wolves/nba

Rubio is the real deal. The fact that he only played 20 minutes in the Spanish league is astonishing. This Wolves team is fun to watch. Still lots of improvement needed but light years ahead of where they were the last 2 years.

By now, Love should realize why he didn't get the max contract: because he is the second best player on the club. It'd be nice if Love would learn from Rubio and get back on defense rather than arguing calls. Rubio has no time for that, as he's simply too competitive, too interested in winning,too attentive to the action on the court, and completely uninterested in his personal stats. He's looking for the next steal, the next team play, while Love argues with officials. Ricky rolls with bad calls and continues to play. Love cries to the officials and takes himself out of the play. Ricky is the franchise. Period.

As much as i like KLove... Snoozecruise, i have to agree with you. Rubio makes or breaks this team. You look at the impact every player out there on this team has, and Rubio's impact is bigger than anyone else' right now. Ridnour is to up and down, Johnson? Milicic? Beasley? Pek? Williams? Barrea? Every single one of them is up and down. One night might have a good game, next night might not be anything you would even notice. Love is consistent, but, he could be 6for25 shooting, a bunch of times at the line and get 25 points. Doesn't make anyone around him "better"... But Rubio is making everyone better. His play affects Pek, Love, Johnson, Williams, Beasley, Ridnour.. Everyone's game is directly effected by Rubio.. He is the MVP of this team in all reality. People can't disagree with that, he is the spark. His play is what has made this team a 500 team right now. Without him, i'm guessing we are a 300 team at best. Especially considering the injuries we have had!

Ricky is the main reason the Wolves are now winning more games in the 4th quarter because of his experience,leadership and defense.Adelman is a good coach but without Ricky it is doubtful this team would be at playing 500 ball and getting better.Ricky is the franchise.He makes every player on this team better.They will be a playoff team with him and not without.

Ricky is critical, agree. But take away K.Love's double double every night and this team is not .500 either. Take away coach Adleman and this team is not .500 either. This is very much a team, without any one of these cogs this team not as dynamic. Fun to watch.

I think some fans are starting to undervalue what Kevin brings to this team (not just here btw, this is happening on other blogs and youtube too). I don't like the complaining for calls and I don't like what happened the other day, but all of this seems to be an overblown reaction to the step on Scola. He will be reprimanded as he should be, but it shouldn't diminish his importance to the team. I agree with you snoozecruise that Ricky is the most professional player on the team and plays through everything, but the thing is that I wouldn't expect anything less from him. Look at his background. Look at who he's has been learning from and playing with. What type of teams has he played for? Champions. He is a step ahead of Love in some aspects simply due to that fact. I don't worry about Kevin's ability to grow and mature, but it's possible that it may take more time than others would like.

I didn't mean to sound like I was dissing on Love. It's his failure to get back on defense that costs his teams points because he's arguing a call that he didn't get on the offensive end that bothers me--not the incident with Scola so much. This has happened on numerous occasions this year. But I agree with holdsteady76 that Rubio, Adelman, and Love are the three primary reasons the club is doing so well. Neither Rubio, nor any player, could ever do it alone. For the most part, I like Love as a player, but if he thinks he wasn't treated right by Kahn, I would hope that he might realize that he is second fiddle on this team, and we need all the fiddle players we can get to make some sweet winning music.

holdsteady76....Kevin Love a record number of double/double games last year and the Wolves only won 15 games.Last year the Wolves lost at least 20 when they could not hold leads in the 4th quarter.Now many here would say this is all about Adelman.I say it has to do with Rubio whom not only is a leader in the 4th quarter and practically wills his team to win but provides such an intense defensive effort.This is what wins many NBA games in the 4th quarter.Take Rubio off this team and this team would not be as successful.Love is very good but he is not the main reason they are winning more games.It has to do with Ricky.Any coach would love to Rubio running their team.This is why it is so very important that this team find a way to keep him here in the long term.

Ljb, I never expected the "intense defensive effort" and flat-out freaky defensive ability of Rubio. (I thought he was going to get schooled by a lot of guards, but it hasn't happened.) I didn't know much about him, so I was primarily expecting good passing and the ability to run the offense. And you're right about how he "practically wills his team to win." Regarding Adelman, I believe he is the perfect coach at the perfect time for this team, and is having a huge impact. The chemistry is perfect, which I don't think it would have been under Rambis and perhaps some other coaches. Of course, we'll never know, but I'm glad we've got Adelman.

ljb6599- I've seen your username on most of the twolves articles from the past year + and I'm sure you realize that K-Love's role on the team IS NOT the same as it was last year despite the similar numbers. Rambis didn't show any type of confidence that Love should be the go to guy down the stretch, so he always gave that responsibility to Beasley. We all know how well that worked out; as you said 20+ 4th quarters meltdowns (not all bease's fault of course). Last year, Kevin would often times carry the team thru 3 quarters and then they would go away from him down the stretch. Honestly, I doubt Ricky could of have done much better than Love did last year under those same circumstances. I think Rambis would've destroyed Ricky. This year Love has finally gotten the full support and trust of his coaches and teammates as well as the opportunities to take and make game changing shots/plays. Kevin's big plays, ELITE ability to draw contact, and consistency have been just as important as Ricky's 4th quarter intensity.