I don't think it's outside the realm of thought to question if a kid going into his second year, with a completely different role, will be able to bump his scoring by more that 5-7 more points while maintaining the same efficiency. To ask that of Irving without considering progression for Rubio, despite what he accomplished, is a lot.
Well asking Roy to help make your case for Rubio is a lot too. Of course he's got Irving ahead of Rubio. He had him in the pick 2 draft, he went out and got him here. He's obviously a big fan.
I think Jgod, you're going about your arguments a bit wrongly here. You're allowing Roy's view of your players to frame the argument. Where are the quotes from Kevin Love or the millions (and millions) of twolves bloggers out there who lamented the fact that the wolves were a probable playoff team with Rubio, and we're terrible without him?
In simple logical sentences:
1) Rubio makes all his players better with his passing, which should only improve after a full season, full training camp with his team, and another full season where he's helped get them to the conference finals.
2) Rubio is a bad one on one defender but a very good team defender. Numbers back this up (I'm assuming because it's what everyone said during the regular season).
3) Dwight Howard makes all his teammates better defensively, more than anyone else in the league.
4) Dwight Howard isn't a skillful offensive player, but is a force when put in the right positions to succeed, which Rubio and Joe Johnson are more than capable of doing.
So, Rubio should help make Dwight Howard a much more formidable offensive player, while Dwight should be able to cover for a lot of Rubios weaknesses defensively. These two things should also extend to Joe Johnson, Wilson Chandler, and Paul Millsap.
It's the exact same argument Roy is making about Lebron. And no obscure synergy stats needed!
Topic: CB Draft Western Finals: (1) Mavericks vs. (2) Blazers (Read 52984 times)