Updates on former Wolves

[minimus]

Nunnaly saying he thinks he didn't get a fair chance in Minnesota

It certainly wont help us to attract FAs

[minimus]

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[mplsfonz23]

Some just take longer to get it. Something tells me he will fall back to his old self.
I have seen bigger crowds in high school.

[Klomp]

Nunnaly saying he thinks he didn't get a fair chance in Minnesota

It certainly wont help us to attract FAs

Thibs isn't the coach anymore...

[mplsfonz23]

Nunnaly saying he thinks he didn't get a fair chance in Minnesota

It certainly wont help us to attract FAs

I think we can chalk that one up to Thibs.
Ryan may attract some FA's, but if this team remains as soft as they have been, who's going to want to come anyway? Unless we overpay. I think JB put us under the spotlight as a soft team and we need to show the NBA he was wrong. (If possible)

[LibertyPrime]

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Nunnaly saying he thinks he didn't get a fair chance in Minnesota

He's not wrong. With Wiggins putting up more than few stinky games he should have been given more minutes, but it just wouldn't be a Thibs game if Wiggy didn't put in his usual 40+ minute appearance.

[Jedzz]

Brewer starting in place of Butler tonight. Brewer for 50! At this pace of missing games Jimmy might need to retire after the season.

[Jedzz]

Nunnaly saying he thinks he didn't get a fair chance in Minnesota

It certainly wont help us to attract FAs

Would he answer our call now that Rockets had to free him up again and we have maybe 6 healthy players left.

[minimus]

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Miss his passes

[Jedzz]

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Miss his passes

Not the same guy who played here.

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[Jedzz]

Lavine's turnover average might be reaching a career high this year.

[Sugarless]

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Miss his passes

Not the same guy who played here.

You mean the guy with the no-look pass who's below average in terms of efficiency scoring the ball? The one handing assists left and right, giving his all every play, playing excellent D and forcing offensive fouls?

Yeah, he most definitely is.

The only thing that's changed with Ricky is that he plays in a system that requires him to shoot more often and doesn't allow him to handle the ball as much (which isn't necessarily better). That, and his hair. But that's about it.

[Note30]

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Miss his passes

Not the same guy who played here.

You mean the guy with the no-look pass who's below average in terms of efficiency scoring the ball? The one handing assists left and right, giving his all every play, playing excellent D and forcing offensive fouls?

Yeah, he most definitely is.

The only thing that's changed with Ricky is that he plays in a system that requires him to shoot more often and doesn't allow him to handle the ball as much (which isn't necessarily better). That, and his hair. But that's about it.

We could really use him right now ironically.

[Jedzz]

Watch on YouTube

Miss his passes

Not the same guy who played here.

You mean the guy with the no-look pass who's below average in terms of efficiency scoring the ball? The one handing assists left and right, giving his all every play, playing excellent D and forcing offensive fouls?

Yeah, he most definitely is.

The only thing that's changed with Ricky is that he plays in a system that requires him to shoot more often and doesn't allow him to handle the ball as much (which isn't necessarily better). That, and his hair. But that's about it.

Hard working yes, no look great assists yes, giving his all yes. yes! yes! Excellent D? Well not completely. High effort on D and getting steals, yes! Was he excellent on D overall here, nobody was here then.

As far as shooting, things have really, really changed for him there.
When he was here, we had this unfocused shooter that had no 3, no jumper, no floater, even layups were unfocused...

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[Sugarless]

Hard working yes, no look great assists yes, giving his all yes. yes! yes! Excellent D? Well not completely. High effort on D and getting steals, yes! Was he excellent on D overall here, nobody was here then.

As far as shooting, things have really, really changed for him there.
When he was here, we had this unfocused shooter that had no 3, no jumper, no floater, even layups were unfocused...

Watch on YouTube

His D was excellent and he was consistently in the top-5 in DRPM for his position, season after season. His multi-year defensive RAPM was amazing too. And that was surrounded by teammates that were terrible on defense year after year. He was not just among the league leaders in steals every season, he also was (and is) one of the top guys in deflections, offensive fouls drawn, and a very good defensive rebounder for his position. None of that has changed, he's always been an annoying individual defender (which is why he gets under some players' skin despite being a really nice and non-confrontational guy) and a brilliant team defender.

As for the no-3, no-jumper, no-floater and bad lay-ups, I understand you don't watch the Jazz often and it's probably a 'grass is greener on the other side' situation, but overall he's the same type of player he was in Minnesota. He's improved a bit in terms of shielding opponents with his body and using the rim to his advantage on lay-ups, but he still gets no respect from the referees which leads to some wild attempts while trying to draw a foul (with no luck) and he still misses some bunnies from time to time even on the fastbreak (hell, it happened just earlier this month against the Pistons, after one of his trademark steals off an inbound pass). He still has no floater. His 3-pt % for the year is right at his career average. His mid-range jumper keeps improving slowly but surely, but that's a trend that started in Minnesota, not in Utah, and he keeps favoring the left side of the court and the pull-up J just like he did with the Timberwolves. He also keeps finishing seasons stronger than he begins them in terms of scoring, and he's still a net positive year after year.

Like I said, he's pretty much the same guy. Of course he gets better in certain areas, that's to be expected when you enter your prime, but there's nothing in his game that he hadn't shown in Minnesota before, or that he wasn't on his way to achieving here if he hadn't been traded. He's just in a different system and a different roster where you see him get less assists and score more often. He's also affected by the league-wide 3-point trend so he shoots them more often, just like 90% of the players in the NBA. But if you didn't like him then, don't worry, you still wouldn't like him now in Minnesota (not that you would be right on that, mind you ).

[Jedzz]

Oh Ricky.

[Klomp]

If you guys missed it, Krawczyski had a really good in-depth feature on the relationship between Ryan Saunders and Ricky Rubio: https://theathletic.com/791257/2019/01/30/ricky-rubio-ryan-saunders-flip-tona-heartbreaking-loss-backbreaking-work-a-bond-like-no-other/

They didn’t work closely early in that first season, but Flip would often encourage the two to collaborate, reminding Rubio that Ryan came from Washington, where he spent much of his time working with Wizards point guard John Wall.

“I knew, looking at John Wall on an All-Star level, and saying, ‘This dude can help me,'” Rubio said.

For Ryan, those early days were all about earning Rubio’s trust. Eventually, the two would meet up after a morning shootaround and head back to the practice facility to get some one-on-one work in. Ryan told Ricky to get back to the basics when it came to working on his perpetually under-construction jump shot, and Ricky opened up to the idea of taking a step back in his shooting in order to see longer-term improvement.

“With players, especially when you come into a situation and they don’t know you before, you have to earn that trust,” Saunders said. “A lot of times that can be off of not necessarily things on the basketball court, but relating to them in other ways. In terms of making sure they know you care about them first as a person before a basketball player.”

A connection started to form. Rubio has always preferred coaches who try to reach him on a personal level, who seem invested in him not just as a player. And that was one of the biggest lessons Ryan took from his father as they climbed the basketball ladder together.

“Flip was great in making everybody feel special, making everybody feel important,” Rubio said. “I think he saw that every day working with his dad and it runs in his genes. He has it, too. He makes you feel like he cares about you for real. There’s not a lot of people in this business who are going to care about you more than they care about himself.”

[Klomp]

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[Calinks]

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KG! Team better bring it tonight! I'm hyped!

[Klomp]

KG! Team better bring it tonight! I'm hyped!

We play tomorrow....