Showing posts with label What Ifs. Show all posts
Monday, May 8, 2017
Ricky Rubio is Better Than Derrick Rose
It is the Offseason Time again with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and their is this one bizarre rumor in which Thibodeau is likely to sign Derrick Rose as a Starting Point Guard of the Timberwolves, and Thibs would likely trade away Rubio or waive his contract with still 2 remaining seasons under it. I would say Bizarre because having Derrick Rose start over Rubio will not actually make the team any better in anyway. And this are the reasons why.
Rubio is a Better 3 Point Shooter
Can He Make His Team Better?
Simple answer is no, Rose is one of those Point Guards that rank last in assist to pass ratio in which he ranks 35th at 10.9% which translates to that every time he pass the ball 10.9% chance of it will become an assist. in the league that even bench players rank higher than him. Ricky Rubio is ranked 6th in assist to pass ratio that is 16.5% which translates to that every time he pass their is 16.5% chance that it will become an assist. John Wall, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, Jeff Teague are the only ones rank higher than Ricky.
Rose's 4.4 APG is no match for Rubio's 9.1 APG which clearly says that Rose cannot make his teammates better when he is on the court.
Rose does not Play Defense
Rose is one of the worst defenders in the league as he is much focus on the offensive end on the floor, while Rubio is one of the best defenders in his position from being a lock-down defender to a hustle player he won't make the one he is guarding easily score points.
Luckily the Timberwolves did not accept the trade with the New York Knicks in which they even offered Rose straight up for Rubio, one signal that Knicks is demanding more for the former MVP, I would like to have Derrick Rose in the team but for a reasonable contract only, being injury prone and all he must know that his time to play in the court should be limited and needs to accept a bench role of any team.
Thursday, May 4, 2017
The Future That We Could Have vs. What We Had
What We Had
2011 NBA Draft was a year full of hidden gems in the Draft Pool but majority of the teams did not know it including the Minnesota Timberwolves. Some might even say that after Kyrie Irving and Derrick Williams it was a shallow draft (Uhmm They were wrong about Derrick). The 2010-11 Season the Minnesota Timberwolves had the worst record having 17 wins and 65 losses in which in return they have the best chance of choosing the # 1 pick of the draft but we ended up picking #2 and with that pick we ended up choosing.......
Derrick Williams
11-12 Stat 8.8 PPG, 4.7 RPG, .6 APG, .5 SPG, .5 BPG, 21 MPG
12-13 Stat 12 PPG, 5.5 RPG, .6 APG, .6 SPG, .5 BPG, 24 MPG
We ended up picking Derrick William a product of the University of Arizona in which they draw comparisons of Michael Beasley in his game they even said that he was a version 2.0 of him, which I doubt why we draft him because we have Michael Beasley currently in the team. But that comparison is where it failed because we ended up having a prototype of Michael Beasley in which we can't rely on both scoring and defending. Also a big disappointment on his 2nd year in which we thought will be his breakout season but we barely see any improvements on his game.
What We Should Have Gotten
Klay Thompson
11-12 Stat 12.5 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 2.0 APG, .7 SPG, .3 BPG, 24.4 MPG
12-13 Stat 16.6 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.0 SPG, .5 BPG, 35.8 MPG
Klay Thompson was drafted by the Golden State Warriors which ended up as a steal in the 11th pick of the 2011 NBA Draft. This player was even better at Derrick Williams in terms of being a better shooter in the game having both Mid and 3 point shooting above .400 in his rookie year. It would have help the Timberwolves in terms of shooting, just like how it helped the Golden State Warriors until now, being one of the 2 Splash Brothers it says it all.
Kawhi Leonard
11-12 Stat 7.9 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 1.1 APG, 1.3 SPG, .4 BPG, 24 MPG
12-13 Stat 11.9 PPG, 6 RPG, 1.6 APG, 1.7 SPG, .6 BPG, 31.2 MPG
Kawhi Leonard was the 15th pick that was chosen by the Indiana Pacers that was traded to the San Antonio Spurs for George Hill which was a good trade for the both of them, but in return the Spurs had another Franchise Player in the making in which is not only good Offensively but also is good in the Defensive End. Also comparing to Derrick Williams his shooting is considerably better than him having almost .5 FG% and. .376 3P%. Kawhi could have been the Superstar Wing that we can pair up for Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio ( He is better than Andrew Wiggins as of the moment). He was also one of the All-Rookie First Team.
Jimmy Butler
11-12 Stat 2.6 PPG, 1.3 RPG, .3 APG, .3 SPG, .1 BPG, 8.5 MPG
12-13 Stat 8.6 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 1.4 APG, 1 SPG, .4 BPG, 26 MPG
Honestly his stat sheet for the first 2 seasons is not appealing to the eyes of many but he ended up being the Most Improved Player of 2015. The last pick of the first round of the 2011 NBA Draft, this player at age 27 is a veteran and also a leader of the team in which the Bulls chose him over Derrick Rose as their Franchise Cornerstone. He could have also save the Timberwolves from being a lottery team at this present time.
We Could Have the 2 of Them
Remember in the 2011 NBA Draft the Minnesota Timberwolves have two first round picks which are the #2 and #20 picks. Now imagine if we did not screwed up both of our draft picks at that night we could have been a Championship Team Right now. Let as assume that we pick up Kawhi Leonard at #2 and Jimmy Butler at #20, our team should look like this on season 2011-2012
Projected Lineup
PG- Ricky Rubio
SG- Jimmy Butler
SF- Kawhi Leonard
PF- Kevin Love
C- Nikola Pekovic
This might be the best team put up in this Franchise History this team is better than the Big 3 of Miami or even what the Golden State Warriors have. If we end up having this kind of lineup for years, I would not mind not having Wiggins and Towns and be stuck on rebuilding mode until now.
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
What if we have Nicolas Batum instead of Andrei Kirilenko?
In the 2012-13 NBA Free Agency, Restricted Free Agent Nicolas Batum and Minnesota Timberwolves reached an agreement of a 4 year / $46 Million contract in which the Portland Trailblazers match the offer afterwards. If not for extending his qualifying offer Batum would be an Unrestricted Free Agent in which being a Wolf would be inevitable. But what if the Portland Trailblazers did not match the offer that was offered to him the Minnesota Timberwolves?
Will We Make it to the Playoffs?
After the Blazers matched the offer made by the Timberwolves, the Timberwolves immediately find another alternative for him and that is Andrei Kirilenko who was 31 at that time. Now before you judge him let us look at the stats of both players
2012-2013 NBA Stats
Nicolas Batum - 14.3 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 4.9 APG, 1.2 SPH, 1.1 SPG 38.5 MPG
Andrei Kirilenko - 12.4 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.5 SPG, 1.0 BPG 31 MPG
Honestly there is no much of a difference between the production of both players are making, the big difference is Kirilenko is making the same production at a shorter time in the court. Also one of the major difference is shooting in which the 3P% of Kirilenko is .292 and Nicolas Batum is .372 which is a big difference that will obviously help the Timberwolves in their shooting problem.
So will we make it to the 2012-2013 with Nic Batum around? My answer is no, even if Batum was a better shooter than Kirilenko, Kevin Love was injured in the rest of the season (due to knuckle push ups). Having an incomplete roster that year we won't have the full support needed to compete into playoffs?
But will we make it to the 2013-2014 Playoffs? Possibly, having both Pekovic and Kevin Love healthy in the court at the same time will make the team win games. With the original Lineup we are the 10th seed in the Western Conference with a 40-42 record. Here is the look of the projected 2013-2014 Starting Lineup
Bench Role Players
PG - Ricky Rubio JJ Barea
SG - Corey Brewer Shabazz Muhammad
SF - Nicolas Batum Luc Mbah a Moute
PF - Kevin Love
C - Nikola Pekovic Gorgui Dieng
Are you loving the line up? I got to admit it with this lineup I must say the Timberwolves are only 1 key player away for being a contender in the West. With this lineup we could have reached 6th or 7th seed winning 50 games or more. With this lineup Kevin Love would not ask for a Trade to Cleveland.
2012-2013 NBA Stats
Nicolas Batum - 14.3 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 4.9 APG, 1.2 SPH, 1.1 SPG 38.5 MPG
Andrei Kirilenko - 12.4 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.5 SPG, 1.0 BPG 31 MPG
Honestly there is no much of a difference between the production of both players are making, the big difference is Kirilenko is making the same production at a shorter time in the court. Also one of the major difference is shooting in which the 3P% of Kirilenko is .292 and Nicolas Batum is .372 which is a big difference that will obviously help the Timberwolves in their shooting problem.
So will we make it to the 2012-2013 with Nic Batum around? My answer is no, even if Batum was a better shooter than Kirilenko, Kevin Love was injured in the rest of the season (due to knuckle push ups). Having an incomplete roster that year we won't have the full support needed to compete into playoffs?
But will we make it to the 2013-2014 Playoffs? Possibly, having both Pekovic and Kevin Love healthy in the court at the same time will make the team win games. With the original Lineup we are the 10th seed in the Western Conference with a 40-42 record. Here is the look of the projected 2013-2014 Starting Lineup
Bench Role Players
PG - Ricky Rubio JJ Barea
SG - Corey Brewer Shabazz Muhammad
SF - Nicolas Batum Luc Mbah a Moute
PF - Kevin Love
C - Nikola Pekovic Gorgui Dieng
Are you loving the line up? I got to admit it with this lineup I must say the Timberwolves are only 1 key player away for being a contender in the West. With this lineup we could have reached 6th or 7th seed winning 50 games or more. With this lineup Kevin Love would not ask for a Trade to Cleveland.
We Won't have Air Canada and Towns
To be on a positive mindset if Kevin Love did not ask for a trade we won't have Andrew Wiggins the 2014 1st Overall NBA draft pick. Cleveland know that we won't give up our franchise player without a promising player in exchange for him. It turns out to be a good trade and right now we have two #1 Draft Picks playing together in a team that can lead some time in the future. It is one of the right timing as well for KAT as Kevin Garnett was the one who mentored him in his rookie season it turned out to be well for him as he grew his game on another level.
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