Agreed. But much of what you said on top sounded like you were talking about Lin and Knicks fans reactions. I wouldn't shut the door on Rubio's upside just yet. But I do agree with the necessity for aggressiveness, grit, and slight cockiness to make it to the top. Not for everyone, but for most.
Pau's wins in his first 6 years: 23, 28, 50, 45, 49, 22; he missed the playoffs 3 out of his first 6 years. Memphis was swept out of the playoffs first round every year they did make the playoffs.
I can't shut the door on the rest of his career; I have said many times that we should just enjoy their play and let the chips fall where they may. BUT if we are dealing in probabilities and forecasts, the evidence suggests that Rubio's european style of play will not project out to consistent all star appearances. Some have even mentioned Rubio as a potential HOF which I just cannot fathom based upon the available evidence. Only Dirk has risen to the level of consistent all stars among Europeans; even Pau is not a consistent all star.
Oh I don't think he is a fluke to be sure. From what I know his style of play has been pretty consistent since his younger days. I think he just added more muscle and worked on his shooting. The thing with him is that his outside shooting isn't great but because he can get to the rack and hit FT's he can still put up numbers despite having an 8-20 shooting night. I think he is a raw talent but with more NBA starter experience he can only get better, like I find it difficult to imagine that he will regress, unless he becomes dumb, fat and blind. He kind of outplayed Rubio and Wall and he held his own against Kyrie so unless you expect them to regress seems odd to expect the same out of Lin. Even if his ceiling is just a solid starting pg there isn't anything wrong with that. But I actually think that is his floor (he isn't a back up) and his ceiling is much higher but that is just me.
And if you think back to those games, don't you remember Lin CLEARLY being the best player on the court at all times, whether Melo or Stat was on or off the court? Maybe I'm being unfair to Tyson, but even though Melo was the greatest talent on the team, Lin was by far the most valuable. Along with Tyson, of course cuz he was beasting last year.
So did Dwill's team. It's a team sport. It happens. It doesn't change the fact that Oaunis one of the most talented and smartest players in the NBA. He just happens to need an aggressive counterpart to be able to make a team truly contend as he is such a gentleman in a tough sport. Not that I'm saying he's not tough but it goes back to what you were saying earlier about the need for aggressiveness in today's sport
I'd give you that Lin is 6'3" in shoes, but that would make Rubio around 6'5" in shoes. I'll have to find the photo later.
There's a lot of psychological gamesmanship as well, such as grimacing, yelling and bugging your eyes out after dunks, or eyeballing the refs when you want a call, screaming when there's a contact on a drive. It all seems silly, but the squeaky wheel gets the grease in the nba.
Roxxy, I know where you stand on Lin and, I think, on life. You'll get nothing but love from me. I meant to address the fluke part to those who doubted him, not you.
Hmm. John Callipari who watched Lin play against UConn said he was 6'4 and that many people don't know that.
Good succinct assessment of both of their differences and subtleties in their skills. Although I don't think teams can't pass up on rare talents like Rubio, it is true that passing only abilities (without attacking/penetration abilities and efficient scoring) will get you so far. That's why nowadays, teams are increasingly looking for PGs who can both pass and attack/score because a team is more dangerous when they have multiple offensive threats on the floor and a variety of scoring strategies. Besides Lin's unique abilities to constantly knife into the lane and break down defense, one aspect of his abilities that doesn't really get talked about much is his ability to maintain composure at all times even when the game isn't going well, which is something that you mentioned. I think this particular intangible is what enables Lin to continually make good things happen for the team, especially in the 4th quarter when everyone else including Carmelo can't seem to do much. In close games, you'll often see that the ball is in his hands most of the time in the final period because the coach knows that he can make something happen. Lin knows how to draw fouls and then is able to shoot a high percentage of free throws. In an earlier post, I did say that Rubio and Lin are both special players and that their effectiveness depends on the needs of the team. But I am in agreement with you, imarealballer, bublanski, and others that overall Lin is the more dangerous threat and whose aggressive style of play is more amenable to NBA competition. Hopefully, Rubio can develop into a better offensive threat (which I'm sure he's capable of) and I do hope that Lin shoots a few more jump shots in order to lessen the amount of physical play to increase his longevity.
Nice comparison in your last paragraph between Rubio and Lin: "The european artiste vs the strong American brute who lays down the hammer". LOL But very true.
I will say, there HAVE been brutish, big strong Euros. Sarunas Marciulonis comes to mind. Anyone else? I think a finesse style predominates among the nba euros otherwise. Maybe Marc Gasol? Asik a little bit? Neither is a great player but both are ok with a more physical style of play.
Lin is taller than Derrick Rose, when they were standing next to each the last time they played, by at least an inch or two
J Kidd is definitely not 6'4." K Love is not 6'10." J Lin is not 6'4" either. People just pull these numbers out of their behinds.
I am honestly shocked at Rubio's FG% numbers, especially knowing his Euro stats now. Wat da fuq?!? I have to redo my PG rankings. Just plain shocked. And people are saying that Lin had the broken jump shot... SMH
