagging off Ricky because they feel like they don't have to respect his scoring, and a sagging defense is not good for a pass-first guy like Ricky. He knows he has to establish some offensive threat early in the game to force his defender to get up on him. It's been quite apparent the last month. I chuckle when Peterson and Benz say over and over "Ricky looking for his offense tonight!" after he gets 7 early points by driving to the basket and making a wide-open three, without asking the obvious question you are asking. But it doesn't help the team if he looks for his offense but doesn't make the shots.

[Carlos Danger]

How about this stat....when I look at Basketball Reference, I see the following:

Russell has taken 326 shots this year and scored 385 points.
Rubio has taken 327 shots and scored 384 points.

It's an offensive push. And by offensive, I mean similar to leading the league in nose hair. (I miss you Bob Uecker)

[thedoper]

Ricky is an effective basketball player when it doesnt matter. His strength as a player has always been when he plays loose. Shrinking Violet should be his nickname. Ive always gone back to the beginning with him, that injury sucked all of the bravado out of him. It was sad to see someone go from so much confidence to the player he has become.

[Coolbreeze44]

Ricky is an effective basketball player when it doesnt matter. His strength as a player has always been when he plays loose. Shrinking Violet should be his nickname. Ive always gone back to the beginning with him, that injury sucked all of the bravado out of him. It was sad to see someone go from so much confidence to the player he has become.

Bravado is a good word to describe what he was pre-injury. I couldn't agree more. The flair he played with prior was must watch TV. I also believe Adelman played a role in changing his game. For some reason Rick took the ball out of his hands in the half court. I remember Ricky standing in the corner a la Wiggins, and being kept out of the play. He never seemed the same after that, and watching him play lost its' appeal.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Ricky is an effective basketball player when it doesnt matter. His strength as a player has always been when he plays loose. Shrinking Violet should be his nickname. Ive always gone back to the beginning with him, that injury sucked all of the bravado out of him. It was sad to see someone go from so much confidence to the player he has become.

Bravado is a good word to describe what he was pre-injury. I couldn't agree more. The flair he played with prior was must watch TV. I also believe Adelman played a role in changing his game. For some reason Rick took the ball out of his hands in the half court. I remember Ricky standing in the corner a la Wiggins, and being kept out of the play. He never seemed the same after that, and watching him play lost its' appeal.

Chicken or the egg?

I remember the 2014 season vividly. I remember arguing about it here often... even with posters I agree with most of the time.

The Wolves had a top 10 offense. AND top 10 defense for almost the entire season. Almost always... that's a sign of a team that can/will go deep in the playoffs. Yet...

... the Wolves finished 40 - 42. They didn't even come close to making the playoffs. Despite the team's Expected W/L of 48 - 34... it kept losing close game after close game... until it didn't matter anymore.

And Rubio shot something atrocious like 29% in the 4th quarter that season (34% overall in losses). I think he scored something crazy like 4 points in an entire month of 4th quarters. I'd have to do some searching on this site for exact stats. But I don't think I'm too far off. Barea, who often was counted on for 4th quarter minutes, was only marginally better. Alas, the Wolves created another anomaly in the franchise's long line of "crazy, how did that happen" anomalies.

Some blamed Kevin Love for those failings. His numbers dropped in the 4th, too... but not to the same level. Some pointed to the Wolves "get-fouled-but-don't-foul" strategy that didn't work as well in the 4th quarter when officials often swallow whistles. Some pointed to taking the ball out of Rubio's hands and putting it in Barea's or Love's or Martin's. All of them have various levels of merit...

But in the end, when I look back on that unforgettable forgettable season of under-performing disappointment... Rubio's 4th quarter issues remain at the top of the heap. I didn't watch him nearly as much in Utah or Phoenix to know whether those teams won 4th quarters because/in spite of him.

I like the guy. I still like guy. I want him to succeed even when on other teams. But the Wolves have never had any level of meaningful success with him on the court -- even when all the pieces were there -- so I understand where his naysayers are coming from sometimes.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

How about this stat....when I look at Basketball Reference, I see the following:

Russell has taken 326 shots this year and scored 385 points.
Rubio has taken 327 shots and scored 384 points.

It's an offensive push. And by offensive, I mean similar to leading the league in nose hair. (I miss you Bob Uecker)

Games played and free throws attempted are a thing. What are we doing here?

[Carlos Danger]

How about this stat....when I look at Basketball Reference, I see the following:

Russell has taken 326 shots this year and scored 385 points.
Rubio has taken 327 shots and scored 384 points.

It's an offensive push. And by offensive, I mean similar to leading the league in nose hair. (I miss you Bob Uecker)

Games played and free throws attempted are a thing. What are we doing here?

I thought we were playing fun stats with Rubio as the title implied? Don't get your panties in a bunch. What are the odds that they'd both have taken same amount of shots at the time this thread was started? Obviously free throws matter and Rubio has had more games to get more free throws. But it's still a fun stat and Russell is still an All Star. (*cough*).

[kekgeek]

How about this stat....when I look at Basketball Reference, I see the following:

Russell has taken 326 shots this year and scored 385 points.
Rubio has taken 327 shots and scored 384 points.

It's an offensive push. And by offensive, I mean similar to leading the league in nose hair. (I miss you Bob Uecker)

Games played and free throws attempted are a thing. What are we doing here?

So you are telling me Rubio playing 26 more games then Dlo might have something to do with that. If you take Dlo FTA average this season and expand that to 26 more games. Dlo would add an extra about 85 FTA so about 65 more pts to his total. But who needs context right.

I don't know if Dlo is the guy or not. I do know Ricky isn't the guy (I like Ricky) who can move the needle at all. I'm just stunned people still want to defend Ricky even though we know year after year Ricky isn't a gigantic needle mover.

[thedoper]

The best thing for Rubio and his overall ability to contribute in the NBA would have been for him to be slotted into a back up PG role a long time ago. He hasn't ever viewed himself that way. Fair enough, he has a marked competitive fire. He's currently paid like a starter, and because of injuries has been put back in that role. Based on his pressers as things quickly went south, he also didn't really seem content to fully embrace that role. I echo your sentiment Abe, I like him and want him to be successful. I just think it should have been as a back up a long time ago. 3 teams have moved on from him as a starter, but now because of Rosas we're retreading the conversation. This was easily the most predictable outcome when the deal was made and all too Wolvesy.