The Ricky Rubio Problem

[baldur]

If I were Rubio, I would take advantage of this year and stop looking at my teammates so much.
Most of his mistakes are caused because his first idea is to find partners instead of shooting.
I think it would be more selfish and I would recover my shot by shooting more to the basket.
This is how he played in Phoenix and it turned out well, he does not need to look for teammates, he will simply find them if he thinks about him first.

Be selfish my friend.
I know it is something you never did, but it is the moment.
Get your 15-20 points and for the next match. Forget assists, they are going to come by themself.

If only shooting wasn't his biggest woe.

[Heimdal]

They don't run plays. 4 players place themselves into their expected spots and the ball carrier is forced to create something out of nothing. When it's Russell, he can't find anyone open so he takes tough, inefficient shots. Since he's pretty talented, he makes some of them but the overall outcome is ugly and a negative.

When it's Rubio, he can't find anyone open either. Nobody moves and when they move, since it's not a play, it's a "decide on the fly" system, Rubio doesn't really know what to expect from his teammates. Will he go left? Right? Stop? Go? Turnover. Since the passing game is a turnover waiting to happen, option B is being forced to play the Russell style, which he isn't good at. Pile up the misses and the losses and now he's Alexey Shved.

JMac does decently because he's good at attacking the basket, and that seems to be the only way to be mildly competent with this system. Close your eyes and attack the rim. I doubt JMac would be successful enough against the opposing starters and the Embiids of the league.

Fire Rosas and Saunders.

[Dual]

Trade him please. He don't belong to a Saunders/Rosas type of team at all.

[Sugarless]

Yeah, he's 30yo, coming off his best season and having led Phoenix to an 8-0 record in the bubble mostly against playoff teams, but he turned into a washed-up player in the off-season.

SMH.

[Charly]

They don't run plays. 4 players place themselves into their expected spots and the ball carrier is forced to create something out of nothing. When it's Russell, he can't find anyone open so he takes tough, inefficient shots. Since he's pretty talented, he makes some of them but the overall outcome is ugly and a negative.

When it's Rubio, he can't find anyone open either. Nobody moves and when they move, since it's not a play, it's a "decide on the fly" system, Rubio doesn't really know what to expect from his teammates. Will he go left? Right? Stop? Go? Turnover. Since the passing game is a turnover waiting to happen, option B is being forced to play the Russell style, which he isn't good at. Pile up the misses and the losses and now he's Alexey Shved.

JMac does decently because he's good at attacking the basket, and that seems to be the only way to be mildly competent with this system. Close your eyes and attack the rim. I doubt JMac would be successful enough against the opposing starters and the Embiids of the league.

Fire Rosas and Saunders.

That is what i am talking about.
Nothing is going to change 'cause the system is nothing.
So, in this situation, wait (and ask for) a trade, be selfish, obtain 20 points every match and good bye f****g system of s****.

Trade him, please.

[Heimdal]

Free-flowing, also called lazy and chaotic.

Read on Twitter

[UnFadeable21]

Rubio had 5 turnovers last night. That’s just unacceptable

[Heimdal]

Rubio had 5 turnovers last night. That’s just unacceptable

It's the system.

Read on Twitter

[LesGrossman]

Rubio had 5 turnovers last night. That’s just unacceptable

It's the system.

Read on Twitter

Its very obviously the system, because a guy who is among the top 3 playmakers in this league next to Jokic and CP3 wont forget over night how to set up his teammates. For some its easier to point at an individual than see the big picture.

[Klomp]

Rubio had 5 turnovers last night. That’s just unacceptable

It's the system.

Read on Twitter

Its very obviously the system, because a guy who is among the top 3 playmakers in this league next to Jokic and CP3 wont forget over night how to set up his teammates. For some its easier to point at an individual than see the big picture.

Here's the thing though.....

Rubio struggled as a playmaker in Utah even more than he has in Minnesota. Is it a bad system? Should Quin Snyder have been fired? No, it was just a poor fit between system and personnel. Now Utah has a much better fit at PG in Conley. We just have to find the right fits for our system. And Rubio has to find the right fit for his skill set.

[Jedzz]

I doubt JMac would be successful enough against the opposing starters and the Embiids of the league.

I thing you went the wrong way with this. I was liking where your post was going until...yeah this was bad.

Embiid by the way is Embiid because of what he does to everyone. Even the players making 30-40 million a year. If he wasn't effective against everyone already starting in the league he wouldn't be known for being who he is. But since you imagine in your head that JMac might be less effective than usual against Embiids of the league he shouldn't start? Is that it? Nevermind there is only one Embiid, but how does that make him different from anyone else exactly?

I've suggested JMac can be sort of like a Lillard and Rose-ish player.

Rose doesn't let bigs stop him around the net. JMac doesn't either.

Lillard of course has done Gobert dirty before. Why not Embiid?

Spoiler:

Watch on YouTube

And of course JMac has already shown Capella the way

Spoiler:

Watch on YouTube

All that's needed really is more starts and more chances playing 76ers and something special might come our way. But like you, so many unbelievers, even his own coaches. Stuck

This gives me an idea. Trade Rubio for Rose? Between Dlo/Rose taking rest games we will see more JMac. When playing Rose gives us that intensity he brings and that never say die play helping this offense do something. Remember how good he was playing offball and off bench here? His 3pt shot really heated up when focusing on helping that way. He's better at starting pt and we saw some of that. But seems like he could work in this mess now. JMac learns more of that from him by playing with him.

[Jedzz]

Rubio had 5 turnovers last night. That’s just unacceptable

It's the system.

Read on Twitter

Its very obviously the system, because a guy who is among the top 3 playmakers in this league next to Jokic and CP3 wont forget over night how to set up his teammates. For some its easier to point at an individual than see the big picture.

System itself or not we've...and by we I mean most fans here and the team have decided it's a great idea to play a rookie with very questionable game IQ and a second year player who's got questionable offensive game IQ both in the mid to high 20s of minutes each game (23-29). Couple that with an everyday rotating trial and error set of starters and rotations and YES, we are bound to see players confusing each other and not being able to predict each others movements. Turnovers. They don't know what they are doing.

Instead of showing you an example of our broken offense. I just want to show an example of the Rockets defense when it was working in order to show the insane level of teamwork going on to make their small ball work. Watch this and then tell me you've seen anything like this switching employed here or the awareness of their players that have to zone cover two players. Or anything like the ability of Rivers on help defense still somehow keeping contain on his corner 3 responsibility. This is something constantly taken advantage of against Wolves. We've seen rare minutes in the last two games where their defense is working. Is it time served together finally letting that happen maybe? It's only been 18 games. Can it get better yet? I don't know.

Watch on YouTube

From what I've seen there is no way our players are coached up enough to show us this kind of teamwork on defense yet and likely the same issue is impacting the offense. If they can stick with the same players and get enough time together maybe they can start playing like a team yet. But we've really made it hard for ourselves expecting rooks and young players to carry high minutes in this scheme.

[Heimdal]

Klomp, Rubio's passing numbers were bad the first season with Utah because:
A) He was asked to shoot more. Career high in shot volume. More shooting, less passing.
B) Snyder's system is like poetry in motion, compared to Saunders **** on a stick. Ball moves, players move, every player knows exactly what he's doing, and assists are shared. Lots of hockey assists. Several players averaging +4 assists, none even dreaming about getting 10. You mention Mike Conley. You know he sucked and was even benched? You know he averaged 4 assists/game last season? Yes, it was Teague 2.0 in Utah and Jazz fans quickly hated the trade.
C) Rubio had clear orders to feed Gobert. Gobert is no Towns. His offensive game is limited to dunks and putbacks and he's got hands of stone. Rubio really struggled to get the ball to Gobert for months and turnovers piled up. They started the season IIRC 11 games below .500 but finished 29-6.

All in all, you can't compare that situation to this one. That was a very complex system.

That 1st season you mention, Rubio shot 42/35/86 for a career high 13.1 points in 29 minutes. The system allowed him to take quality shots.
Now he's shooting 34/18/82 for 6 points in 23 minutes. He's forced to take terrible shots because nobody moves and nobody knows what to do and what the other 4 teammates are going to decide to do on the fly.

Watch this. You won't believe it until you see it:

Watch on YouTube

[Sugarless]

It's the system.

Read on Twitter

Its very obviously the system, because a guy who is among the top 3 playmakers in this league next to Jokic and CP3 wont forget over night how to set up his teammates. For some its easier to point at an individual than see the big picture.

Here's the thing though.....

Rubio struggled as a playmaker in Utah even more than he has in Minnesota.

LMFAO. That's not even remotely true.

Rubio ran the point less in Utah, which is way different from struggling as a playmaker (especially as much as he has this year). And the Jazz missed him last year while Conley was playing like crap.

What the hell are you on?

[_AIJ_]

I really hope Ricky figures everything soon. Tough to see him struggle and get **** on again. He is talented. I think its all mental right now.

[Klomp]

Its very obviously the system, because a guy who is among the top 3 playmakers in this league next to Jokic and CP3 wont forget over night how to set up his teammates. For some its easier to point at an individual than see the big picture.

Here's the thing though.....

Rubio struggled as a playmaker in Utah even more than he has in Minnesota.

LMFAO. That's not even remotely true.

Rubio ran the point less in Utah, which is way different from struggling as a playmaker (especially as much as he has this year). And the Jazz missed him last year while Conley was playing like crap.

What the hell are you on?

Same turnover rate (both per minute and per possession) as this year yet lower assist rate in both Utah years.

[Charly]

I really hope Rubio to be trade as soon as possible. Please, trade him.
There is no present or future here.
Problem isn't mental. There isn't any global concept of play, five men playing alone on their own way.
Simply, nobody can play in this no worked system.

[Sugarless]

Here's the thing though.....

Rubio struggled as a playmaker in Utah even more than he has in Minnesota.

LMFAO. That's not even remotely true.

Rubio ran the point less in Utah, which is way different from struggling as a playmaker (especially as much as he has this year). And the Jazz missed him last year while Conley was playing like crap.

What the hell are you on?

Same turnover rate (both per minute and per possession) as this year yet lower assist rate in both Utah years.

Terrible argument. Non-argument, actually.

That's not a matter of struggling with being a playmaker, it's a matter of what was partially asked of him. Better to avoid those assertions when you haven't watched the games instead of inferring anything from a contextless handpicked stat.

I'll do you one better so you can see how far off you are:

The Wolves have a 102.6 ORTG with Rubio on the floor. The Jazz were 108.5 his first year there and 112.6 the second. Even as he shared some PG duties with Ingles and Mitchell, his influence as a playmaker was so important that he had a +16.3 On/Off net rating in their first trip to the playoffs and +26.5 the second.

What we've seen the past couple of games is the worst Rubio has played, ever. And he's not without fault, but 90% of it is the utterly ridiculous lack of system, talent and BBIQ on this roster. It's not even about fit anymore. Nobody fits on that amorphous offense.

[Crazy-Canuck]

System needs the pg to put the pressure on the rim and make shots, so hes a little out of his element.

Rosas and saunders must have known, so no idea why he was traded for. Especially when they sold the farm for dlo.

[thinktank]

Rubio and DLo have the same problem.

They think they’re better than they are.

Talent is a beautiful thing until it goes to your head.