jinxed wrote:I'm not sure why you think he's a pedestrian athlete..no he's not world class explosive like Dwyane Wade..not even close..but he's got great stamina..I've never seen him tired..although i've never seen him play 40 minutes he either..and I wouldn't see him as a weak athlete ..he has good coordination..he dunks very easily..I would say AVERAGE nba athlete..
I wouldn't say average because his lateral quickness and leaping ability are so unimpressive. Athleticism isn't an advantage to him, it's a hindrance, and that makes him below average. Athletically, he has more in common with JJ Redick than a lot of other guys, though by my eye he isn't stump-armed like Redick. His stamina is tough to evaluate; he plays a limited number of games and not a lot of minutes... and he doesn't play at a pace that's similar to the NBA. Having said that, lots of Euroleague guys end up not having an issue in that respect in the NBA, so I'm not going to worry about it.
I'm encouraged by his basketball IQ and his court vision. His FT shooting makes me think he's got the foundations for a decent jumper. But he's going to hit the rookie wall something fierce, because he's never really played more than 25 minutes per game over the course of a season or a tournament or anything, and he's not even approached 82 games in a season. That's an issue for anyone, of course, not specifically him.
Love his passing, I really do. He's a bit too flashy with the dribble and that will cause problems if he does it too much in the league, but he's got a pretty tight handle and that will help him. It's part of what makes Steve Nash so special, a rather underappreciated element of his game actually, so that's encouraging. But right now, you know who that sounds a lot like?
Jason Williams.
White Chocolate was a pretty good player once Hubie got a hold of him (especially since Brown got him playing defense) but he struggled his whole career with inefficiency on offense and it really limited him, crafted a glass ceiling for him. Now, Rubio's larger by about 3 inches and as a FT shooter has more in common with Memphis J-Will than Sacramento Williams, so maybe he'll parlay that size into some more success finishing around the rim. Not sure. More important will be the 20-footer, because Kidd made a whole career out of sucking at the rim and being tepid beyond the arc but being able to stick shots around the FT line and out of the PnR, so maybe Rubio can do that too.
Another point to consider is the spacing in the NBA; less zone defense will definitely help Rubio, as will the three-point line, more room to run the PnR. It's a shame he's going to Minnesota (sorry Wolves fans!) because he'd be a lot better off with a competent coach and a more compelling defensive cast.
Ah well, we shall see. He won't suck, that's for sure. He's going to look ugly as a scorer and I don't think February will treat him kindly but his passing will show through and if his defensive effectiveness translates from the Euroleague even a little, that'll make him valuable enough to watch closely and see if he figures out the jumper.