Minnesota Sports Forum

I know this board has rehashed what Ricky Rubio is or isn't for years. However, I want to highlight his month of March. I truly believe all 5 starters are really benefitting from playing together consistently and learning where their shots and opportunities will come from. I understand, to a degree, that Sam had some figuring out to do with the lineup for the first couple months. Especially, when he was trying to use KG, Prince, Miller and Martin. Zach and Ricky are no longer competing with Bazz and Martin for shots and it is becoming fun to watch.

My main question is, do you think that Ricky can continue his March shooting numbers?

FG% .450 and 3pt% .389.

Only 14 games, but definitely numbers that are beyond what he has previously done. I think this lineup is the key. Thoughts??

No.

But if it shakes out above 35% and 25%... that's ok for this team for now.

Even Rubio's stronest supporters would probably concede they don't expect him to shoot .450/.389. But as all his supporters have said repeatedly - he's been a good/plus player even shooting very poorly. Therefore ANY improvement just adds to the bottom line. It's great to see him having some success offensively lately. I don't think this team needs much from him in that regard considering Towns, Wiggins, LaVine are certainly enough offense. But Rubio has to at least be a threat to drive and/or knock down some open shots to keep things open for those guys.

kurrdog53 wrote:I know this board has rehashed what Ricky Rubio is or isn't for years. However, I want to highlight his month of March. I truly believe all 5 starters are really benefitting from playing together consistently and learning where their shots and opportunities will come from. I understand, to a degree, that Sam had some figuring out to do with the lineup for the first couple months. Especially, when he was trying to use KG, Prince, Miller and Martin. Zach and Ricky are no longer competing with Bazz and Martin for shots and it is becoming fun to watch.

My main question is, do you think that Ricky can continue his March shooting numbers?

FG% .450 and 3pt% .389.

Only 14 games, but definitely numbers that are beyond what he has previously done. I think this lineup is the key. Thoughts??

The lineup is key and I agree it has helped bring out the best in Ricky. Can his March shooting efficiency continue the rest of his career? Yes, I think it can. But I think those numbers will leve, off a bit although not at 35%/25% as Abe suggests. I think Ricky will end up at 42% and 36% the rest of his career. If so, combined with his other talents, he'll be an elite PG.

lipoli390 wrote:

kurrdog53 wrote:I know this board has rehashed what Ricky Rubio is or isn't for years. However, I want to highlight his month of March. I truly believe all 5 starters are really benefitting from playing together consistently and learning where their shots and opportunities will come from. I understand, to a degree, that Sam had some figuring out to do with the lineup for the first couple months. Especially, when he was trying to use KG, Prince, Miller and Martin. Zach and Ricky are no longer competing with Bazz and Martin for shots and it is becoming fun to watch.

My main question is, do you think that Ricky can continue his March shooting numbers?

FG% .450 and 3pt% .389.

Only 14 games, but definitely numbers that are beyond what he has previously done. I think this lineup is the key. Thoughts??

The lineup is key and I agree it has helped bring out the best in Ricky. Can his March shooting efficiency continue the rest of his career? Yes, I think it can. But I think those numbers will leve, off a bit although not at 35%/25% as Abe suggests. I think Ricky will end up at 42% and 36% the rest of his career. If so, combined with his other talents, he'll be an elite PG.

I didn't suggest they'd level off at 35%/25%.

Carlos Danger wrote:Even Rubio's stronest supporters would probably concede they don't expect him to shoot .450/.389. But as all his supporters have said repeatedly - he's been a good/plus player even shooting very poorly. Therefore ANY improvement just adds to the bottom line. It's great to see him having some success offensively lately. I don't think this team needs much from him in that regard considering Towns, Wiggins, LaVine are certainly enough offense. But Rubio has to at least be a threat to drive and/or knock down some open shots to keep things open for those guys.

That certainly matches my sentiments. I don't think he'll ever become a .450/.389 shooter. All players go through peaks and valleys throughout the season. Remember LaVine's awful, awful slump he had for nearly a month? Rubio is currently in a peak in my opinion. His confidence is high and he's fully fit.

My realistic expectation for Rubio is that he ends up somewhere in the 37-40% range on overall FG% and around 35% on 3's. Combine that with a decent free throw rate and it should be good enough considering the other weapons around him. Again, getting that 3-ball in the range of respectability is the biggest key to me. He hit another HUGE 3 last night late in the game. He missed one too, but no longer is he passing open looks up in order to give someone else a not-so-open look.

Rubio's shooting has been surprisingly good in March but actually he has had pretty decent numbers (for him) also in January and February as well. His FG% and 3P% in January were 38.1% and 32.5% in February his numbers were 41.3% and 31.4%. His averages over those last three months are 41.6% and 35.3% that might be quite realistic number for him next season if starting five stays as same and Ricky stays healthy.

Last (and only time before this stretch) when Ricky had a stretch of kind of OK shooting games was in 2013-14 when Love was still playing for Wolves. Ricky had FG% 40.2 and 3P% 32.5% during last four months of that season. I think that it indicates that he will shoot better when he has been heatly and has played with relatively stable starting five.

What happened to the pork-o-metric? gotta say I'm down to about 25% with his recent play.
Is Porkchop hiding?

Big O wrote:What happened to the pork-o-metric? gotta say I'm down to about 25% with his recent play.
Is Porkchop hiding?

I think 25% is fair as it's unlikely this is the new normal, thus he's bound to drop off some sooner or later. If this were the new normal then the Pork-o-meter would need to be scrapped as Rubio would be an all-star level player.

I locked in a 100% right before he took off. Some say I'm responsible for the improvement :LOL:

I might have to start a new screen name to be able to have a more realistic Pork-o-meter rating. So if someone shows up with "Lukewarm Gust" or "Cold Wind" you know it's me.