Rondo's poor shooting had a lot to do with having sealegs coming back mid season from an ACL, he'd turned himself into a pretty damn good mid range shooter, and his infinitely trained 3 ball looked decent early, he couldn't hit jack **** as the season trailed out. My biggest concern with Rondo is that he didn't seem healthy, and it's hard to tell in the first months back from an ACL whether it was career altering or fully recoverable.
Lest we talk too much about Rubio not showing improvement by his third year, he did lose a season to an injury, so...... I posted this in another thread, but since they both have Rubio on the brain, I'll put it here too: http://www.startribune.com/sports/wolves/275853901.html ESPN.com and a Phoenix television sports anchor each reported Friday that the Timberwolves are prepared to pay restricted free agent Eric Bledsoe the four-year, $63 million maximum contract he has sought without success this summer from the Suns. But it’s not that simple. The Wolves are well over the NBA’s salary cap and can’t make such an offer without first reaching a sign-and-trade deal with the Suns to acquire one young star point guard while they do the same negotiating dance with their own, Ricky Rubio. The two teams are believed to have had trade discussions concerning Bledsoe for months, when the Suns pursued superstar Kevin Love before the Wolves traded their three-time All Star to Cleveland last month. The Wolves owe the Suns their protected first-round draft pick next summer and could sweeten a trade proposal by reducing or removing restrictions that will defer the pick to 2016 if the Wolves draft among the top 12 teams in June. They also have a $6 million-plus trade exception that could apply toward balancing salaries if they absorb Bledsoe’s new $15 million-plus average salary. But agreeing on the other pieces could be problematic. The Suns are not believed to be interested in neither center Nikola Pekovic and his $12 million salary nor Rubio. The Suns already have point guards Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas, and they’d be back in the same situation they are with Bledsoe, negotiating with a player who believes he’s worth a maximum salary. (There’s no indication the Wolves are willing to trade Pekovic or Rubio, anyway.) The Wolves likely will be unwilling to trade any of their top young players — Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine, Gorgui Dieng — the Suns might want, and can’t trade Anthony Bennett or Thaddeus Young, who were acquired in the Love deal, for at least another month. The expiring contract of guard J.J. Barea and veterans such as Chase Budinger, Corey Brewer or Kevin Martin won’t get the deal done, either. The Wolves could play Rubio and Bledsoe in the same backcourt, much as the Suns did with Bledsoe and Dragic last season. But with Rubio also seeking a max contract, doing so would involve paying big money to players who naturally play the same position. Bledsoe reportedly has refused the Suns’ four-year, $48 million offer, and the two sides are in a standoff that will result in Bledsoe becoming an unrestricted free agent if he decides to play this season under a $3.7 million qualifying offer. The Wolves and Rubio also are a good distance apart on negotiations toward an extension of the rookie contract he signed in May 2011. If the two sides do not agree by Oct. 31, Rubio will become a restricted free agent next July.
The Rockets led the league in turnovers and were below average in steals. We need a thief and a playmaker to take the load off James. It's so obvious. It would be great if Rubio were a 50/40 guy as well. But......if he were he'd be looking at the 5-year super max. As far as his contract..........that's why I'm intrigued with Rubio over Rondo and Bledsoe. Rubio could wind up playing for the qualifying offer in 2015. Wouldn't that be something? I like Morey's approach with Fegan. He doesn't play with him. If he sees something he goes for it. And he makes cold-blooded decisions with Fegan as we just seen with Parsons. I can see Morey forcing Rubio into the QO, especially next off-season, by simply not making a max offer for him. And then if Rubio really turns big then offering him a 5-year deal after that for more money than any other team can give him. Lots of options with Rubio's contract. A lot more than Rondo and Bledsoe.
lol I can actually see that being a positive gamble if it doesn't cost us too much. Platoon Rubio with Beverley and Harden would make a real good back court. Beverley coming off the bench for maximum defensive pressure would be nice. Morey though will have to pay the max since Feigen is the agent eventually. It would be nice to see if him as the next max is workable or if we need that PF after all.In my opinion we will need that PF to go deep. What you are saying is to try it before we buy it.
Kinda. I'm saying Rubio is going to be restricted. I'm pretty sure it isn't going to work out in Minny. I'm pretty sure that between the reports I have gotten from one of my insiders that the deal possibly in play is Rubio here and Bledsoe to Minny. Fegan is most likely not going to accept anything less than the 5-year max, since Kahn basically promised it to him. At some point Fegan is likely to call out Taylor in an attempt to apply pressure if Minny can't get Rubio gone before that. My personal commentary on the situation: 1. PHX wants to pay Bledsoe 4/48. You can't ask for the sky in trades for Bledsoe if you feel he's only worth 4/48. So...while they want "All-Star" potential for Bledsoe, they may have to settle for a draft pick(s) and possibly some underrated talent that could blossom to star level players, players like Canaan, etc. 2. Fegan isn't going to accept anything less than 5-years at the max for Rubio. Minny doesn't want to pay that obviously. And they don't want the PR headache of Fegan busting them in the chops over some alleged promise that Kahn made to them. If they can trade Rubio for the right value then it becomes the next team's problem. 3. If Rubio is traded then the team that traded for him is not under Kahn's obligation nor can they be tainted with such. Fegan can holler about it until the sky falls in. But Rubio is still going to have to go through restricted free agency. 4. There is the chance that Fegan gets Rubio to sign the qualifying offer next off season. This would set up perfectly with us adding LaMarcus or some other max free agent. But it would also allow us to play in 2016 free agency Kevin Durant Sweepstakes as well if we couldn't get LaMarcus or some other max guy next off season. Just a lot of options with Rubio and his contract right now that make him very desirable in our cap situation. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Everyone should take a look at 2015 restricted free agents for this reason. Rubio Kanter Reggie Jackson Nik Vucevic Brandon Knight Klay Thompson Kenneth Faried Jimmy Butler Bismack Biyombo Tobias Harris Glen Rice, Jr. Kemba Walker Draymond Green Pero Antic Derrick Williams along with Beverley. Don't be surprised if at least one of the above players joins Beverley on this roster before the end of the season and the most likely would be Rubio and Kanter.
Much of this has been said, but Rubio would be coming off his rookie season. The guy has cut his teeth professionally overseas and in the NBA....at a position that traditionally takes awhile to develop. He is the kind of player that will make everyone around him so much better. Quit getting caught up in the small picture. Think offensive flow. Think about Dwight getting the ball on the blocks when he needs it. Think about Harden getting the ball in space. The kid already is a helluva defensive player...great instincts. He probably DOES have the best court vision since Magic. C'mon...the goal is to win games ...Getting caught up on what he shoots from 3 right now or how he finishes is missing the boat.
Sources: Suns have no interest in Eric Bledsoe sign-and-trade with Minnesota By Adrian Wojnarowski Suns have no interest in Eric Bledsoe sign-and-trade with Minnesota The Phoenix Suns have no interest in sign-and-trade discussions with the Minnesota Timberwolves involving restricted free-agent guard Eric Bledsoe, league sources told Yahoo Sports. The Suns would want an All-Star – or potential All-Star – in return for Bledsoe and had only considered Kevin Love in a possible sign-and-trade scenario with the Timberwolves, league sources told Yahoo Sports. Minnesota eventually traded Love to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Timberwolves are showing a willingness to offer Bledsoe a four-year, $63 million maximum contract in a sign-and-trade, but only if they could dump undesirable contracts onto the Suns, league sources told Yahoo Sports. Minnesota is $6 million-plus over the salary cap, and has only minimum contracts and a $1.5 million trade exception slot left to acquire players. Phoenix is willing to let Bledsoe sign a $3.7 million qualifying offer before training camp and become a free agent in July 2015. Phoenix could still offer Bledsoe the most lucrative contract on the market next year. The Suns offered Bledsoe a four-year, $48 million contract in July, but Bledsoe's representatives insist that the guard's value is a full maximum contract. There's been minimal communication between Bledsoe's representatives and Suns officials since the franchise's offer in July. Bledsoe's representatives with Klutch Sports, Rich Paul and Mark Termini, were unable to find a consequential offer sheet to force the Suns into matching a deal. Timberwolves president and coach Flip Saunders has been represented by Termini for much of his coaching career. Bledsoe, 24, averaged 17.7 points and 5.5 assists for the Suns last season. He missed half the season because of knee surgery to repair a meniscus injury, the second such surgery of his career. Phoenix acquired Bledsoe from the Los Angeles Clippers in a trade in the summer of 2013. To fortify for his possible departure, the Suns signed free agent Isaiah Thomas and drafted Syracuse's Tyler Ennis. T_Man
Agreed. Rubio is a winner. Think about this: he's never lost a playoff game in his career. Pretty damn impressive.
Haybitch - Always the smart@$$ Enough of that sparring....Seriously, two things to consider......Ricky growing as a player at 23 AND having a cast like he would have here. We would be on our way.
Calm down, Mr Insider. We on the outside value a sense of humor. How long do you think the H&H window is open? 2 years? 3? How long before Rubio starts to play like a max level, 3rd superstar type player? It doesn't add up. There are legitimate arguments for acquiring Rubio for the long term*, but none of them envision us winning big over the next 2-3 years. Maybe, best case scenario, Rubio steps up to superstar level 4-5 years from now. Will Dwight still be here? Will Harden? Les is ready to win now and Morey knows it. I don't see him wasting what's left of Howard's prime. *For example, acquiring him for cheap and not giving him the max/extending QO next year, THEN see what happens.
I wasn't the one who said ignore other things because the goal is to win. So ask Plowman his opinion of Love.
Rubio's going to be a liability to Harden and especially Dwight in the playoffs, as his defender will cheat into Dwight's area (and Dwight suffers a lot from turnovers being forced that way), to be the entry pass man, you need to be the one whose man can then hedge down, the image of San Antonio hedging down on Howard, and his somewhat tunnel vision turning it over, again and again, or worse yet, throwing it back to Rubio for a "shoot it you ****ing midget" moment. As was suggested, watch Spain v France for how he kills spacing, Spain had post players, better ones than Dwight. Dwight needs shooters way more than he needs passers, always has. Come playoff time, by having nowhere on the court where shooting is the right idea, the Popovich's of the world aren't going to have their defenders come across to help, they're going to dare you to score.
Maybe Morey keeping his options option. He's probably still sitting on an inflatable donut after the Bosh incident. There must always be a Plan D, E, and F (?)
If Rubio is on the floor with Harden and Howard, the ball will be in Rubio's hands and Harden will be weakside spreading the floor with the PF spotting up in the corner. That's how you create big time space with Rubio on the floor. He's a much better creater/ball handler than Harden is. We want turnovers down and steals up and we want to take the burden off Harden. What Rubio will allow Harden to do is to play more as the playmaker with the second unit guys. You turn Harden loose against the opponent's second units. He piles up the drives and fouls against them, then when you go back to the starters you flip it to Rubio, and then when Harden sits down for the few minutes he sits then Rubio is running pick and roll with Daniels spotted up in Harden's spot. You guys keep forgetting what we've lost. We've lost the handles of Lin and Parsons. If we don't replace them this offense will become very boring as we'll just spread everybody out and the defense will spread out to cover our shooters, begging guys like Ariza and Beverley to put the ball on the floor. We need at least 2 handles on the floor and in our case we need an upgrade to the handles we had last season that bumped us down the bottom of the league in turnover rate.
