RIIIIIIICCCCCCKKKKKKKKYYYYYYYY RUUUUUUUUUUUUBBBBIIIOOO!!!!
I've had a lot of favorite players in my time as a basketball fan, but Ricky Rubio is definitely the most recent.....or at least my favorite one from Spain. When I say he's my favorite player, what I mean is that he's my favorite player to have never been a Celtic because obviously current and former Celtics rank at the top. Ricky Rubio has taken the state of Minnesota by storm and shortly will be taking over the entire NBA. I have had the privilege of watching Rajon Rondo for the best five years and it's safe to say that he's one of the best passers in the NBA, but Rubio is simply on another level. People said that he wouldn't be able to play in the NBA because he can't shoot, was too slow, wasn't a good enough defender, and didn't have the athleticism.We had to wait two years for Ricky to come to America, but he's here and proving all the naysayers wrong. The Timberwolves are three games into their season, and Rubio has come off the bench to average 28 minutes per game, scoring 8 points per game, throwing 7 assists per game, and even coming down with almost 5 rebound per game. He even recorded his first ever double double against Miami with 12 points and 12 assists, while also hauling in 6 rebounds.
Very rarely do players live up to the hype, but Ricky looks like he is going to. His first game showed that he had passing skills, a basketball IQ, and awareness that was just as good if not better than anyone in the league, and he's only 21 years old. You might remember hearing Ricky Rubio's name before the 2009 draft, as he was the youngest player on the Spanish National Team during the 2008 Olympics. Being on live in the wee hours of the morning, only the most hardcore of basketball fans stayed up to watch it, but this was Ricky Rubio's coming out party. He dominated Jason Kidd. Step back and think about this for a minute, Rubio was 17 years old and Kidd was a 35 year old future Hall of Famer and great defensive player. Kidd clearly wasn't "done" because he played an integral role in the Mavericks championship last year. When most people are 17 they are going into their senior year of high school and getting ready for a varsity season. Ricky Rubio was playing at the highest level and beating the best NBA players to the basket. He put on a show that had experts gushing about his potential and fans drooling over the idea of seeing him in the NBA.
If you get the opportunity this year, sit down and watch a Timberwolves game. You can see Rubio throw the prettiest passes in the NBA, Kevin Love throw down a 20-20 game, and who knows what Michael Beasley might do.
The second part of this entry is about Kevin Garnett. In my last blog entry I said that this was the end for KG, and I stand by what I said, this is the end for the KG that we all know and love. After watching a couple more Celtics game though, I've come to the realization that Garnett has the ability to transform himself into a completely different, but still effective, player. All big men reach a point in their career where they either adapt to a new style that is lower impact or they retire. If you made a list of all the greatest big men in NBA history, you can pinpoint where their athleticism completely fell off and they had to change the way they played. Looking at the list of big men that aged gracefully they all had one thing in common, they passed well. Chris Webber, Hakeem Olajuwon, Vlade Divac, Arvydas Sabonis, Shaq, and even Wilt Chamberlain were all great passers and all changed their games to remain effective into their later years.
Which brings me to Kevin Garnett. He is one of the best passing big men of all time, averaging just over 4 assists per game for his career and peaking at 6 assists per game in the 2002-2003 season. KG can stay effective if he alters his game to becoming a high post distributer of the basketball, as well as shooting a high percentage on his jumpers. On defense, he should be paired with Greg Stiemsma because the "Stiem-roller" is young and athletic, complementing KG better than Jermaine O'Neal. Check out Aryvdas Sabonis, who was infinitely more immobile in his later years than KG is now, and you can see that he was still effective and still contributing to a Portland team that was 10 minutes from the finals. For me, Sabonis is the best comparison of what Garnett should be aiming for. Chris Webber is another example of an ultra athletic power forward who suffered knee injuries later in his career and had to change his game. KG should start watching tape of CWebb's later years to use as a blueprint.
My expectations going forward would be for KG to average somewhere in the 14 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists area. KG can dribble, pass, and shoot better than most big men, which should give him an advantage on the slower, plodding, big men around the league. Having an athletic guy like Greg Stiemsma next to him should also make defense easier on Kevin. Let's hope that KG can make the switch to being more of a facilitator and realize that his days as an athletic, freak of nature, phenom are over. If he can successfully adapt to this new style, I could see The Big Ticket extending his career by at least a couple more years.
Thanks for reading, be sure to go back and read all my other columns, follow the blog, follow me on twitter @joshviola19, and stay tuned for another entry in the near future.
-Josh
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