When you make your professional basketball debut at the age of 15, the hype is going to be real. I mean, come on, could you imagine how bat bleep crazy the American media would go if LeBron started his NBA career when he should have been starting his sophomore year of high school? People go crazy about great athletes, and this craziness is exponential the younger the athlete is. Bryce Harper, LeBron James, Tiger Woods, Ricky Rubio?
It seems weird to put Ricky’s name in this list, but its true, he made his debut at a young age, and basketball fans around the world were very excited about it. He is considered one of the greatest European guard prospects of all time, and the Wolves hopped right on the hype train and drafted him with the fifth pick in the 2009 draft, knowing he wouldn’t come to the Tundra for a couple of years. When he did finally arrive in 2011, people were excited, including myself.
I was lucky enough to be at Ricky’s first game for the Wolves, and boy it was exciting. Kevin Durant and what used to be his Oklahoma City Thunder team came to town to open up the season after a lockout, and the Wolves lost by four. Even with the loss, watching Ricky was exciting; the way he played got the crowd going, his passing, defense, and everything in between. I remember two plays from that game distinctively, the first being when Ricky passed up a wide open three, and the air coming out of the crowd all at once. The second play put all life back into the crowd just as fast as the passed three took it out: a sweet bounce pass to rookie Derrick Williams for a reverse dunk in transition. The crowd erupted late in the fourth, and it seemed like this Spaniard was the real deal. Fast forward five years, and the story has changed quite a bit.
TRADE RUBIO! Wolves fans pleaded on draft night when it seemed that there were some suitors for a trade, notably the 76ers and Bulls, but at the end of draft night, we still had Rubio and new draft pick Kris Dunn. Still today, fans want to move the 25 year old point guard; “he can’t shoot” is often the argument used.
Its true. It hurts me to say it just as much as the next, but its true; he cannot shoot. Its quite obvious, teams play off of him and challenge him to shoot, but he can’t. But everyone hold onto your seat, what if I said, what if I said: it doesn’t matter. His impact on the team is good enough even without his scoring ability. Check out this infographic.
When Rubio is on the court, everyone plays better. This graphic just shows the affect on the three young studs on the team, but he helps everyone he plays with. Gorgui’s net rating goes up by 2.3 with Ricky on the court, Shabazz Muhammed’s goes up 7.5 and Bjelica’s net increases by 7.2 with Mr. Rubio on the court. There is no way to deny he has a positive impact on the team. In fact, how does the overall team perform with Ricky on the court? See the graphic below.
Our beloved Timberwolves are significantly better with Ricky on the court. Points, field goal percent, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, and plus minus all increase, and turnovers decrease. Lets put it this way, if Ricky could have played every minute of every game last year, and our plus minus remained at +0.4, the Pups would have won 42 games using the Pythagorean expectation formula.
Now, one last thing to address is Kris Dunn. I think Dunn can be a stud, a poor man’s Russell Westbrook, but not right away. Many people tell me “sure, Ricky is good, but Dunn will be better”, and my response can only be “sure, Dunn will hopefully be better, but right now he isn’t”. For fans who so desperately yearn for Ricky to be moved, my opinion of a best case scenario for the Wolves would be to hold onto him until the trade deadline and let Dunn develop under him, then reassess the situation. If Ricky doesn’t seem to be getting it done, then you move him. If Dunn isn’t ready, or Ricky is having a good to great season, keep him; seems like a win-win to me.
Once again folks, what I say doesn’t matter. I’m just a crazed fan who needs to write this somewhere and I figure I might as well share it will you. Go Wolves.
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