oldshoolballer wrote:Watching Rui last night one thing kind of stood out it looks easy for him.He just naturally fits in almost effortless.I think he can easily score 20 a game right out the gate on 50% shooting.I like they let him bring up the ball some that's the next phase of his development,being a better playmaker.
I said that and people started calling me out. But the reality is that he's our second best scorer right now behind Beal and it isn't really close. Let's break down the game today.
His first shot at 23 seconds tells you everything you need to know off the bat. Starts a little right of center at the three point line. This seam to be a play for Brad but the timing was off. So what does Rui do? He does what he's always done. Dribbles to the middle of the 3-point line, goes between his legs and his now squared up against Randle. Freeze the video at 26 seconds. Already Randle is out of good defensive position. Rui has the ball in his left hand and Randle wants to push him to his right. Hesitation dribble at 27 seconds, Randle jumps back anticipating a drive. Instead Rui steps back and now has a ton of separation to elevate for a jumper that he can make consistently. Now if this was an actual play for Rui, Justin Anderson and his defender wouldn't be right there. But because Rui just decided to create from nothing floor spacing is off. In this situation it doesn't matter. Rui elevates and knocks down the jumper, even with the added pressure from Morris.
Everything you ned to know about Rui's offensive capability is in that paragraph. Ignore Morris and focus only on Randle. The fact that Rui got so much separation is incredible. Know we can say that Randle isn't playing hard defense, but this is the kind of defense Rui's going to see for most of the season. And from the very first play, Rui easily takes the ball, creates separation and knocks down a jumper. This is something that he did in consistently in college time and time again. He's elite at creating separation. Now that's good but you have to have a counter. Because next time, Randle will be looking for the step back jumper.
Let's go to the next play at 42 seconds. Rui grabs the rebound and pushes in transition. Not even talking about the play he actually makes. Let's just talk about how far back Randle is. That is a wide open 3 pull-up 3 if Rui wants it. Randle is playing so far back. And this is something that we've seen Rui make before.
3:36
But back to the play. Rui squares up with Randle at 45 seconds. Randle isn't concerned about the 3-point shot at all so he backs off. At 46 seconds Rui hesi-dribbles. Then he gets by Randle and draws 2 fouls. If Robinson isn't there to help it's likely at least a layup if not an and 1. Again, this is a routine play for Rui. He did it all the time in college.
Next play 55 seconds. Beal - Thomas pick and roll. Rui's defender helps and Rui gets a wide open 3. These are the kind of 3's we talk about with Rui. I know questions still exist for a lot of people. But the question for me is no longer can he make it. The question is how good is he. He made 40%+ in college, he made them in summer league and he made them in FIBA. Rui will continue to get these wide open 3's off of PnR's involving Beal because Beal is simply too lethal coming off screens to not help.
At 1:06 we see the play I called for since the day I first started watching Rui tape. The Beal/Rui PnR. Freeze at 1:10. Rui can pick and pop easily. He can roll to the hoop and finish easily. Or he can even fade to the 3-point line for a 3. If they switch now you have two players that can easily exploit mismatches. The vast majority of large defenders cannot guard Beal one-on-one. But the more efficient matchup might be for Beal to accept the switch and let Rui post up against the guard. It's not a stretch to say that our success this season will hinge on the chemistry that Beal and Rui develop in the PnR game. If I'm an opposing team I like help with either the defender guarding Thomas Bryant or the defender guarding Troy Brown Jr. (when he comes back), assuming Davis Bertans is the other player on the court.
You let the play run and Rui gets a layup. Randle contests, but again for Rui this is second nature. He's done consistently in college so it's not even like we are talking about ways that he needs to expand his game.
Last but not least the play at 1:30. People in this thread have loved to talk about Rui's low basketball iq. Go to 1:33 and look at how Rui rotates upward as Randle looks in to see if he will need to help on Thomas Bryant. This simple movement is what sets up Rui's easy drive. It's easy to look at the play and say Randle was playing bad defense, but it's actually a great play by Rui. He rotates upward and now Randle has a problem. Randle's smart enough to know that Rui's supposedly a bad shooter so he doesn't close out hard. But even then it doesn't make a difference. Rui get's the pass blows by him and finishes at the rim. If I had any criticism of this play it would be that Rui took an extra dribble that he didn't need to.
Everything I've talked about above is stuff that Rui could do before he came into the league. He's already good enough to score in this league. And teams that put average to below average defenders on Rui like Julius Randle are going to have major problems. Not seen in this video is one play where Randle actually plays pretty good defense on Rui. You know what happened? Rui pass the ball out. That's the difference between Rui and Parker or Rui and an inefficient scorer. Either the shot he wants or he gives up the ball. For Rui scoring is about the move he wants to use. Unlike most American players that just decide they want to score and dribble a bunch of times and force some random shot, Rui is decisive. He knows what he's capable of, what he's comfortable with and where he wants to get to on the floor. If he can get there, he'll shoot. If not he'll give it up. That's why he's efficient.
One game this season, Rui's midrange jumper is going to be on and he's going to put the rest of the league on notice. Randle wasn't even playing him for the jumper and he blew by him. So if a defender ever tries to take it away, they are going to have be in for a tough day because Rui can put the ball on the floor. Like I said in a previous post. It's going to be hard to keep this guy locked away. But, and perhaps the most exciting thing, is the potential for Rui's offensive game if he can establish his 3-point shot as a weapon. If you know basketball well, you can probably guess what comes next but if you don't go back to the second youtube video and freeze it at 3:44 and look at Fran Fraschilla's face.
