Actually it's you that's being dense. Rubio is 23 years old and last year he was #2 in assists, #1 in steals per game and #5 in assists per turnover. And last year was his first FULL season of play. He's only going to get better. People used to say the same crAp about Jason Kidd early in his career because he struggled shooting the ball. He had a pretty successful career.
I'm not in favor of a Rubio acquisition, but who's to say he would close out the games? That's wolverines place.
Not true. They lost in crunch time because Minnesota had NO ONE besides Love that could shoot a basketball. If you watched Minnesota's games you noticed 2 things in crunch time: Defenses collapsed on Rubio in the paint and covered Love out high and left the other 3 guys open. I seen it over and over. There was a reason teams played this way. It is because Minnesota has been the WORST long distance shooting team in the league for the last 3 seasons, even with Love and even if you remove Rubio's attempts. In other words, Minny has no one that can really shoot the ball outside of Love. Rubio shoots so few times that his shot attempts barely crease the percentages of the T-Wolves. He takes less than 7% of the teams 3-point attempts and less than 9% of the teams 2-point percentages. His finishing ability at the rim is questionable but when you consider what he's been up against and you actually watch the games and you see how he collapses the defense in on him and he gets more coverage in there than probably any PG not named Chris Paul because of the fact that Minny doesn't have anybody else to finish then you start to see the picture here. As far as young point gaurds go...take a gander at Stockton's, Kidd's, and Rondo's early 3-point shooting percentages. Despite all this terrible shooting by Rubio his team finished 3rd in points per game and 9th in offensive rating last year. And that is because defense effects offense. Rubio's steals and deflections and his ability to create defensive havoc kept his team loaded up with easy opportunities at the other end. Minnesota was 3rd in the league in steals and 8th in the league in turnovers last year. Our beloved Rockets on the other hand were 17th in steals and 29th in turnovers. Rubio would be a great fit here.
I can see Morey taking a chance and making a play for Rubio but I don't see how much better it would make this team unless the coaches can get Harden to play off the ball more. And Rubio would definitely make this team better defensively but what would we have to give up to get him? All this emphasis on trying to improve through free agents but how about we improve internally with Harden (to play consistently on both sides of the floor) and maybe add more experience to our coaching staff?
On paper, the Rockets got worse over the offseason. That's how the media sees it, and the majority of fans across the league see it. We shall see how things turn out.
Think about it from a player rating standpoint. Lost Asik and replaced with Joey Dorsey. Lost Lin and replaced with Canaan or Terry. Based on 2K15's player ratings, the Rockets down graded. Now, did they downgrade in reality? That's yet to be seen.
You can say all you want about former Rockets Martin and CBud, but not being able to shoot is not one of them. They had 3 guys that can spread the floor. The problem is that their primary ball handler can't shoot or make a layup and they no one else to take the ball out of his hands.
http://www.azcentral.com/story/spor.../?hootPostID=3dbe99109a160063a628b1f234c059cf The Suns going all in on Gogi. Now they know Bledsoe will have max offers next year as an unrestricted free agent it's in their best interest to work a S&T now.
To support my point even more, here is a video of the last few minutes a wolves/thunder game. Notice how much space they give Rubio in the PNR. The don't bother fighting through the pick because he can't shoot worth a lick. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ufD9BzSv-zU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Here is another video at the end of a game. Watch Rubio's defenders. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4-Ey9S7qzI0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Exactly. No reason why the Wolves should be less than an average 3pt shooting team. Even Pekovic is a capable jump shooter. There should be no spacing problem. Driving to the hoop should be a breeze on that team. Except one reason: you don't ever have to cover Rubio. Pack the paint, and close out hard on everyone but Rubio. He's also not particularly good at "causing havoc with deflections" as stated earlier. That's not defense, and it's not offense. He's good at getting steals, but steals do not necessarily make good defense. I have faith that Rubio will develop a decent 3pt shot and good defense. That will be in about 5 years. He will be a late bloomer IMO because ON IT'S OWN, being a fantastic playmaker does not make a great starter. I don't think Rubio would deserve to start over Bev right now either. Bev is basically better at every other basketball skill except passing. Why should we pay 10 times Bev's salary to get someone who's a better passer on a team where inevitably the ball will be in Harden's hands a lot, and shot by Harden and Howard most of the time. It's just not a pressing need. It's not any kind of pattern that leads to championships which requires a great passing PG. We're not a bad passing team. We're not a bad transition team. What exactly does Rubio give us? The only legitimate reason to get him IMO is if we feel we can find a taker for him in a sign and trade next summer but even then there is a big risk he has a bad season.
You want to bench two max players towards the end of games. I trust Dwight's free throws more than I trust Rubio's jumpshot. Statistically, its a better shot.
Excellent point Bhollic; we had/have no play maker on the field nor wing defenders. His assists and steals would make up for what he lacks in scoring. He's going to have so many scoring targets to pass to - allyoops and layups to howard/jones, daniels/ariza/harden spotting up in rythm. I didn't even mention ball handling skills and court awareness to keep turnovers down so that we don't give up easy transition points like we did all the time. I'm all in on rubio
Not sure if this is the thread for it or even if the story is legit, but Ballers Nation on FB have just put up that it's believed Rondo is confirmed to OKC for Jackson and Lamb.
Martin was not with them until last season and even his 38% could not bring up the team percentages that much. Brewer can't shoot. Barea sucked. Chase was hurt and only played half the games. And Rubio only took 7.5% of their 3-point shots. His shooting is of such a miniscule effect that if he were a 40% 3-point shooter last year the team average would have moved from 34.1% up to 34.7% and past the glorious Utah Jazz into 25th out of 30 teams in the NBA. If Rubio were surrounded by guys that could actually shoot a basketball efficiently his own finishing numbers will go up considerably.
