I keep seeing many Blazer fans wanting to make a move for Rubio, even if it means taking back a huge contract in return. As support, I keep seeing his play in the Olympics referenced. Remembering how unimpressed I was with him over most of the Olympics, I decided to look up his stats from the tournament. Here is what I found. PPG - 4.8 RPG - 4 APG - 3 TOPG - 2 SPG - 2.1 BPG - 0.1 MPG- 18.5 Fouls - 2.1 FG - 28% 3PT - 16% FT - 78 http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/08...son//teamnumber/362/fe_teamPlay_playStat.html Now, that's not bad, but it also isn't anything noteworthy other than his being 18 years-old. What these numbers tell me is that Rubio is years away from being ready to lead an NBA team to a title.
I'm with you PapaG, let's see what we can do with Bayless. I don't think we should give away the talent required to get that high of a draft pick for another PG project.
Which is extremely relevant to his being able to lead an NBA team with title aspirations. He was fairly mediocre-to-poor in the Olympics, and his assist/TO ratio is frankly surprising considering some of the garbage teams in the Olympics.
As usual, you were much more succinct in expressing your point. I agree 100%. I'm not insulting Rubio, either. I just don't see how he improves the team next year. Frankly, I'd rather have Blake running the point ahead of Rubio, and trading up high to get Rubio means he'll want to play.
I hate this discussion - because it ignores the kid's role on the team and it provides a very small sample... If we were to use the same method to evaluate him against Jason Kidd he would look like gold... Kidd (USA) | Rubio (ESP) PPG 1.6 | 4.8 RPG 2.6 | 4 ORPG 0.8 | 1.4 DRPG 1.9 | 2.6 ASPG 2 | 3 TOPG 1.5 | 2 FG2P% 100% | 35% FG3P% 50% | 16.7% FT% 0% | 78.3% ---- Should we assume that Kidd can not lead an NBA team based on these stats? Rubio is a prospect - probably one of the better ones out there. Of course he will not come into the league, put a team on his back and carry them to the Larry O'brian trophy. But - if you have a chance drafting him without breaking the core of your team - you would be silly not to, unless you know for sure that the Meteor is heading for earth and will hit before the 2010 Summer League starts...
I'm very high on Rubio and I don't expect Rubio to major impact player next year. Ideally, I'd like to trade Bayless in a package to acquire Rubio, clear out Sergio and either keep Blake or deal for someone like Hinrich. That provides the veteran bridge for a season or two, allows Rubio to play significant minutes as the primary back-up and then Rubio takes over in a couple of seasons and, hopefully, gives Portland a top-tier point guard.
I don't know of anyone who thinks that Rubio is going to step right in and be an all-star level PG as a rookie, or even as a second-year player... teenage all-star point guards are very very rare, indeed. Rubio was a key component, as a 17 year-old, to the second-best basketball team in the world. He did not have a strong tournament statistically, but I don't think anyone has claimed that he did. Ed O.
For comparison: Jose Calderon in the Olympics 20 mpg 7.3 pts 3 rebounds 1 assist 40% fg 33% 3pts Calderon is damn near 10 years older than Rubio and averaged 13 pts, 9 assists on nearly 50% fg shooting (40% from three) in the NBA last season. One tourny doesn't mean shit.
i wouldn't want to give up the farm to get rubio but if all it took at 24, bayless and a couple 2nd rounders, i'd do it in a heartbeat. this kid could be very special and a great player, now he could also be a bust but i see his potential far out shining bayless'. of course this all assumes that we have a different head coach, because i'm still not sure that nate would ever let the reigns off of rubio.
Calderon played on a non-playoff team and as far as I can tell, he's never been compared to Pete Maravich and other all-time greats. Yet Calderon clearly outplayed Rubio in the Olympics.
Rubio is almost the player that Calderon is, in spite of being nearly a decade younger. You understand that players who are really young have higher upside, all other things being equal, than older players... right? Ed O.
If Memphis is that desperate (i.e. fire sale), then heck yeah I'd make that trade. That's way beyond being Pritch-slapped.
That's not much of an argument. My point, which I'll make again, is that Calderon's statistics in the Olympics didn't match his statistics in the NBA. He performed much better in the NBA than he did in the Olympics. The Olympics were not a good measure of his production in the NBA. So projecting poor NBA performance onto Rubio from his performance in the Olympics is asinine. It doesn't matter whether Toronto is a playoff team. I don't care who or what Ricky Rubio has been compared to. Why would that matter? What matters is whether or not he has the ability to perform in the NBA.
Of course I do, but it's also possible that Rubio is much closer to his ceiling than other players. Or, maybe the sky is the limit, but I don't see how he's ready to lead a team to an NBA title until near the end of his rookie contract in a best-case scenario. Plus, he's a gambler on defense who has more trouble than Blake keeping his man from penetrating. In ACB he was playing in a zone, for Pete's sake.
I shouldn't have argued Calderon versus Rubio since that comparison has nothing to do with how Rubio immediately impacts the Blazers, and I didn't project poor NBA performance onto Rubio other than to say he isn't ready to lead a team to a title right now.
If you had your choice between a PG with great numbers or one who helped lead his team to be one of the top two in the world, who would you choose? If you don't like Rubio, then you must really hate Batum. His numbers suck. I happen to really like him because his contribution is so much more than the numbers. I don't know if Rubio will be an all-star PG, but he sure as heck did a solid job of leading his team (in minutes too) to a solid effort against one of the impressive teams ever to be assembled. Look past the numbers. Re: Bayless, I like him too. I don't really know which would be best because Bayless hasn't shown much yet. Unlike tlong, I'm not as good a talent evaluator as KP, so I will trust his judgment. I'm sure KP benefits as well from talking to Rudy about Rubio's talent level.
That's a strawman, and I don't dislike Rubio other than he makes a 54-win team worse next season IMO if he is handed the point. Does anybody actually read the posts?
