FanPost

Alexey Starting, Playing with Rubio

Last night against the Hornicans, amidst Love's struggles, Pek's career night and JJ's explosive drives (3 in a row, that was unreal!), the shiniest jewel on the court to me was Alexey's first career NBA start. It was noteworthy to me for 2 reasons: shooting efficiency and assists. Both of these things signify that he is ready (and in perfect time) to play alongside Ricky in place of our other (injured) guards who can play the 2.

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Look at his line and just try not to smile. Season highs in FG% (tie), 3P% and Assists (albeit with more minutes than usual given the start) to show that he's starting to take smarter shots and look for passing opportunities rather than shooting ones. Of course it helped that his comrade AK47 has been playing out of his mind lately, especially tonight, but Alexey did well on his own keeping his head and making good decisions on and off the ball.

With the Unicorn back tonight (hopefully), we can expect Shved to get more open looks from the arc and opportunities to finish under the hoop, where he is shockingly efficient. Assuming Rubio isn't going to start tonight or in the immediate future, I'd like to see Shved start at the 2 with Ridnour at point, then swap Ridnour out for Rubio shortly after to see how they can complement each other.

I'm very excited for tonight's game and for the hopeful debut of our beautiful foreign guard duo. I look forward to a hopefully long series of starts for Alexey, as he flows well with the other starters and benefits from the confidence Adelman is showing by letting him start (not that he really has other 2 guards). Let me know what you guys think.