Why Ricky Rubio Gives Me Hope

Good luck with your blog. If I were to give one critique, I would recommend either giving more of the “Why” part of the title in the article, or simply renaming it altogether. I read it, and related to the feelings, but came away from the article without really knowing why you feel the way you do about Rubio, which is what the title led me to believe would be the focus of the writing.

The ultimate pass-first PG. He is like a Spanish Bieber, and I say that in the most complimentary way. All the girls and media are going to be all over him. It’ll be nice to get some positive attention directed Minnesota’s way again. Between him and Love, and hopefully some other pieces can step up, I expect great things.

I will allow myself to put the cart ahead of the horse as well… I too think Rubio can be a Top-5 PG. First of all, it’s not a reach based on projections from his Euro stats to put him in the Top-10 in NBA steals and assists from Day One.

I’m also cautiously optimistic about his shooting development. He’s an 80-percent FT shooter, so the guy can shoot. He just hasn’t translated that into the flow of play yet. If you’re a bad shooter, you don’t hit FTs. It’s not a major stretch to say he’ll probably develop into a “keep-’em-honest” type of shooter that defenses at least have to respect and account for.

But it’s his leadership and swagger that I think will really carry a team. He seems like the type of player who teammates will look to for direction. I like that, especially at the PG position.

what are the CH opinions on the rumored Jonny Flynn-for-Toney Douglas swap? I love Douglas. He’s a great defender (can check both PGs and SGs), is a great scorer and would be an excellent back-up at both guard positions. In a pinch, I actually like Douglas potentially sharing the back-court with Rubio for his ability to shoot and defend. I’m not sure how the frontcourt will look, but I like this backcourt:

1. Ricky Rubio -- Luke Ridnour
2. Wes Johnson -— Toney Douglas

I like it even more if we can somehow pick up either Klay Thompson (my favorite), Burks or Brooks.

Rubio will arrive here at 12:30 pm today.

Hah, that’s pretty much what I did. Over here, if you like basketball, you’re a Lakers, Bulls or Celts fan. Possibly Magic.

Since Garnett was traded, I’ve felt like the team had no identity or on-court plan.

McHale had some amorphous “smash mouth basketball”, which seemed to consist of assembling a roster of offense-first guys and feeding the post?

Since then it has been even more nebulous. We are running the triangle – wait – that is way overstated. We are getting longer and more athletic and will run – well actually we just walk it up to 1/2 court and then take a quick, ill-advised jumper.

I think Rubio could start moving the Wolves into Kahn’s stated direction. Unlike Flynn & Ridnour, I think he orchestrate a running team. His pick & roll strengths should become a staple of our half-court game, with (hopefully) lots of cross screening and cutting for lobs from the master lob-thrower.

In my opinion, though, none of this will come to pass with Rambis at the helm. That is why his continued employment puts somewhat of a damper on my Rubio enthusiam. As S-n-P likes to tweet, #rememberramon.

Rambis will relegate Rubio to standing in the corner and shooting threes just like his Barca coach. And in that scenario he will validate the haters who think Rubio is nothing but show.

I can’t find anything positive that came from Rambis’s “I’m not going to let Flynn run P&R because it will be good for him” craziness, and I don’t want Rubio suffering the same fate. A catch & shoot Steve Kerr type point guard he is not.

I still believe in the philosophy of Rambis.
His failings were due to mismatched personnel (year 1) and inability to execute (year 2) due to new players, injuries, youth, and experience.
He is a great teacher, but unfortunately not a great coach (yet).

The triangle is used as a teaching tool to increase offensive space awareness and movement versus defensive adjustments. This should makes Rubio’s ability to find open teammates easier through the passing lanes that are created. I think people forget that the triangle is not run all the time. Maybe early on in the season but definitely towards the end I saw more pick and roll than triangle.

The arrival of Rubio should also fix a number of problems.

1) Guard defense.
I still believe Love is a good defender but was often drawn to fill in the lane and leave his man open due to the inability of our guards to defend. With a competent guard who can at least challenge a little on defense will make everyone’s job easier as well.

2) Turnovers.
Not saying we will make drastic improvements but I am guessing the take home message from Rambis this off-season was to improve handle [cough] Darko, Flynn, Beasley [uncough] I expect Rubio to struggle in this department early on but will definitely help decrease the number of turnovers next season.

3) Broken plays/end game
How many times did we see the wolves try to run a play at the end of the game only to leave us thinking “wtf was that?” WIth the addition of Rubio, hopefully we will see the end of panicked 1v1 challenged shots/dribble penetration into traffic and more organization into high percentage scoring opportunities.

This is all I hope for in Rubio.
I can’t wait to see if his game translates to the NBA.

but you forgot to comment on…

mr. trader jack-off
what the hell, they sold the team to new orleans!
mr. plantar facsiitis (micheal williams) and his guaranteed contract.
cwybaby chwistian, compwaining that we don’t know how to win (duh).
j.r. junior isaiah, rolling the dice with his popcan pipe and stolen telephone.
the infamous andres guibert experiment…..shane freakin’ heal.
who the hell is paul grant anyway….we’ll just let mchale work with him.
kevin mcfailure and his annual sam mitchell “great locker room guy” speech.
joe smith and the biggest “uh-oh” in minnesota sports history.
troy hudson, antoine walker and juwan howard….money laundering in action.
ndudi ebi or josh howard…ndudi ebi or josh howard…hhhhmmmm.

oh, memory lane.