ace625214 wrote:urinesane wrote:ace625214 wrote:The thing about the highlights from the Chicago game that has me giddy is his confidence. He looks like an entirely different player. If you go back and watch 2011-2012 games, Rubio had an air of completely not caring about him. He knew he was good and felt like he could go at anyone on the court. Last year, at times, it looked like he was out there just trying to not screw up or be noticed. Now it looks like he has an attitude like he did when he was a rookie. He crossed Rose twice on one play and then pulled up in his face! RICKY RUBIO DID THAT.
He has always been pretty emotional and showed his frustration on the court, which I think was actually a negative for his mental game. Seems like he isn't quite as hard on him self for each little thing like he used to be, which is good, because you can't have a leader that is up and down from play to play.
That's also true. I'm just impressed with how he is carrying himself. When he was a rookie, he did stuff like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgRZpGplY10. What was the point of that? It maybe faked out the D a bit, but Ricky felt like he could do anything he wanted, and he played that way. He nutmegged so many people that season. To me it looks like he has fully accepted that this is his team now and he is relishing it.
On that note, this is really the first time since Ricky was 15 or so that he has had a team be his, other than U-20 and stuff. The Spanish team always relegates him to a minor role, and Adelman's offense wasn't tailored to him at all. Just having that responsibility that he has seemed to want for a long time could cause a major change in how he plays.
Yeah, I've been really impressed with his demeanor this preseason, looks like a leader out there. I think those plays were just a case of him getting too high and too low (like hitting the pad on the basket stand after a miss). Being as restricted as he had been previously with Barca, I think his first year he finally felt free. Then he got hurt, had to work through getting back to healthy his 2nd year, and took a backseat in the offense last season.
It's his team now and he knows its up to him to not only lead the team, but set an example for the younger guys. I'm really excited to see his growth this year, not because it will validate basically everything I've said about him since his rookie year, but because who the hell doesn't want a good person like Rubio to succeed?
I think this season we will see a culture shift for the franchise. With Love the identity of the team mimicked his own, rebound, score, and play no defense.
With Rubio the culture is going to shift to a team that plays defense, uses ball movement and teamwork to score, and generates turnovers to get easy baskets in transition (with great finishers).
I like the culture and identity that comes with Rubio as the leader WAY more than Love.
What was Kahn thinking?
