Minnesota Sports Forum

http://www.si.com/nba/2015/07/13/ricky-rubio-minnesota-timberwolves-karl-anthony-towns-andrew-wiggins

Not much new here, but something to fill up the summer basketball doldrums.

It's astonishing me how articulate Ricky is in his second language, and how he never makes a PR mistake. He's an easy guy to like...plays hard, wants to win and seems like a sincerely nice guy. Some highlights from what is overall a non-informative interview:

1) Surprisingly, although he says good things about Flip as a coach and PBO, he also describes it as "tough" that Flip wears both hats.

2) He talked about Wiggins saying to him midway through the season that he liked that Ricky gets him the ball in the right place. We agree.

3) He says he needs to develop a floater. Not likely that he has been able to work on that while recovering from surgery, but it's nice to hear him lay it out there as a goal.

4) His injury is the only reason he is not playing Spanish basketball this summer, and he will play for them next summer in the Olympics. I know that annoys some here, but I admire his patriotism and loyalty.

Ah yes the Ridnour floater! We saw Delly use it too in the playoffs. No reason Ricky can't be good at it.

LST I like your point about Ricky always seems to say the right things. I think one thing that's so likeable is I think he is genuine. He isn't the most fluent in English compared to some other overseas guys guys but he always seems to get is point across and gives such thoughtful answers.

I liked his comments about you have to find your own floater. That seems so true to me.

monsterpile wrote:LST I like your point about Ricky always seems to say the right things. I think one thing that's so likeable is I think he is genuine. He isn't the most fluent in English compared to some other overseas guys guys but he always seems to get is point across and gives such thoughtful answers.

I liked his comments about you have to find your own floater. That seems so true to me.

Ricky seems to be working on a lot of stuff. A floater is NOT an easy thing to develop. It takes tremendous feel and touch, something Ricky lacks tremendously, especially when on the move (he's always been decent when stationary, such as free throw shooting).

I would have Ricky work on one thing and one thing only: His 3-point set shot. At the end of the day, if he can knock down open 3's in space at a decent clip, that's really all he needs to be able to do (in addition to all the other great stuff he already does).

At some point hopefully Ricky and the coaches realize that there is a ceiling to how much Ricky can improve in things like finishing, floaters, and pull-up jumpers off the dribble - and perhaps he has already hit that ceiling. But hitting stationary catch-and-shoot 3's is something that can be improved upon over a long period of time. That should be the primary focus.