Believe it or not, the Minnesota Timberwolves’ season got off to an encouraging start last year. They started 2-2, with victories over Detroit and Brooklyn, and very close losses to Memphis and Chicago. Ricky Rubio was great in those games, averaging 10.8 points, 11 assists, and 6.3 rebounds per game on 42% shooting. But it wasn’t just his stats that were impressive. Rubio showed great command of the offense and had the young Wolves playing very good basketball. One could only expect that with thecontinued development of Andrew Wiggins, Minnesota could be a very competitive team, even without Kevin Love. Then Ricky Rubio’s ankle messed everything up.
Rubio had a high ankle sprain in the first half of a game in Orlando, and the Wolves went on to lose 29 of their next 32 games. His injury might have turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as it helped Minnesota lose enough to be in position to get the #1 pick in the draft, Karl-Anthony Towns. Still, it was a roughseason for the Wolves. Rubio only played 22 games, and almost every other key player on the team lost time to injury.
As a Wolves fan, I’m a huge Ricky Rubio supporter, but Rubio has one obvious flaw in his game that makes a lot of people skeptical. He’s a terrible shooter. After a solid shooting start, Rubio finished this past season with a .356 field goal percentage, the worst of his career. In today’s NBA, that scares people. His outside shot is shaky, and he also struggles to finish inside. This is going to have to change in orderfor Rubio to become more than a serviceable point guard. And I think it can.
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