The Underrated Warrior : Ricky Rubio is Back to His Old Ways
Ricky Rubio, everyone loves him for his flashy highlight reel passes. The guy can straight dish. His first five seasons in the league were solid and sometimes slightly underappreciated. Yes, he was a career 37% shooter in those seasons and that can’t be ignored. However his overall stat line of 10.1 points, 8.3 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game is solid. And to be fair, he was an 82% free throw shooter in those seasons. He is never the most dominating player in the floor. He can’t take over a game in the fourth and single handedly win a game but Rubio was still an above average player.
However through the first 25 games of the year, Rubio seemed to be falling off. He appeared to no longer be as steady of a player as we had come to know. He was averaging just 7 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game while shooting just 36%. The numbers suggested that maybe it was time for Minnesota to give someone else a chance to shine. Being able to find the open man while still chipping in double digit points night after night is what made him good and what kept him starting games. Rubio was now doing neither of those two things. So is Rubio still an above average point guard in the league?
Well, he has since refound his game. He is playing now at the highest level we have ever seen. The Wolve’s guard is averaging 10.5 points, 10 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 2 steals per game and shooting nearly 41% (way above his career average) over his last 30+ games. Those numbers are certainly good enough to confidently say he has reemerged as one of the league’s most underrated players. Though his line isn’t anything jaw dropping, a double double per game is impressive.
Rubio may not be on the same level as the elite guards like Westbrook, Wall, Thomas and Harden but he is a model of consistency and definitely makes a positive impact to the team. Are his early season struggles behind him? Is he back to being an above average play? I’d like to say yes and yes.