Keep Ricky in Minnesota

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

http://www.howlintwolf.com/news_article/show/577600?referrer_id=2188719

Per NBA Stats, Rubio is statistically the best defensive point guard in the NBA this season, and I'll prove it.

Percentage Points Different is a stat that measures a defender's individual ability to affect a player's shooting percentage. It's compared to the shooter's season shooting averages against what those averages are when defended by a specific player. Negative numbers are good, positive numbers are bad because that means a shooter actually shoots better than his season averages when said player is defending them. Rubio boasts a -12.6 difference. The only point guards, who play substantial minutes, with better numbers than that are Ty Lawson, Aaron Brooks and Goran Dragic.

It doesn't stop there either. Rubio has allowed opponents to shoot just 18.2 percent on him, lowest of all starting point guards in the NBA to date. Rubio also boasts the Timberwolves' best individual defensive rating at 86.7, again the lowest of any starting point guard.

Rubio has a way to his game that's always been special to watch. The flash, the swag, the energy, but what's always been important to him is his defensive awareness. When Rubio first came into the NBA, he was nowhere near big, strong or fast enough to let his physical attributes play defense for him, essentially. It's always been about positioning, footwork and what I like to call peskiness. Rubio does such a fantastic job of moving his feet to stay with the ball-handler, forcing them to go to another option other than shooting it. That's only gotten better, as I've said a ton now, since the Timberwolves' bigs have gotten infinitely better than last year at hedging the ball-handler off any pick and roll situation. That kind of communication and help defense helps pump Rubio's stats but boosts the team's morale that they can defend anyone in this league behind their captain's lead.

Now that Rubio has filled out in his frame, he's only gotten better. Only the elite of the elite athletes can blow past Rubio's exceptional footwork and positioning. And only the best passers with extraordinary court vision can squeeze passes through lanes where Rubio makes frequent residence (That's that peskiness I mentioned).

It's been so incredibly apparent over the past two games that Rubio's defensive prowess is what makes this defense tick, and we've now seen that when they're ticking, they're one of the best in the league. It's been so bad the last three game that, in fact, when you replace Rubio with LaVine in the starting lineup (Andrew Wiggins, Tayshaun Prince, Kevin Garnett and Karl-Anthony Towns), the Timberwolves' defensive rating drastically rises up the chart from 77.1 to 123.5.

So you mean that if you simply switch out Rubio -- just one player -- for LaVine, the Timberwolves allow 46.4 more points per 100 possessions? That's staggering.

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2015/12/17/ricky-rubio-comes-closer-than-anyone-in-nearly-a-decade-to-quadruple-double/Ricky Rubio comes closer than anyone in nearly a decade to quadruple-double

Ricky Rubio didn't even score 10 points, but the Timberwolves point guard came closer than anyone in nearly a decade to a quadruple-double.

Rubio notched 9 points, 12 assists, 10 rebounds and 8 steals in Minnesota's loss to the Knicks tonight.

That left him one point and two steals from joining the NBA's exclusive quadruple-double club:

David Robinson: 34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 blocks in 1994
Hakeem Olajuwon: 18 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists and 11 blocks in 1990
Alvin Robertson: 20 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals in 1986
Nate Thurmond: 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists and 12 blocks in 1974
The league didn't begin tracking individual blocks and steals until 1973-74, so some would've-been quadruple-doubles might have been lost to history. But with fairly accurate record-keeping now, it's been quite a while since someone came as close as Rubio.

Here's every time a player had at least eight in four of the five major categories in the last 30 years:

Player Team Opp. Date PTS REB AST STL BLK
Ricky Rubio MIN NYK 12/16/2015 9 10 12 8 0
Andrei Kirilenko UTA MIN 3/8/2006 15 11 8 2 8
Ron Artest IND MIA 3/31/2002 24 9 9 8 2
Chris Webber SAC VAN 2/7/1999 25 15 8 3 9
Mookie Blaylock ATL PHI 4/14/1998 14 8 11 10 0
Clyde Drexler HOU SAC 11/1/1996 25 10 9 10 0
David Robinson SAS DET 2/17/1994 34 10 10 2 10
David Robinson SAS MIN 1/11/1994 27 12 10 0 8
Clyde Drexler POR IND 12/11/1992 17 8 9 8 0
Alvin Robertson MIL MIA 11/6/1990 27 12 8 8 1
Hakeem Olajuwon HOU MIL 3/29/1990 18 16 10 1 11
Hakeem Olajuwon HOU GSW 3/3/1990 29 18 9 5 11
Michael Jordan CHI BOS 1/15/1989 42 9 11 8 0
Alvin Robertson SAS DET 3/25/1988 15 10 12 8 1
Fat Lever DEN NJN 11/24/1987 21 13 14 8 0
Alvin Robertson SAS PHO 2/18/1986 20 11 10 10 0
Clyde Drexler POR MIL 1/10/1986 26 9 11 10 1
Rubio, of course, is the only player on the list without 10 points. It's hard to play so well overall without scoring double digits.

This is just the second time someone had a double-double without 10 points this season. The other: Rubio with 8 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists against the Magic on Nov. 18. But Rubio has a long way to go to become synonymous with that achievement. Jason Kidd had 27 doubles-doubles without points, and Rajon Rondo is the active leader with seven.

There's also the question of whether Rubio was actually "close" to a quadruple-double. Scoring a single point is very manageable, but two more steals is a tall order.

Rubio gets two steals every 30 minutes this season. Even his rate tonight - hardly a reliable sample - was two steals every nine minutes. Generously average the rates, and Rubio would've needed an extra half or so.

Is needing another half to notch a counting accomplishment "close"?

Either way, Rubio came closer than we've seen in quite some time.

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

2015-16 Real Plus-Minus - Point Guards
RK NAME TEAM GP MPG ORPM DRPM RPM WINS
1 Ricky Rubio MIN 48 30.3 2.36 2.36 4.72 7.19
2 Kyle Lowry TOR 52 36.8 5.56 1.70 7.26 12.29
3 Stephen Curry GS 50 33.8 9.07 1.48 10.55 15.62
4 Russell Westbrook OKC 54 34.3 8.03 1.23 9.26 14.77
5 Chris Paul LAC 48 33.0 5.87 1.21 7.08 10.26
6 Marcus Smart BOS 34 27.1 -0.72 1.08 0.36 2.16
7 Ronnie Price PHX 34 14.8 -0.65 1.05 0.40 1.14
8 Michael Carter-Williams MIL 49 30.4 -0.42 0.75 0.33 3.21
9 Eric Bledsoe PHX 31 34.2 2.27 0.58 2.85 4.11
10 Patrick Beverley HOU 44 26.7 -0.15 0.40 0.25 2.49
11 John Wall WSH 51 36.1 2.99 0.38 3.37 7.82

http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/sort/DRPM/position/1

[thedoper]

Should be noted that the first article was written 3 weeks into the season. Thanks for it though. I am always perplexed at Ricky and will be continually. For someone to do so many things well and not be able to shoot is insane. I am one that believes that defensive stats need to improve still as well. They rarely match the eye test from what I see. Ricky has great instincts and positioning defensively. But I still see greater athletes having their way with him in one on one situations.

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

Ricky is amazing at the way he can pass, defend, steal, rebound and shoot free throws. He's the closest thing to Jason Kidd and Kidd a future hall of famer. We can absolutely win a title with Ricky at the helm as long as we keep KAT, Wiggins and our young core along with some good role players.

[thedoper]

Ricky's the closest thing to Jason Kidd and Kidd a future hall of famer.

Except Rubio's shooting is far worse than Kidd's making him far from Kidd. Here's a comparison of their shooting in year 5 of their careers. Kidd could finish at the rim. Rubio can't make 50% of his layups. There is a reason Ricky is being called the worst shooter of all time.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/plus/shooting.cgi?player_id=kiddja01&year_id=2005&advanced=compare&comp_pid=rubiori01&comp_year=2016

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

Except that is factually incorrect. Ricky is outshooting Marcus Smart over their careers. And Ricky is pretty close to Kidd and he's only 24. Ricky could absolutely improve on his shooting and I believe he will. But his other amazing talents more than offset his one weakness. There aren't many point guards in the league his age or younger that are better overall players. I'd be hard pressed to name 5.

Upon further investigation, there are barely any point guards younger than Rubio who are better overall players. After realizing that John Wall and Damian Lillard are actually older than Rubio, I don't know that there are even 3 point guards younger than Rubio that are better overall players. Plus we got Rubio at a nice contract. We need to hold onto Ricky and let the young players grow up alongside him.

[thedoper]

Except that is factually incorrect. Ricky is outshooting Marcus Smart over their careers. And Ricky is pretty close to Kidd and he's only 24. Ricky could absolutely improve on his shooting and I believe he will. But his other amazing talents more than offset his one weakness. There aren't many point guards in the league his age or younger that are better overall players. I'd be hard pressed to name 5.

I gave a comparison at the same point and time in their careers. Kidd has started to figure out his shooting. Rubio hasn't.

Even Marcus Smart has a better career TS%.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=1&p1=rubiori01&p2=smartma01&p3=&p4=&p5=&p6=

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

Where does Ricky rank among steals, assists, rebounds, plus minus, Real Plus Minus among point guards? All Ricky critics focus on his FG shooting percentage. They don't want to look past it.

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

Ricky ranks 6th among all point guards in Win Shares. I can't believe we got him on such a cheap deal!

1 Stephen Curry GS 50 33.8 9.07 1.48 10.55 15.62
2 Russell Westbrook OKC 54 34.3 8.03 1.23 9.26 14.77
3 Kyle Lowry TOR 52 36.8 5.56 1.70 7.26 12.29
4 Chris Paul LAC 48 33.0 5.87 1.21 7.08 10.26
5 John Wall WSH 51 36.1 2.99 0.38 3.37 7.82
6 Ricky Rubio MIN 48 30.3 2.36 2.36 4.72 7.19
7 Kemba Walker CHA 52 35.8 2.45 0.21 2.66 6.75
8 Isaiah Thomas BOS 55 32.5 4.04 -2.08 1.96 5.96
9 Damian Lillard POR 47 36.1 4.89 -2.85 2.04 5.58
10 Reggie Jackson DET 53 31.0 4.24 -2.25 1.99 5.27