Does he? Is he going to trade a chunk of his roster for him? :grin: Yes, they were linked to Rubio in the past and Rondo as recently as this past season, so who knows.
Maybe he's just pretending to have interest in Rubio so Cuban will go after him....worked with Rondo.
Like Josh Smith, Morey would only take him if he could get him as a steal. That won't happen with Rubio.
If Rubio played the 4 or the 2 or 3 where he needed to shoot...then his shooting would be a serious, serious problem. But that's not Rubio's game. Rubio is a playmaker. He's not going to shoot very many shots per the number of possessions he controls. The vast majority of the time, Rubio's making a positive play with the ball. Advanced metrics shows it. And he has done all that while being surrounded by arguably the worst 3-point shooting teammates in the NBA.
That will be a bargain for a Real PG in the next 4 years. Can he shoot? maybe not but he can penetrate and his passing and defense are great. The dude creates offense on fast breaks better than anyone on this team.
His missed shots mean nothing in the context of his game because of the amount of possessions he uses that create points and the number of possessions he gets back with his rebounding and steals. He's got fantastic numbers. And he's been doing it surrounded by lottery players.
Agree w/ Bobby. A few points: 1. Harden would be forced to play off the ball, which in theory could spell wonders for this offense. However, it takes players especially ball dominant ones to have to buy in to change their game, and even if they did, it takes time to adjust. People are creatures of habit. I don't think it's something that can be learnt in an offseason. I don't know how much of a window this team has w/ Howard turning 30. 2. Rubio can't play off the ball. You'd be essentially taking away one of the best talents of Harden which is him creating off the dribble and scoring or finding open teammates. Harden's playmaking > Rubio's. It's similar to the Lin-Harden dynamic. Lin was a decent playmaker, but Harden was much better, so why take the ball out of his hands? It makes it worse that Rubio can't hit the broad side of a barn. He can't shoot from deep and is even worse (LOL) from close. 3. Rubio doesn't fit in the new age NBA. The NBA has evolved fast. How it looks today compared to only five years ago is almost night and day. We've seen Rondo rendered obsolete by the Steph Currys and Kyries of the world. Morey liked Rubio coming out of the draft, but that Rubio hasn't improved. What's even worse is he hasn't strengthened his weaknesses. He doesn't fit the Rockets offensive philosophy and the NBA has moved on.
His missed shots mean plenty, and so do the open shots he doesn't take, and the defenders who can ignore him because he can't shoot.
Have you guys seen what Rondo did to the Mavs offense? It wasn't nearly as good. You kill an offense when you have a guy like Rubio who can't shoot... especially in the playoffs. Teams will blow that match-up away. They'll stay at home on the big in the pick and roll and let Rubio shoot. Plus you already have several guys on the team who aren't great shooters. There is no more room for bad shooters. Rubio can work on some teams... but no the Rockets. Not with the players they already have on the team. It's a bad fit.
If you look two years ago the TWolves lost game after game after game in the 4th quarter. They way underperformed their expected W-L based on overall stats. Why? Because the game slows down in the 4th. While it's not as true as it used to be and wasn't true for the Rockets this postseason, the game still usually slows down in the playoffs. Where Rubio is at his worst offensively. Rubio is 24. He was the "chosen one" for the Twolves for a while. They could have gotten Curry instead and prioritized scoring over defense. He's going to get paid too much, but not like Parsons too much. And the TWolves want to trade him. He's 24. Still plenty young for their rebuild. But Josh Smith was let go and look how he turned out you say. Well... I guess. He turned out alright. Still had a lot of the same flaws... Rubio is seriously flawed in 2 ways. Scoring. Health. That's too much risk.
Yes. I readily admit this would require a metamorphosis of our offense and James playing off-the-ball WHEN RUBIO IS IN THE GAME. But....it doesn't take great players like Harden that long to adjust. Harden has already played off the ball early in his career with Russ and KD. He knows how to cut, he knows how to move. He knows how to play the game in a variety of ways. He's a great player. The bigger question is will Harden's and Howard's egos allow for Rubio (or some other playmaker) to become playmaker 1a while Harden moves to playmaker 1b?? The question is not whether or not he can do it and be successful. The question is is Harden willing to? And to that question, I don't know the answer. But at this point, I kinda doubt it. I think Harden wants to run the point, score a ton, and dish a ton and he wants everybody else to fall in line. No Rubio can't play off the ball efficiently because he's not a shooter. I agree. Stated it over and over. Any team that is going to have Rubio on it and be successful has to hand him the keys and let him run the team from the top. Otherwise, don't bring him in. No, Harden's playmaking is not better than Rubio's. Harden's scoring combined with his playmaking makes him a lethal offensive player. But Rubio is the superior playmaker. Harden, for as great a playmaker/passer as he is, is not in Rubio's league in finding guys for easy buckets. Harden simply can't pick guys out and deliver the ball to them like Rubio can. That doesn't mean Harden doesn't do a phenomenal job passing as a shooting guard. Harden is the best passing SG in the business in my opinion. But Rubio is in a different league delivering the ball. Rubio sees plays and shots and delivers the ball before the shot is even there, before the player is even open. Harden does some of that but is nowhere close to being as good at it as Rubio. As to taking the ball out of Harden's hands.....I don't think you need to do it. You flip Harden to the primary playmaker with the backups. I think he becomes even more efficient, running up and down, and taking advantage of opponent's second units as a playmaker/finisher/scorer. Just because Rondo was a jerk butt in Dallas doesn't mean this league has evolved and made Rubio obsolete. That idea is so overblown it isn't even funny. Rubio will keep proving it wrong for years to come.....even if he doesn't come here but stays in Minny or goes to some other team. Rubio is a winner. He's a great player. He's a serious plus factor on the court for any NBA team. He's going to have a great career. He's far from obsolete.
Everybody talks about look what rondo did in Dallas. But what about what he did in Boston with the big 3. I see the same thing if Rubio came to this team since everybody is comparing Rubio to rondo.
Well, I've listened to arguments on both sides, and as far as I'm concerned going after Rubio would be one of the worst possible things that could happen in the off-season. Now I could understand Morey pretending like he was interested in Rubio to get others to go down that foolish path, but actually wanting Rubio? Yikes, that would be Mavs level foolish. The PG doesn't have to be amazing for the Rockets to have success, they just need some ball handling/playmaking skills and they have to be able to shoot the 3 at a somewhat respectable clip. If they can get that, the Rockets are set.
Except their big three included Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. Even KG has always been a good shooter all the way out to the 3 point line. Our team isn't built like that.
