<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/detGword?src=hash">#detGword</a> <a href="http://t.co/ZhBqUZivCM">pic.twitter.com/ZhBqUZivCM</a></p>— KAJE (@KJMcDaniels) <a href="https://twitter.com/KJMcDaniels/status/610145767043403776">June 14, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Horse poo. Rubio is an unstoppable playmaker. You can't get the ball from him. He gets the ball from you. And he gets the ball to guys that are WIDE OPEN for easy shots. Rubio is a shot creator. He's an excellent offensive player. A fledgling playoff team will pick Rondo up and catch lightning in a bottle. He's got plenty of game. Just put shooters around him and he makes it easy on them. Surround him with guys that gotta dribble around all the time though and that's a problem.
Nope. The Rockets just abandoned Rondo on the perimeter in the playoffs. Did not even bother to guard him. The Mavs were playing 4 on 5 offensively. The new model is the GSW small lineup. Everyone can hit the three and the paint is unprotected because all the offensive players are out on the perimeter and they can score from there. The NBA has left dinosaurs like ROndo and Rubio behind. If they cannot hit the shot out there they will not be guarded.
And interestingly enough that makes the 2.9 that much more important. Use the weak side defenders to guard the paint because everyone on the strong side has to be out there at the arc and teams always have a player who can break down the defender off the dribble and get to the rim. It should be interesting. I actually look forward to the next evolution in the advancement of the NBA wing play.
There's a new model every year. That's what you have to understand about the game of basketball. There is a myriad of ways to play this game great. Spurs did it last season with electric ball movement. GS is doing it this year with off-the-charts shooting from Steph and moving Draymond around defensively and creating mismatches. Rondo didn't work in Dallas. He created a problem. And Rondo is a problem because he wants to be a player that is the coach/leader/chief decision maker. Rondo knows how smart he is and he wants to assert that to the coaching staff and front office. Rondo wants his team. In Dallas that was not to be. That doesn't mean the league has passed Rondo up. That's hogwash. Won't fly. And then to broadbrush Rondo and Rubio with the same brush is even more insane. Rubio is not a dissenter. He's not the locker room presence that Rondo is. He's not the distraction Rondo is. He doesn't but up in the coach's face and curse and generally act like a hoodlum. The game hasn't passed Rubio (or Rondo) by. That's simply a myopic take by people who don't understand the game and only see the "latest model of success". By the way, the Finals are still on-going. Cleveland could (if there's any team that could it would be Lebron's team) come back, win in Cleveland, and then go to GS and take the championship. Then what? What happens to the GS super team? What will guys like you think if CLE takes the championship away from GS by playing a grind it out tough defense and then putting the ball in Lebron's hands and he brings them home in a very inefficient but necessary fashion????? The narrative on what it takes to win a championship would change in a matter of seconds. So much for gotta have a PG that can shoot/score when Delly is out there flinging up poo shots. It is so ridiculous to make statements like the league has passed guys like Rondo/Rubio by.
I understand the NBA game very well thank you. Do you? There is a movement in the NBA towards having every player a be a threat from outside. It is evident in the Warrior's small ball. It has been evident for the last half decade or more in the increased importance of wing players. The days of centers who thrive around the rim and wings who are not offensive threats are ending. Thib's defensive schemes killed them both. If a wing is not a threat offensively do not guard him. If a big cannot function well at the arc draw him out there. The Green's and the D-Mo's of the NBA are the future. But how does one defensively handle, with a small wing centric lineup. a powerful interior presence like Gasol? Thibs again showed the way. You 2.9 them to death. Flood the paint and cover the arc with quick wings. This is the NBA future. I did not realize it until I started watching the Warriors small ball lineup.
Small ball lineups definitely have a lot of sizzle about them. But it's just not small ball. It's spread-ball with defenders. What makes GS run is Draymond Green's ability to defend multiple positions effectively (something Rubio does from the perimeter). For his career Draymond is a 32.1% 3-point shooter. For his career Rubio is a 31.4% 3-point shooter. To add to that, Draymond is shooting 25.6% from 3 in this year's playoffs and is now shooting 28.3% from 3 in the playoffs for his career while chucking up over 3.5 3-point shots per game. You'd have to agree that GS's small-ball incorporates more than just shooters. You'd have to agree that Draymond is not a plus shooting floor spreader for them. But....what Draymond can do is shoot the 3-ball just well enough to be somewhat of a threat and he's also good enough that even though he is given space out there to shoot the 3, he can still penetrate and post-up against smaller defenders and he can still blow-by bigger defenders. Same holds true for Rubio. Although Rubio is not a scorer, he's the type of playmaker that can penetrate on any defense. You've got to bring 3 guys at him to get the ball out of his hands because he's so good on the dribble that he can beat even double teams and find the open man for the easy layup/dunk. Just as Green is too good because he has a size/strength mismatch against smaller defenders and a quickness/perimeter skills mismatch against bigger, slower defenders so does Rubio create constant offensive mismatches even though he's not a shooter. Rubio can take smaller point defenders into the post and operate with his back to the basket and flip the most ridiculous passes to wide open teammates for the finish or wide-open 3-balls. And if the opponent goes with bigger defenders on him, Rubio can waltz by them like they're standing still. Rubio is a great player that has spent the first 3 seasons of his career on subpar teams. If you put Curry on the Wolves and surround him with the same guys Rubio had and you put Rubio on the Warriors, their success ratios would be reversed. They're different players. Curry is the greatest shooter that ever played in the NBA. Rubio is going to go down as one of the most prolific playmakers and point defenders in the history of the NBA. They'll have plenty of clashes in the future with each man winning his share of the battles. There is constant movement in the NBA towards great players with multiple great skills. Not just towards a specific type of play. The 3-point line has changed the game definitely. But the idea that a non-shooting playmaker can't sustain success in this league is a joke. The 3-point line only makes a true playmaker more lethal. Because he has more space to work his creative genius when he has good to great 3-point shooters lined up around the arc.
There are variations on models every year. There are trends across years. The trends all point to a more guard heavy, 3 point shooting, versatile bigs that can help create space type of offensive game. Game that creates open looks - anywhere on the court, but especially for 3, and at the rim. They all point to versatile defenders. This isn't unique to GS. The league has passed up current Rondo. That's the Rondo that doesn't just not hit jumpers, but doesn't finish in the lane. Even in his horrible post-season, he still had a couple of 3-7 minutes stretches against the Rockets where he was finishing at/near the rim. The league hasn't passed that Rondo up... because that Rondo CAN score enough. No.. it's just pointing out the obvious. The lack of personal scoring ability represent serious flaws for both Rondo and Rubio. And even more-so these days. In Rubio's case in particular, I think his inability to score is the entirety of the reason the 2013-2014 TWolves missed the playoffs. The lost a bazillion games despite having leads well into the 3rd, or even at the end of the 3rd. Because defenses did change in the 4th, and late in the 4th, where the game slowed down a bit, resulting in fewer fast break points, and where defenses were more focused on giving the TWolves what they were bad at, Rubio open on the outside. That missing the playoffs of course has contributed to the changing landscape of the NBA - the Love trade, which has its fingerprints all over this NBA season, among other ripple effects. Rubio IS clearly a unique talent with an AMAZING passing ability, and a solid defender. If only he could shoot, you know, a LITTLE! Not just 3s, but finishing drives. Oh, and if he could stay healthy.
The general trend is to shoot many more 3-pointers and to eschew long 2-pointers. Simply put, a 30% 3-point shooter is just as valuable as a 45% long 2 shooter and you can't hardly find more than a handful of guys in the league that can shoot an 18-22 footer at greater than 45%. But that does not preclude guys that can break defenders down like Rubio can and collapse the defense like Rubio can. Those guys are special. And are only more special when they have 3-point shooters lined up to take an efficient 3-point shot. The adjustment Rondo will have to make is with his attitude. Not with his playing style. Disagree. Rubio can split double teams. And he can find guys. If Rubio wanted to score the basketball more, he'd simply take it to the rim and get fouled. He's an 80+% free throw shooter. (On a side note, you should remember Rubio's free-throw shooting percentage when his jump shot magically improves down the road. He's got the mechanics to make it happen.) Here's what happens to every team in this league during crunch time: THE OPPONENT DEFENSE ZEROES IN ON THE BEST PLAYER AND DOES EVERYTHING IN THEIR POWER TO SHUT HIM OFF! Didn't you just witness Golden State do this to James Harden, one of the top scorers in the league????? It happens to every team. The problem with those T-Wolves teams, especially with Love gone, or when Love was out injured...was there was NO OTHER PLAYER even close to being as good as Rubio out there. Blame it on Rubio if you want to. But then you've got to blame it on Harden too. Re-watch the GS series and realize what happened to us out there. WE HAD NOBODY ELSE THAT COULD CREATE ANYTHING. GS took away Harden and his creation and we had nowhere to go. Same thing has happened to Rubio over and over in Minnesota. And yet many posters will point to Rubio's shooting percentages and blame him for not firing up a bunch of 25-footers and winning the game while giving Harden a free pass when he dribbles into a double team and loses the basketball. I think winning championships contributes to the changing of the landscape of the NBA way more than missing the playoffs does. Missing the playoffs means the team is bad. If missing the playoffs means the lead player is messed up then what we gonna do with Melo? Melo is one of the best shooters in this league. Put him on the Olympic team and he's flat out LETHAL taking the same shots he takes all season in the NBA. But put him on a crappy team with nobody to get him the ball or take defensive pressure away from him to the otherr side of the floor and he looks like crap. Yet, if he were to go on the trade market tomorrow, there'd be 10-15 teams bending over to trade for him. Because they know how good Melo is. They know Melo is a top 10 player in this league. Despite the losing. Yeah, his health has been a problem. But so was Steph's health a problem until this last season. Steph has had multiple problems with his ankles. And it looked like there for awhile like his career may be truncated because of those injuries. Rubio has had a run of bad luck. Injury is a risk to every player. Brandon Roy ring a bell? How many can we name? Countless great players have their careers cut short with injuries. There's no way of knowing what's gonna happen long-term with Rubio injury wise. But that doesn't mean he's not one of the most talented ballers in the association. he is. And if he gets and stays healthy and gets on a good team he'll show it. Just like Melo will if he gets the right supporting cast. Just like LaMarcus Aldridge will if he gets on the right team.
You are SERIOUSLY overestimating Rubio's ability to do this. And that's especially true in the 4th quarter, especially true against good teams, and would be especially true in the playoffs. That's not to say an open Rubio doesn't know what to do with the ball. But it is to say that eventually, the defense figures out to just let him shoot long open jumpers, or drive to the rim, just don't go crazy defensively trying to contest. Rubio will miss enough to make it inefficient offense. Rubio's amazing playmaking ability comes from (i) running the break, (ii) seeing cutters, or the open guy, during a play that others don't. It doesn't come from nearly as much from breaking down the defense, getting it rotating, bringing defenders to him to hit an open guy. That's the problem. No. Rubio doesn't shoot horribly because he's not wanting to score. His shooting efficiency is based on shots when he IS trying to score. Would he score more points if he had a higher usage? Probably. If I was defending the TWolves, that'd be A-OK with me! If Rubio's jump shot and shooting percentages improve then he will OBVIOUSLY be better. Are you just predicting he'll become a more efficient shooter? Which is fine if you want to predict that. I'm not making a statement there, just noting he is a neutral offensive player because his current lack of shooting is a huge flaw. It doesn't happen to every team. It happens to the lesser teams. As you play better and better defenses, it obviously is more difficult. And better and better offenses are capable of overcoming. See the Warriors vs. the Cavs in the 4th quarter... No. James wasn't generally any better or worse in the 4th then he was throughout the games. Frankly, he had some REALLY good 4th quarters, especially games 1,2 and of course 4. Game 2 and 5 he was bad throughout. For one, we're still talking about regular season stuff. Half of which is against horrible teams. For two, this ignores the advances stats, which pointed to the TWolves as a very good offensive team in 13/14. They were 9th in the entire league in offensive rating. What's more, they were even better quarters 1-3. Quarter 4 they fell apart. Kevin Love played almost the entire season, btw... as did Rubio. Their only joint entire season, really. Here's an article that was mid-season talking about their 4th quarter woes... which continued. https://www.minnpost.com/sports/2014/01/breaking-down-wolves-fourth-quarter-blues It's obviously not ALL on Rubio. The point is simply, what as a problem during the regular season will only be exacerbated in the playoffs, where teams often have to look for the weak link on the other squad and give that up. Like allowing Matt Barnes to shoot. I do think a healthy Rubio makes the Rockets a marginally better team. He's a above average defender (and underrated there) and can "run" an offense. And next to Harden, theoretically, should help. But I also think Rubio would struggle in the increased "spot-up" opportunities he'd get. GS didn't take away Harden. I think perhaps you didn't watch that closely. Harden, when he was off, took away himself. He played lethargically and made uncharacteristic mistakes. It WAS an issue of lack of creators... but more in the sense that the load became too much for Harden, so he had a couple of "tired" off games. Even with that, he shot 63% TS% (47% from the field, 43% from 3) in route to his 28 pts, 8 boards, 6.5 assists, 2.5 steals, etc. The "blame Harden" crap that went around immediately following the game 5 loss was moronic. Blame Harden for being awesome? If Rubio can do 75% of that, sign me up! He can't. Maybe he improves. Maybe not. There's at LEAST 10 other PGs I'd prefer offensively. Maybe more. [Curry, Westbrook, Paul, Conley, Lillard, Parker, Dragic, Lawson, Teague, Rose, Lowry, Wall are no brainers]. He is a bit better defensively than some of those. Stop it. Harden puts a team on his back to get in a position to even win a game on the road in the WCF... after being one of the more clutch players of the last two years, and loses the ball. Do not compare Rubio to that. That'd be interesting to see. Maybe... increasingly the number of teams is probably dropping though. It's hard to take you serious when you say Ricky Rubio is one of the most talented ballers in the league. And then compare a seeming lack of respect for him to a lack of respect for Melo or LMA. Nobody is putting Rubio in the same category as Melo or LMA. I wouldn't take him in the top 30. He'd probably drop a bit beyond that, too. If I end up having egg on my face and Rubio really improves... it will be because he stays healthy and shoots better. If he shoots better... then he's better.
Lin, seriously? I don't ever want him back on our team regardless of cost. It's not because I'm an LOH or whatever the hell term fanboys throw around on here. It's because he's got terrible basketball IQ, weak inconsistent overall skills, hasn't improved from what I could see with his time on the Lakers, and his reckless style of play is sure to destroy his body forever within a year or two.
