Minnesota Sports Forum

Funny how these guys disappear when Rubio (and the Wolves) are playing well. I seem to recall the same phenomena last season when we made a nice run in the last 20 or so games and Rubio was playing so well. I'm sure the next time Rubio has a tough game or stretch, we'll suddenly hear from them again and we'll hear how we just can't win games with him at PG and he is simply no match with the "big boys" of the NBA. Riiiiiight......

What percent Pork are folks these days? Not many over 50% is my guess!

I gotta defend Pork a little here, he's certainly no Rubio fanboi but unlike Duke he did actually participate in other non-Rubio bashing conversations.

TheSP wrote:I gotta defend Pork a little here, he's certainly no Rubio fanboi but unlike Duke he did actually participate in other non-Rubio bashing conversations.

Fair point. Pork has ventured into non-Rubio insights. I just find it funny that he's gone dark ever since Rubio started playing better. Coincidental or causal?

Q12543 wrote:

TheSP wrote:I gotta defend Pork a little here, he's certainly no Rubio fanboi but unlike Duke he did actually participate in other non-Rubio bashing conversations.

Fair point. Pork has ventured into non-Rubio insights. I just find it funny that he's gone dark ever since Rubio started playing better. Coincidental or causal?

Who knows? I'm just not gonna put him in the same category with Duke. Pork has expressed valid issues with Rubio, over and over and over and over and over and over and over.... Duke is a worthless troll, nothing more.

I'm still 100% full pork chop in regards to Ricky. 2 games isn't going to change that. He's played great lately I'll give him that, but until he does it for more than a home stretch of a season I'd still rather move on. Ricky's the veteran of this team and it took him the longest to find his stride with Thibs and you just can't have that from a vet. He's the one who needed to play like this from day 1 while the young pups learned how to play under Thibs and we'd probably be in a much better spot to land the 8 seed if that was the case.

Q12543 wrote:

TheSP wrote:I gotta defend Pork a little here, he's certainly no Rubio fanboi but unlike Duke he did actually participate in other non-Rubio bashing conversations.

Fair point. Pork has ventured into non-Rubio insights. I just find it funny that he's gone dark ever since Rubio started playing better. Coincidental or causal?

I say coincidental. Pork is the first to jump on Ricky when he plays poorly, but he is always fair to him when he plays well. He's a good poster, with both fairness and a sense of humor.

khans2k5 wrote:I'm still 100% full pork chop in regards to Ricky. 2 games isn't going to change that. He's played great lately I'll give him that, but until he does it for more than a home stretch of a season I'd still rather move on. Ricky's the veteran of this team and it took him the longest to find his stride with Thibs and you just can't have that from a vet. He's the one who needed to play like this from day 1 while the young pups learned how to play under Thibs and we'd probably be in a much better spot to land the 8 seed if that was the case.

Two games?! Here are his last 10 games:

Points - 11.8
Assists - 11.1
Rebounds - 5.9
Stls - 2.1
TOs - 3.3
TS% - 52.1%
Net rating - +13.4 - best on team

Those aren't necessarily perennial all-star numbers, but they are pretty damn good. The fact he's sporting the best net rating over that time period says a lot.

Perhaps a) being injured, b) not being utilized correctly by Thibs, and c) having trade rumors hang over his head all affected his play earlier in the year! All that stuff is now behind him since the ASB.

Q12543 wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:I'm still 100% full pork chop in regards to Ricky. 2 games isn't going to change that. He's played great lately I'll give him that, but until he does it for more than a home stretch of a season I'd still rather move on. Ricky's the veteran of this team and it took him the longest to find his stride with Thibs and you just can't have that from a vet. He's the one who needed to play like this from day 1 while the young pups learned how to play under Thibs and we'd probably be in a much better spot to land the 8 seed if that was the case.

Two games?! Here are his last 10 games:

Points - 11.8
Assists - 11.1
Rebounds - 5.9
Stls - 2.1
TOs - 3.3
TS% - 52.1%
Net rating - +13.4 - best on team

Those aren't necessarily perennial all-star numbers, but they are pretty damn good. The fact he's sporting the best net rating over that time period says a lot.

Perhaps a) being injured, b) not being utilized correctly by Thibs, and c) having trade rumors hang over his head all affected his play earlier in the year! All that stuff is now behind him since the ASB.

Why is it so hard to believe that he just sucked at the start of this year and it's his fault for not coming in ready after an Olympic summer? Shifting blame to another injury and blaming his coach for not using him properly when he is the primary ball handler who runs the show on the floor and blaming trade rumors that have been over his head for multiple years now. Excuses, excuses, excuses. He's the veteran player on this team. Enough excuses for Ricky. It's not acceptable for a veteran to take 42 games to start playing well. How many more years need to be thrown away because of injury or poor play for too long? 2 games, 10 games. What's it matter? We're digging ourselves out of a huge hole because it took 42 games to get to this level. I'm fine with the excuses for the 21 year olds and 1-2-3rd year players. Not so much with the decade long professional basketball players who don't show up to play for half a season.

khans2k5 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:I'm still 100% full pork chop in regards to Ricky. 2 games isn't going to change that. He's played great lately I'll give him that, but until he does it for more than a home stretch of a season I'd still rather move on. Ricky's the veteran of this team and it took him the longest to find his stride with Thibs and you just can't have that from a vet. He's the one who needed to play like this from day 1 while the young pups learned how to play under Thibs and we'd probably be in a much better spot to land the 8 seed if that was the case.

Two games?! Here are his last 10 games:

Points - 11.8
Assists - 11.1
Rebounds - 5.9
Stls - 2.1
TOs - 3.3
TS% - 52.1%
Net rating - +13.4 - best on team

Those aren't necessarily perennial all-star numbers, but they are pretty damn good. The fact he's sporting the best net rating over that time period says a lot.

Perhaps a) being injured, b) not being utilized correctly by Thibs, and c) having trade rumors hang over his head all affected his play earlier in the year! All that stuff is now behind him since the ASB.

Why is it so hard to believe that he just sucked at the start of this year and it's his fault for not coming in ready after an Olympic summer? Shifting blame to another injury and blaming his coach for not using him properly when he is the primary ball handler who runs the show on the floor and blaming trade rumors that have been over his head for multiple years now. Excuses, excuses, excuses. He's the veteran player on this team. Enough excuses for Ricky. It's not acceptable for a veteran to take 42 games to start playing well. How many more years need to be thrown away because of injury or poor play for too long? 2 games, 10 games. What's it matter? We're digging ourselves out of a huge hole because it took 42 games to get to this level. I'm fine with the excuses for the 21 year olds and 1-2-3rd year players. Not so much with the decade long professional basketball players who don't show up to play for half a season.

Wow, you really are 100% Pork still.

I'm sure we'd be far better off with Ty Lawson!

It's a fair thread to start up , no harm done. I've been watching the games and letting some sample size build before abandoning my thoughts on Ricky completely.
While I'm not completely sold I am enjoying his more aggressive play. Looking for his shot more is almost as important as getting his shooting % up. It's encouraging to see him missing shots but still putting them up . His improvement has indeed been a linchpin for this team and if this team is on the verge of breaking thru he is deserving of his share of the credit.