Rubio Thread III

[dansone]

I think the best thing is Ricky has a lot of potencial.
You can compare with the way Pau Gasol was becoming much stronger year after year to face the best power-forwards, Rubio can work his body and improve it, but for example, Rose can not improve his basketball IQ, that is innate in Rubio.

[guille_4]

I think that is a fair assessment too.

I'm not too worried about his defense. I would take concern about his offense in general. The consensus projects Rubio as a fantastic passer and playmaker once he arrives to the NBA. But what about scoring? I don't think he will be the type of player that can get 20 points on a consistent basis at the NBA-level. I don't think Rubio will develop a mentality to score high digits. His initial intent is to get his teammates involved by making plays. I wouldn't be surprised if he tops out around 14-17 points a game.

At all, that is actually what I am expecting from him. I doubt he is going to be a franchise man, but I think he will deff be a top squire as is Pau Gasol from Kobe Bryant. I expect him to do something like 15 points/10-12 assists at his prime, but if well surrounded, to be a real leader and a potential All Star player.
In his first season, I hope he gets 25-28 minutes per game with 7-9 points/6-8 assists, unless he improves a heck his jumper shot. Regarding his mentality to score high digits, when he played with his age group, he used to have that kind of mentality, he actually scored 51 points in the u-16 FIBA European Championship. He will never be in that aspect like OJ Mayo, Rudy Gay or Tyreke Evans, but I believe he will gradually increase his scoring digits.

[Saltine]

Ronzone on Rubio;
http://www.nba.com/timberwolves/news/Ru ... 08_23.html

Tony Ronzone: He did a phenomenal job. I was so proud of him. In one eye, we had to win for the USA, but in my other eye I was cheering for Ricky. Of course he's property of the Minnesota Timberwolves. But Ricky handled himself very well, we're very guard-dominated with our USA team, we have Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, Rajon Rondo, Chauncey Billups are very athletic. Our whole situation here, getting ready to win this World Championship is that we got to pressure the guards internationally. We put a lot of pressure on Ricky, and it did not bother him at all. He handled it very well, he drove on us, took it to the basket. You kind of look at him and you think to yourself, if he would of been put on our team with USA, how many more assists and opportunities he would've had because the Spanish team is not as athletic as we are. They don't have Rudy Gay and Kevin Durant on the wings, they have good players, but they're more of an organized structure type of game to their system. So what Ricky did out there was phenomenal, I'm very happy for him. It's exciting times knowing that we have this kid under our name.

Jonah Ballow: Now looking at Ricky Rubio from an X's and O's standpoint, what do you see out of him as far as what his game will translate at that next level. What will Ricky Rubio do in the next couple of years in the NBA that you saw maybe of glimpse of in that contest against the USA team.

Tony Ronzone: One to handle pressure, the pressure is not going to bother him. He started when he was 17 years old in the Olympic game against us in 2008 in China. He has a skill as an NBA player to handle pressure, to create opportunities for scoring opportunities. That's his job to create opportunities for his team to be successful. His plus-minus in that game was at plus-22, which is pretty amazing. As soon as he got in the game, we were up, and he totally took over the game. That's the skill level he has. He got bigger, he got stronger in that last year or two, he shoots the ball well, he's got a great release. Probably the one thing he has to get better on is he just has to be more consistent knocking down that three-ball.

Jonah Ballow: As far as how he fits into an NBA game, that up-tempo style. He could probably thrive in a fast break type of offense that Minnesota would like to execute in the next couple of years.

Tony Ronzone: No question, he's got that skill and talent already. If you think about it, you put any kid in college or anybody right now to go against Derrick Rose, the No. 1 pick in the draft, Stephen Curry, and Rajon Rondo, who has won an NBA championship, you think about it, how many people can compete at that type of level. Ricky Rubio competed and played well, and never backed down, and defensively he was a warrior. He had four steals against us, that's pretty amazing.

[C.lupus]

Nice to see praise like that coming from Ronzone. Thanks.

[Vin20]

Hey guys!

I don't know if this will interest you but I was in Madrid during the Spain vs. USA and Ricky and Love talked for a while before the game. I don't know what they were talking about but they were smiling and at the end they "hugged" each other. Love said he'd say something to Rubio about Minnesota in the game so...

And, about his scoring... Let' see. In his first years at pro level he played in Joventut with Rudy so he didn't need to score a lot. Rudy was a star in Europe and he scored like 20ppg. In 2008, when Rudy left to the NBA and Ricky was "alone" in Joventut, he needed to take that responsability and scored like 10ppg. That's also what happened when he played with kids of his age: he was the only one who did something And he averaged 23ppg I think.

In the Spanish Team he doesn't need to score cause we've got: Calderon (not anymore), Rudy, Navarro, Llull, Garbajosa... Now he'll be the starting PG and maybe Coach Scariolo will tell him to score more, cause we don't have Calderon's scoring...

And in FCBarcelona he doesn't need to score either: Navarro, Lorbek, Mickeal, Basile, Morris, Lakovic...

When it's "Rubio's scoring day", he'll take advantage of that (for example, he did 5/5 on 3 against Caja Laboral and 17pts). But Rubio's job is passing, running the offense, creating shots for his teammates... And yes, I think sometimes he's too unselfish. (The other day, he was alone in front of the basket but instead of scoring, he passed the ball to Llull to shoot a 3 and he missed it).

[pumunga]

I think that is a fair assessment too.

I'm not too worried about his defense. I would take concern about his offense in general. The consensus projects Rubio as a fantastic passer and playmaker once he arrives to the NBA. But what about scoring? I don't think he will be the type of player that can get 20 points on a consistent basis at the NBA-level. I don't think Rubio will develop a mentality to score high digits. His initial intent is to get his teammates involved by making plays. I wouldn't be surprised if he tops out around 14-17 points a game.

nash,2 time mvp, has never averaged 20 for a season, if we wanna get serious hes never averaged over 19 over the course of a season, so id have to agree with 14-17 ppg

[C.lupus]

I don't think scoring 20 ppg is a prerequisite to being a franchise player, either.

[Krapinsky]

Arguably the greatest NBA player of all time, Bill Russell, never averaged 20 ppg in a season, so yeah I would say that isn't a qualifier.

[john2jer]

Franchise players lead their teams to victory. When the game is on the line, you want the ball in their hands. Now if that means they're scoring the game winning bucket, or setting someone else for an easy shot, I don't care. Bottomline, you want that guy to have the ball and trust him to make the right decision.

For us, Rubio is that guy. You want him on that court, you NEED him on that court.

[Winter Wonder]

For us, Rubio is that guy. You want him on that court, you NEED him on that court.

Easy there Jack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hopNAI8Pefg

[Vindicater]

Man, I hope there is no lockout... I really want to see him throwing lobs to Johnson next year!

[dream_catcher_9]

I'm watching the USA vs Spain game again and one thing keeps sticking in my head. Ive seen this in all his other games too but..........

His Basketball awareness is ridiculous. I mean seriously he has this incredible feel for the game that he knows where everyone is and what is going to happen next. Bird used to be like that, Jason Kidd to an extent, but Rubio is on a different level than 99% of NBA players right now at 19.

[wildvikeswolves]

I'm watching the USA vs Spain game again and one thing keeps sticking in my head. Ive seen this in all his other games too but..........

His Basketball awareness is ridiculous. I mean seriously he has this incredible feel for the game that he knows where everyone is and what is going to happen next. Bird used to be like that, Jason Kidd to an extent, but Rubio is on a different level than 99% of NBA players right now at 19.

thast why we love him so much, because he is always a play before everyone else.he may gamble alot and pass up some easy layups for himself to set up another teamates but he is only 19 and still has alot of learning to do and no doubt in my mind he will learn those two things. he cannot get here soon enough.

we have a great young core of Rubio, Love, Wes Johnson, Beasley, 1st rounder next year, and Pekovic. I am glad that at least one person (Fran Ferchillo) can ralize that.

[Vin20]

Exactly. But that's also a "problem". I mean, Rubio sees the game before anyone else (now I remember a commercial by him saying "magic, isn't it?" ) But maybe his teammates can't see what he's trying to do and they won't catch his flashy passes.

I remember his first games with Barcelona, it took his teammates a few days to understand Rubio's game. You always have to be prepared to receive the ball, even if he's on the other side of the court.

[Basti]

Exactly. But that's also a "problem". I mean, Rubio sees the game before anyone else (now I remember a commercial by him saying "magic, isn't it?" ) But maybe his teammates can't see what he's trying to do and they won't catch his flashy passes.

I remember his first games with Barcelona, it took his teammates a few days to understand Rubio's game. You always have to be prepared to receive the ball, even if he's on the other side of the court.

if Rubio really comes over as soon as next season we still have plenty of time to let them grow together. I don't think it will take more than half a season to establish on-court chemistry. sure the first weeks or even months will very likely to be frustrating to watch because of an expected high amount of turnovers but I'm pretty sure they all will adapt.

[Klomp]

If you want to read the latest garbage article: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/4447 ... -minnesota

[eToasT]

If you want to read the latest garbage article: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/4447 ... -minnesota

That was probably the worst pile of trash I've ever seen.

[Foye]

If you want to read the latest garbage article: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/4447 ... -minnesota

That was probably the worst pile of trash I've ever seen.

We're now all dummer for reading it.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtNHuqHWefU[/youtube]

[Devilzsidewalk]

haha wow, that takes a lot of nerve for a Blazers fan to write an article saying that the Blazers could make Rubio happy where the Wolves can't when Port already struck out in the most miserable way possible not once, but twice with high profile Spanish players. It's like Bush giving Obama advice on how to fix the Iraq war.

[Esohny]

I love that author's grasp of the trade value of NBA players. I could almost see his head threatening to explode when he was wondering if the Mavericks would be willing to trade the great Jason Terry for Rubio.

Complete moron.