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Rubio playing for Spain tomorrow. Kokoskov lead Slovakia to a win today... Here's a thread to discuss the tournament.

Lauri Markkanen making the Butler trade look OK. WOW! What a performance. He's currently killing France by himself. He's got about 15 points in the last 5 minutes of the 4th and the OT.

WOW! Finland upset France. Markkanen will be the story of the game with 22/7 on 9/15 shooting. He took over in the clutch.

I like Bogdan more than Bojan Bogdanovic. I think he will be a good player in the league.

Spain slaughtered Montenegro 99-60 in their opening game today. Rubio had 7 assists and 5 steals in 20 minutes. Sergio Rodriguez, who played for Philly last season, had 10 assists in 14 mins coming off the bench. Complete stats and game story:
http://www.fiba.basketball/eurobasket/2017/0109/Spain-Montenegro#|tab=boxscore_statistics

Ricky with 14 points, 3 ast in 6 minutes of play so far. He's 100% from the field, and from FT, 2/2 from 3.

Our players will need to run with eyes wide open and expecting passes. Ricky is pushing in transition and advances/passes the ball forward quickly to runners...

Ricky has always had a big confidence problem in regard of his shooting. Luckily it seems to be fading away as time goes by. At this level of play he's All Star material. Let's hope he keeps it up throughout the season.

In another matter, Pau Gasol is too much for FIBA basket, it's just not fair.

Bohkke wrote:Ricky has always had a big confidence problem in regard of his shooting. Luckily it seems to be fading away as time goes by. At this level of play he's All Star material. Let's hope he keeps it up throughout the season.

In another matter, Pau Gasol is too much for FIBA basket, it's just not fair.

What made me cringe today in his game is his complete unwillingness to even try to finish at the rim. there were several times he had a HUGE lane towards the basket, he took several steps towards it and saw ghosts and passed it off. He needs to be a threat to score at the rim. Just has to!

Ricky today

20'
17 pts
5 as
5/8
2/4 3pts
2 reb
1 st
2 to

http://www.fiba.basketball/es/eurobasket/2017/0209/Czech-Republic-Spain#|tab=boxscore_statistics

stitches wrote:

Bohkke wrote:Ricky has always had a big confidence problem in regard of his shooting. Luckily it seems to be fading away as time goes by. At this level of play he's All Star material. Let's hope he keeps it up throughout the season.

In another matter, Pau Gasol is too much for FIBA basket, it's just not fair.

What made me cringe today in his game is his complete unwillingness to even try to finish at the rim. there were several times he had a HUGE lane towards the basket, he took several steps towards it and saw ghosts and passed it off. He needs to be a threat to score at the rim. Just has to!

Yeah, he still hesitates a lot. Again, is lack of confidence. He can do it. He just over thinks it. Hopefully, from what I've read from other posters, the Jazz staff can help him get better at that, too.

Another great game for Lauri(24/7 on 13 shots). The kid can play.

Ricky had 14 points in the first six minutes yesterday. But he also hurt his left wrist during the game. Hope it's ok.

Doncic is such a baller! His skill and IQ are tremendous! He just pretty much dragged Slovenia to a win vs Greece while Dragic was out with foul trouble.





That pass at 3:45 is awesome.

Markkanen is having another crazy clutch performance right now! WOW! Watch if you can find it.

Edit: Finland won after double overtime! Markkanen forced both overtimes with game tying shots. Finished the game with 27/9/2/1/1

Look at this beauty:



BTW I want to point out that this is NOT normal. Young players don't usually get the playing time, let alone the carte blanche to decide games at FIBA level. Doncic and Markkanen are a bit of an exception, not the rule.

edit2: full highlights of Lauri:

stitches wrote:Doncic is such a baller! His skill and IQ are tremendous! He just pretty much dragged Slovenia to a win vs Greece while Dragic was out with foul trouble.

Read on Twitter

Watch on YouTube

That pass at 3:45 is awesome.

He looks like a great prospect......

BTW, that was Anthony Randolph playing for Slovenia...... All I can say is WTF........

stitches wrote:

Watch on YouTube

Check out Rubio's pin point, length of the court, over the top pass to Pau Gasol at the 58 second mark. Gobert runs the court as well or better than any center in the league. Rubio can reward him for it.

Also, Rubio had two nice drive and finishes at the basket.

Crunch 99 wrote:
Also, Rubio had two nice drive and finishes at the basket.

IMO that will be the key for him.

I actually believe that Rubio has already reached the "at least average shooter" mark. What can prevent him to finally become a true star is his ability (and willingness) of finishing at the rim, where his last season stats are still a concern.

He is now stronger and has filled out his frame, and with his instincts in other areas, it's hard to believe that he lacks touch, so I hope it is a matter of confidence.

Rubio is playing right now, if you guys want to watch...

He just scored a 3 in transition. He's been doing that this summer. Interesting.

Markkanen looks more athletic and not as slow as he looked in college.