College Wolf wrote:


I know, most people wouldnt do it.
I have watched him a lot this season and just is not a player we need. He can pass and has a very high basketball IQ, but will never be teams first scoring option. He even never plays in the last minutes of a dramatic game.

Flash wrote:


Ehhh...You also have been a proponent of Flynn as the alpha dog on this team. perhaps you're a bit biased...?

Nobody ever said Rubio was going to be a primary scorer on our team.

I think a lot of people here like myself are hoping that he's the next Steve Nash.

roundhouse wrote:


I would even be happy with "just" the next Jason Kidd.

College Wolf wrote:


WHOA, CW. Are you implying that Steve Nash in his prime is better than Kidd in his prime? You're a better mind than that...

Not sure what everyone else thinks, but I think Rubio's game is most similar to Kidd's. Same height, very good rebounders for point guards, good defenders, not great from three-point range.

Nash is shorter, doesn't have the same D, doesn't rebound as well, and is a great enough shooter to be the only player who has ever beaten Flip Saunders in a game of HORSE.

Courtside wrote:


Yea he's not exactly like either of them.

His passing, court vision, and the way he keeps his dribble going all the time definitely resembles Nash. Although he's not as good a shooter as Nash is.

He's good defensively like Kidd but not really in the same way. Kidd is big and physical while Rubio is more like a sneaky defender that can pick your pocket and jump the passing lanes. Rubio is a good rebounder, but not on the same level as Kidd.

I'd say he's more like Nash, but if he wants to be nearly as good as either of them, he needs to become a better shooter.

Courtside wrote:
[i]John Hollinger has a formula for translating Euroleague stats to the NBA which he explains like this:
• Scoring rate decreases 25 percent
• Rebound rate increases by 18 percent (there are more missed shots in NBA play)
• Assist rate increases by 31 percent (Euro scorers are tightwads with assists)
• Shooting percentage drops by 12 percent
• Overall, PER drops by 30 percent
Let's go with per-36 minute numbers. Here are Rubio's per-36 numbers in the Euroleague:
11.0 pts, 5.5 reb, 9.7 ast, .390 FG%, 22.2 PER

And here's what Ricky's per-36 minute numbers look like when translated to the NBA:
8.3 pts, 6.5 reb, 12.7 ast, .343 FG%, 15.6 PER[/i]

Now who knows if his euro stats will actually translate to the NBA as John Hollinger would suggest, but consider that Jason Kidd's career rebounding average is a 6.6 rpg...

thepaintedarea.blogspot.com/2010/01/chec...-on-ricky-rubio.html

I should probably also point out, when you're looking at Rubio's very low estimated field goal percentage, that Kidd has a career average of 40.3 percent and his first three years in the league were all well under forty percent shooting.

Nash's career shooting percentage, on the other hand, is 48.9. He has shot over fifty percent every year since he came back to Phoenix, but he was shooting very well for a guard even before he came to the wide-open stat-pumping offensive system the Suns play.

Courtside wrote:


Mavs were running and gunning as fast as they could during Nash's run there.

David Kahn on Rubio playing for the Wolves in the future:

espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/1387...-ricky-rubios-coming