?? there are many point guards since the 80s who have/had elite court vision. Hell, Kidd, Nash, Ginobili and Rondo do right now. What you mean to say is none of them were 6'9 like Magic and Bird. Thus, Magic and Bird had unprecedented court vision, because they had the advantage of seeing over the defense. btW: Walton, Sabonis, Divac, Miller and Webber also had elite court vision combined with the advantage of seeing over the defense.
I would say all of them had elite court vision. It is just not as prevelant as it once was, or when you see it, you can appreciate it, especially when you see it in a player that is only 21 years old. DD
Jason Kidd, John Stockton, Steve Nash, Kevin Johnson.....these guys were blind. RR has sight beyond sight.....
Exactly the guy is 21. I knew I was missing some guys but.. At this point the limited few games this year so far the guy has better vision than anyone else in a long long time. sure mark jackson ,nash, kidd were good passers but I am seeing something super elite in terms of 'vision 'with this rubio. Call me crazy but I am already about to start putting him there with bird and magic in terms of 'vision' Maybe this is like mexican food in milwaukee and I just haven't seen a good pass in a long time. Can he shoot like bird? no ..can he get triple doubles like magic? no.... but to say kidd or nash is head and shoulders above RR ??from what I have seen so far at this point at 21 the guy has it. Maybe he will come down to earth but right now he is already up there with the names mentioned. So this means what? in TODAYS game we put him where? Easily top 5 of vision and rising. More a testament to the sad state of passing in NBA. Maybe I am being too nice here but the vision this guy has is nasty nasty. I thought for sure the guy would be a bust and then I started watching these games. He is proving me wrong and DD right (ouch again)
Oh lord, I don't get caught up in that, I am hit and miss just like everyone else, but the only differenc is no one brings up my hits.....but my misses, WOOO BOY...... DD
the thing about other pgs is that they didnt have the size of Rubio. I would say having extra height and length allows him to pull off more kinds of passes. Doesn't mean his court vision is better, but at his age it's impressive.
I won't call you crazy, but definitely will say you haven't really ever seen Jason Kidd play. He didn't become a hall of famer for scoring or shooting, and pretty
Pretty good Rubio piece from today. http://www.nba.com/2012/news/features/david_aldridge/01/09/ricky-rubio-minnesota-timberwolves-future/ The media is really singing this guy's praises already:
Rondo doesn't have "elite" vision, he has great vision as he is a great pg but he doesn't deserve to be mentioned with htose other guys.
Larry's court vision is vastly overstated. His passing was a product of his constant barrage of aggresive offensive moves that led to easy plays, but he could never create solely for the pass... His offense opened up his passing, but to put him with freaking MAGIC JOHNSON is absurd. Also, It pains me to see Nash not being mentioned as one of the greatest passers of all time. The guy could piss assists in his prime. And to compare Rubio to Nash is a big slap in the face to Nash, imo...
Every time I watch a Wolves game, the crowd gets super excited when Rubio just throws even a simple, easy short pass for an assist. It's pretty funny.
Each year I pray to the basketball gods for the second coming of Magic Johnson. He was absolutely amazing. (Even with the ugly shot put release.)
Magic was amazing. The best ever at taking the ball end to end and getting the finishing pass for the dunk/layup. Didn't matter if it was 2 on 1, 2 on 2, 2 on 3, 2 on 4, 3 on 1, 3 on 2, 3 on 3, 3 on 4, 4 on 3, 4 on 4, 5 on 4, 5 on 5. When Magic got the ball at halfcourt in the middle of the floor, it was over, the scoreboard clicked. He could cipher through all those situations in his mind while taking the 2 or 3 dribbles from halfcourt to the rim, and make not only the right decision, but the highest percentage right decision, and do it with so much deception to the defenders that that percentage went up another 20% just because he deceived the defense so well. He turned those Lakers teams into the most efficient offenses of all time. And he controlled the whole game with his dribble, handle, vision, and passing. He could play it fast, he could play it slow. Didn't matter. And he could always play at the tempo the opponent didn't want to play at and he always knew what tempo the opponent wanted to play at and he could change the tempo to frustrate them into bad shots while getting his mates great looks. That's what Rubio has, the ability to control the whole game and to change/control the tempo, any tempo, with great efficiency. Rubio is a young Magic. He's not a blazer, but he can run a fast break very, very good. He's not super athletic, but he can finish. He's not a great shooter, but he can shoot it when necessary. He is great at controlling the whole game, on both ends. He's a great player.
I've been watching Rubio via League Pass and while I appreciate both his pass first mentality and floor vision, I am not ready to call him Magic. Apart from his ability to "look off the safety" and make the crafty no-look pass, Magic was a do-everything player. From the moment he entered the league, Magic was a supreme passer, a strong rebounder, and a scorer. I do think Rubio is in the top tier of passing guards already and I look forward to seeing him develop his game.
He does so much that is not shown on the box score. Even the anthony randolph highlightin the other thread, look who is hte one who deflected the pass on defense to start that. Sometimes he gets an assist, sometimes he creates a pass for an assist, sometimes he just spreads the floor. This guy is special and has the mind of a vet. Now even chris paul and drose still hve 6-7 turnover nights, pgs will just have that. But he has a special vision, already committed to improving his jump shot. And Since he was younger, and in spain, euroleague, he just has that certain something that 'winner' quality that you would want. You know hell show up, he can keep his composure, and make decisions in the clutch. No wonder when he would score like 3 points 3 assists all the eam USA guys were like he can play, he can hang so on in the olympics. And idiots who think box score determines it all love to criticize his euro numbers and they just don't get it. This guy is a special talent
