Minnesota Sports Forum

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2015/09/18/rubio-calls-goberts-post-loss-comments-classless/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs

Actually I completely agree and think he is right. I am looking for tickets when the Jazz come to town.

It would be fun if we ended up having a rivalry between the two teams...especially in some games that real mattered.

I have to admit I liked this comment from Rubio. It seemed out of character with his usual "nice guy" persona, and perhaps an element of meanness might help Ricky a little. I'm not suggesting that Ricky is not competitive, but sometimes his niceness seems like it could be a drawback. Perhaps he is signaling an attitude change going into this season.

Britt Robson posted this PDW article about Rubio in his twitter account. There's nothing new here, but it's good to remind ourselves occasionally how vital he is to this team's success. How can you not be excited about a healthy Rubio paired with the past three # 1's, LaVine, Shabazz, Dieng, Martin and Bjelica, along with the steadying influence of three past-their-prime but still highly-regarded vets in KG, Miller and Prince? Let's get this party started!

http://punchdrunkwolves.com/2015/09/16/a-word-about-ricky-rubio/

Good article LST, I had not seen that.

My plea to those folks who feel the On/Off numbers are a mirage or are less relevant in a playoff or "clutch" situations is to hone in on one of the last sentences of the article, in bold below:

"The Wolves have a star point guard, who fans love, who is just 25 years old, who has 4 years left on a new contract, who plays a style that is entirely conducive to using and developing Wiggins and Towns, and who has demonstrated over and over again that he makes a positive difference in the trying-to-win-games department."

If you think some combination of Wiggins, Towns, Shabazz, and LaVine is the future of the franchise, what better PG is there when these guys are still in the formative stages of their careers?

"Don't forget about me too, Q"
-AB

But, but, but. . .he can't shoot.

Thanks for posting, Long. That article nails it. The advanced stats tell the take. And It will be fun to watch what he does for this team now that he's surrounded by more talent than he's played with before as a T-Wolf. Moreover, it's complementary talent i.e., scorers/shooters like Wiggins, LaVine and Shabazz. And we now have Kander to keep Ricky healthy. :).

lipoli390 wrote:Thanks for posting, Long. That article nails it. The advanced stats tell the take. And It will be fun to watch what he does for this team now that he's surrounded by more talent than he's played with before as a T-Wolf. Moreover, it's complementary talent i.e., scorers/shooters like Wiggins, LaVine and Shabazz. And we now have Kander to keep Ricky healthy. :).

...not sure the talent level exceeds what he had two years ago with a healthy Love, Pekovic, and Martin in the starting lineup. I do think he has more potential surrounding him than ever before. Perhaps that's what you meant.

Q12543 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:Thanks for posting, Long. That article nails it. The advanced stats tell the take. And It will be fun to watch what he does for this team now that he's surrounded by more talent than he's played with before as a T-Wolf. Moreover, it's complementary talent i.e., scorers/shooters like Wiggins, LaVine and Shabazz. And we now have Kander to keep Ricky healthy. :).

...not sure the talent level exceeds what he had two years ago with a healthy Love, Pekovic, and Martin in the starting lineup. I do think he has more potential surrounding him than ever before. Perhaps that's what you meant.

I gotta side with Lip here on comparing this year's roster with that of two years ago:

2013-4 2015-6
Pek Pek
Dieng Dieng
Turiaf Towns
Love KG
Cunningham Bjelica
Williams Bennett
Mbah a Moute Payne
Brewer Wiggins
Muhammad Muhammad
Budinger Prince
Martin Martin
Shved LaVine
Rubio Rubio
Barea Miller
Price Jones



I think this year's team destroys the 2013-4 team...so much deeper and experienced. As I look at the matchups, the only ones that the 2013-4 team win are Love over KG and possibly Pek over Pek (although Pek only played 54 games that year). While Love is a much more productive offensive player than KG, KG is a far better defender and teammate and a proven winner. And the other matchups are clearly in favor of this year's roster, especially when you consider that the more seasoned 2015-6 versions of Rubio, Dieng and Muhammad will be far superior to their 2013-4 versions, when Dieng and Muhammad were rookies. I'm taking this year's roster all day.

Q - When I used the word "talent" I meant potential. In that sense, it's a lot more talent than we had the last time Ricky played a full season and a lot more talent than we had Ricky's first season. And I'll take the talent on this roster over what we had back then any day of the week.

The next question is whether Ricky has better players around him as measured by performance and not just talent. That remains to be seen and I think it depends on the following:

1. The development of Wiggins, LaVine, Shabazz and Dieng. I agree with Long that it's highly likely the latter 2 will be better, probably much better, than they were 2 seasons ago when they played with Ricky as rookies. And I can't imagine Wiggins and LaVine not improving overall from their rookie seasons.

2. The health of Martin and Pekovic. Health is always an big unknown with these two. But there's no reason to expect Martin to be less healthy than 2 seasons ago, in which case he and his old man game should be just as effective - maybe more effective in a reduced less demanding role. As Long pointed out, Pek played in only 54 games that season, so the bar for measuring his health this season is pretty low and the surgery apparently went well. Pek is still young enough that his game should not be diminished from what it was 2 seasons ago. In fact, he should be better in what will likely be a reduced role surrounded by better defenders and rim protectors up front in KG, Towns and Wiggins.

As Long pointed out, the only significant loss from 2 seasons ago is Kevin Love. Offsetting that loss will be (1) the return of two significantly improved young players (Shabazz and Dieng) who were here then, (2) the return of two tremendously talent rookies from last season, (3) the addition of a very talented rookie in Towns, (4) the addition KG who showed in the few games he played for us last season that he can still ne a significant net positive force on the court for 20 minutes a game, and (5) the addition of Prince and Miller.

Let the games begin!