Good News for Heat fans: Lakers prefer Rondo over Goran

[ducky]

I'm telling you, you are absolutely ignorant on the subject. Only a person who has never seen him play would say it.

His rookie year he was amazing defensively. Then that 2nd year he struggled a bit because he still wasn't 100% from the knee injury. But since then he has been back to being great (when he decides to make an appearance on the court that is).

The Wolves this season were terrible defensively right? When Rubio was on court they are fine. His on/off difference is sometime like a full 10 points less that the opponents are scoring when he is on the court compared to when he isn't. That is unheard of he makes such a huge difference.

 

[trojanfan12]

I'm telling you, you are absolutely ignorant on the subject. Only a person who has never seen him play would say it.

His rookie year he was amazing defensively. Then that 2nd year he struggled a bit because he still wasn't 100% from the knee injury. But since then he has been back to being great (when he decides to make an appearance on the court that is).

The Wolves this season were terrible defensively right? When Rubio was on court they are fine. His on/off difference is sometime like a full 10 points less that the opponents are scoring when he is on the court compared to when he isn't. That is unheard of he makes such a huge difference.

I guess I'll take your word for it then and he did win ACB Defensive player of the year in 2010 in the Euro League he was in.

But if he's so good in the NBA though, how come he isn't on any all defensive teams and you're the only person I've ever seen or heard praise his defense? His injuries?

 

[ducky]

I guess I'll take your word for it then and he did win ACB Defensive player of the year in 2010 in the Euro League he was in. But if he's so good in the NBA though, how come he isn't on any all defensive teams and you're the only person I've ever seen or heard praise his defense? His injuries?

Part injuries, part the fact that he plays on a horrific team.

He's great defensively. He takes too many chances sometimes but he makes up for it more often than not.

It really is his top skill. His shooting is always going to be woeful but his defense and ability to create for others more than makes up for it.

As a Wolves fan, I want my team to get lucky and get Okafor and then go out and find a 3 and D wing to push Wiggins to the 2. If they were able to do that, they would be one of the better defending units in the league.

People ragging on his defense since he entered the league is a running joke on Timbewolves broadcasts. There is a lot to make fun of on this team but people who make fun of his D, which for some reason has always been in vogue ever since he entered the league due to some preconceived notion that European players can't defend, just shows that whoever is doing it has no idea what they are talking about.

His effort alone on defense makes him better than half the guards in this league (no one can question the kid's effort on any night). Being exceptionally long and smart put him in close to elite status.

So knock the Wolves for a ton of things....but don't knock Rubio's D. He's really good at it when healthy (which isn't' a lot unfortunately).

 

[trojanfan12]

Part injuries, part the fact that he plays on a horrific team.

He's great defensively. He takes too many chances sometimes but he makes up for it more often than not.

It really is his top skill. His shooting is always going to be woeful but his defense and ability to create for others more than makes up for it.

As a Wolves fan, I want my team to get lucky and get Okafor and then go out and find a 3 and D wing to push Wiggins to the 2. If they were able to do that, they would be one of the better defending units in the league.

People ragging on his defense since he entered the league is a running joke on Timbewolves broadcasts. There is a lot to make fun of on this team but people who make fun of his D, which for some reason has always been in vogue ever since he entered the league due to some preconceived notion that European players can't defend, just shows that whoever is doing it has no idea what they are talking about.

His effort alone on defense makes him better than half the guards in this league (no one can question the kid's effort on any night). Being exceptionally long and smart put him in close to elite status.

So knock the Wolves for a ton of things....but don't knock Rubio's D. He's really good at it when healthy (which isn't' a lot unfortunately).

Didn't know all of that. Makes sense though. Plus, being the only good defender on a bad defensive team can get a player lumped in because of how bad the teams defensive numbers are. He's also so much fun to watch when he's creating offensively, that folks probably don't pay much attention to his defense. I know I haven't.

 

[WiggyRuss]

You have zero idea what you are talking about. Rubio is a very, very good defender. One of the best in the league at the position. He is an absolute difference maker in that area.

You couldn't be more off with that statement.

Rubio has developed into a very good defender from what I have read. Again- dont see him play much- but i have read more than one article detailing his abilities as a defender- if Rubio could shoot just average he would be an all star year after year as he is an amazing passer and a smart player- but that just terrible shooting really hurts him.

 

[ducky]

Rubio has developed into a very good defender from what I have read. Again- dont see him play much- but i have read more than one article detailing his abilities as a defender- if Rubio could shoot just average he would be an all star year after year as he is an amazing passer and a smart player- but that just terrible shooting really hurts him.

He actually walked into the league pretty good actually. It was the one huge shocker with him when he first got here. The kid plays hard and that makes all the difference in the world on that end of the court.

And it would take more than being an average shooter to get him on all-star teams I think. It is CRAZY how many uber-stud PG's there are in this league. Westbrook, Paul, Curry, Lillard, Parker....and this is just the western conference!

One of the options I hope my Wolves keep open in the draft is drafting Russell and just moving him to SG. If we can't have one all star PG's, we will just play 2 really solid ones at the same time! Because of both Rubio and Russell's length, they wouldn't have much trouble at all guarding the 2 spot still.

 

[wildturkey]

NBA Real Plus-Minus - National Basketball Association - ESPN

Rubio leads all PGs in Defensive plus/minus for this season. There's some noise there since he hasn't played many games but its at least an indication that he's stable defensively

 

[wildturkey]

Bah, edit time ran out. The thought just occurred to me to check last year's rankings. If you bump it back one year, Rubio is 2nd out of all PGs, playing in all 82 games. Just further evidence to support his defensive prowess

 

[lakersrule]

I don't care how good of a defender Rubio may be, he can't throw a pea into the ocean. He's sort of like Rondo in that aspect. I want my PG to be somewhat of a threat to score.