I've watched every Euroleague game he has played in his career. He is most definitely not someone the Rockets should pursue. In 4 Euroleague seasons I can just about count the good games he has played on one hand. He's barely average in the Euroleague. The world elite does not apply to him.
Not to call into question your knowledge of Euroleague basketball, but you do realize that NBA basketball and Euroleague basketball are very different games in which different styles excel under different conditions, right? While I'm not completely sold on Rubio being a stud PG in the NBA, I think that his style of play would translate into him being a "bigger star" in the NBA than he currently is for Barcelona.
I much rather have Llull when he is ready to come over. He can actually shoot and doesn't seem to be nearly as egotistical.
Kobe said adam morrison could ball. I'm not saying anything about rubio, I won't until I see him in the nba, but players rarely speak negatively of another players' game unless they don't like them.
Believe what you will. The dude is going to be a superstar in the NBA, if he ever gets here, which will have a lot to do with whether Minnesota finally realizes he ain't playing there.
not alot of players with 22 minutes are averaging 10 pts and 7 rbs blake griffin is playing 35+ minutes a game.. if we can get production better than brad millers and more promise than jordan hill, i'd be thrilled to have him as a back up center. plus, im a kyle lowry fan.
Uh huh...and with better health, Yao Ming can once again become the best center in the league. Change has to come from within. I'm sure "proper mentoring" is all the Blazers thought they would need with Rasheed Wallace, and Detroit thought the "veteran presence" of Billups was all Wallace needed as well. I'm sure that worked out fine for them
In the NBA there is a defensive 3 seconds rule, where there isn't one in Europe. The court is bigger in the NBA than in Europe. There is more room from the lane and the 3 point line in the NBA than in Europe. There is a no-hand check rule in the NBA and there is not one in Europe. Also, in Europe the refs allow a much more physical game as it is basically played like early 90s NBA style. You can bump the point guard for example when he is trying to come around screens and picks. In addition to this, the game in the NBA is played at a much faster pace, as in Europe they try to slow the game down more. The reason being that since games are 40 minutes long each possession is much more important than in the NBA. The European game tends to be a lot more half court than the NBA is. So yes, the NBA game is much different and it is a lot easier for guards to flourish, score, and do well offensively in the NBA than in the Euroleague. Brandon Jennings is a perfect example. It was really hard for him to score in the Euroleague and yet fairly easy for him to score in the NBA. Basically just because the NBA rules have been designed to emphasize point guards. Everyone can see it now with how the league has turned into a point guard dominated league since the rules changes. Because of all of this, yes, Rubio's game is more suited to the NBA and he would be a better player in the NBA than he is in the Euroleague. This is true. However, with that being said, Rubio is still not a good player and he is not the answer at point guard for any serious team. If the Rockets want to win something then Rubio should not be in consideration. Rubio cannot defend any of the quick Euroleague point guards. He is too small to defend at the two position. He cannot shoot at all. He cannot score around the basket if he faces any resistance. He is not a good half court point guard. He does not make good passes or create plays in the half court hardly ever. He is not that good at running the pick and roll. He is quite turnover prone (I believe he has the highest statistical turnover ratio in Euroleague history or if not he's way up there), his decision making is very questionable to say the least. His general all around scoring ability is quite low. He is also terribly inconsistent. Of course he is only 20 and can improve a lot, but I have seen more than enough to say that even though the NBA rules will be made for his game and even though the NBA refs will greatly baby him as he is an NBA marketing golden boy, which means lots of free throws that he should not get and letting him get away with fouling on defense, even then he's not the guy the Rockets should pursue for point guard. He does have good physical tools. He's about 6-4 and his wingspan is something like 6-8 or 6-9. He is quick with the ball and his athletic ability is decent enough actually. His court vision is high (although definitely not Nash level as the hype claims) and his passing ability is great (although not the best passer in Euroleague as the hype says)....... He's a very good free throw shooter and he knows how to draw fouls. He would be better on defense than a guy like Brooks and he could also grab some rebounds as well. But all in all, he is not anything near the guy you want at point guard if you really want to win a title. If the Rockets want to stay like they have been every year then Rubio is the man. They won't win anything though if he is the point guard IMO. His flaws are drastic and from what I have seen they are just way too much for him to overcome. His shooting and scoring ability is much worse than Jason Kidd's ever was. It would be like playing 4 on 5 practically on offense with Rubio as your point guard in the playoffs. Quite frankly, Rubio is vastly overrated in NBA circles to the point of irrationality.
Llull is a better player than Rubio at this time and yes he can shoot, while Rubio can't. However, Llull is a shooting guard, not a point guard. For some reason people have gotten Llull's position mixed up. Llull would be a solid replacement for Lee and Taylor. He is not a point guard though and has never been one in his career. So Llull coming to the Rockets or not really would not have any bearing on whether or not they should pursue Rubio.
I have watched every game Rubio has played in the Euroleague since he was 16. He is incredibly overrated. He is an average player in the Euroleague, one of the worst players on his team Barca. He is also regularly outplayed by just about every opposing point guard he faces. Rubio plays one good game, then he has 5-10 awful games, then 1 good game, then the cycle repeats. Part of this is undoubtedly because of his age. But at the same time he is woefully inconsistent even for his age and other Euroleague players of his age tend to be much more consistent than him. He has not really shown any improvement of any significance in his game from year to year and in some ways he seems to even regress. You could even make the argument that he was a better player at age 16 or 17 than he is now. His coach usually benches him whenever his team plays in crunch time. He rarely is allowed to handle the ball when he is playing in the game if it against a top opponent in an important game. His coach has benched him numerous times, citing that he can't play defense, that he seems lazy, and that his offense and shooting problems hurt the team. Earlier this year his coach benched him and said that he had never done a thing all year to help his team. He did respond a bit to that with a couple of good games, but then again he also has several bad games since then as well. If you watch Barca's every week you will know that Rubio is the third best point guard on his own team. Not to say that is not like in the NBA where teams have such a drop off from first to second to third string. Barca's point guards Sada and Lakovic are excellent players and could play in the NBA. But the point is that Rubio can't play as well as either of them over the course of a season. Has anyone suggested the Rockets get Sada or Lakovic to be their point guard? Rubio could always improve his shooting, get more consistent as he gets older, and the NBA rules and refs will favor him. Regardless of that, he is nothing special by any stretch of the imagination. At the rate he is going, if you put him in the 2012 draft he would not be drafted and might not even be drafted if he was in the 2011 draft.
You don't go from being an average player, or even less than that maybe in the Euroleague to being a superstar in the NBA. Not unless you were really young and had just barely played in the Euroleague as a young prospect. Rubio does not fit that mold. He has been playing in the Euroleague for 4 years now and he's not that young anymore based on his own development curve. He developed and peaked earlier than other players. Right now it would be questionable to consider him the best player in his age group in Europe. Arguably top 5, but that shows he is dropping off steadily as he gets older. At age 16-17 he was light years ahead of anyone else in his age group in Europe. Now at age 20 he is maybe in the top 5 in his age group. With each passing year he shows little to no improvement and even regresses in some ways. He didn't even learn to shoot a jump shot until a few months ago as he could still only shoot set shots until then. I've seen enough of Rubio to know that he is never going to be a superstar in the NBA and he is never going to be a super star in the Euroleague. It's just my opinion of course, but I am quite sure it is correct.
a kar thanks for the posts. Very informative and good to hear from someone who has good euroleague knowledge. How do you think llull's defense might transfer to the nba?
I think probably about the same as in the Euroleague. In the Euroleague he is too slow laterally to defend the point position effectively. I think it would be the same in the NBA. In the Euroleague he is not a bad defender at the two position, although he is a bit undersized. He would be an OK defender at the two in the NBA I think, or at least better than Martin is. He would be most likely playing as a backup shooting guard and he should not have any problem defending other backup shooting guards. Llull would not be a bad option to replace Taylor and/or Lee. He is a pretty good outside shooter and I think he would fit in well in an Adelman offense. At least he could help spread the floor when Yao is on the court.
I do appreciate what you're saying. However, it doesn't seem like any NBA team is very interested in Sada or Lakovic. My guess is that the scouts simply think Rubio would be a much better NBA player. I don't watch European basketball, but even if I did, I would not think I knew more than NBA scouts about this.
That's just false. ¿? Do you have a link for this? I follow the team and have not heard about it. Lakovic / Sada are both good players, the first one is a good shooter, good player on the p&r, but weak phisically, weak defensivelly, bad decisor, not consistent in his game (if he doesn't make shots, can't help the team). Sada is on the other hand a great defender (elite defender at his position), he has size, speed and strength, can push the tempo, draw some fouls, can put pressure on the rival PG, but he's not as good shooter as Jaka, not a pure PG, and definitely not a very skilled player thinking in NBA. Ricky is the only PURE PG of the team and of course overall the best of them. He has been the most efficient PG in Spanish League (best local league in Europe) the last 2 seasons, ahead of very good players, and sharing minutes with Sada-Lakovic (other PGs played more minutes) . He played a good Euroleague last season (great semifinal against CSKA, BTW, starting PG of the champion team). Definitely is struggling this one (nevertheless he has had also 2 VERY good games this year against Cibona of Zagreb.). His progression is not the desired by all the scouts, no doubt about it, and we can talk about it. Still, we must have in mind how the players progress at that age (stumbling), the pressure he has endured, the team where he plays, and the pressure his coach / team have to win every single game and every competition in which they play. They are the big favourites, they have a very deep roster plagued of stars and Ricky is not the franchise player, his job is to run the offense, feed his partners, create some shots off the p&r, run fast breaks and put defensive pressure on the ball. That doesn't mean he can't score the ball. That's maybe because he has been playing as PG all his life until he arrived to the spanish national team and coach Scariolo put him as backup of Navarro (having Ricky and Calderon as PGs and knowing that he can defend also SGs). I know Sergio since he was 14 and he has always been a PG. Following his good performance as backup SG with the national team, coach Messina uses him at both positions in Real Madrid. Even tough he's been playing as PG all this season since Prigioni injured his hand. Prigioni has recovered already, so it's expected to see him playing again more SG minutes.
