Ricky Rubio might be the best reason for the Chicago Bulls to get a trade done on draft night with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Why?
The Bulls may really decide to trade Jimmy Butler on draft night next week to the Timberwolves while his value is high.
They could pull the trigger on the trade if they target someone not so obvious: Ricky Rubio.
Rubio may not match Butler’s value on paper by himself, but may turn out to be a co-pilot next to Derrick Rose that can turn the Bulls into a high energy offense and make fans say, “Jimmy Butler who?”
The last guard Derrick Rose played well with was Ben Gordon, a pure shooter. This time, it should be an outstanding playmaker who can keep the offense moving for 48 minutes.
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The role of playmaker may actually switch back and forth between the two to allow both players to get the best out of Fred Hoiberg‘s offense and keep opponents constantly off their scouting reports on how to handle the Bulls defensively.
Derrick Rose playing off the ball more
If Rubio plays alongside Rose, the former MVP can go into full scoring mode instead of being burdened with setting up plays. Rose may be more dangerous as full-time scorer. Of course, since both players are talented enough, roles can switch in-game depending upon the situation and player matchups.
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The shift in roles may also ease Rose’s physical exertions bringing the ball up and help him play longer without getting winded easily if Rubio handles the point guard chores more when both play in tandem.
Rose usually turns his jets on as he crosses mid-court and reaches the top of the key to weave past lazy defenders and scoop his trademark twisting layup or floater.
With Rubio providing a foil bringing the ball up and crossing mid-court in Hoiberg’s three-second limit to have a full 21 seconds to set up a play, the Bulls can run their offense with more time on the shot clock for movement traps, which means less pounding on Rose’s knees if he were pushing the ball up.
Rose can use his explosiveness off the ball, which makes him equally — if not — more dangerous evading defenders as a rim attacker. Jimmy Butler running the point guard spot would only pass the ball out to bail himself from tight situations and was often turning the ball over when he was blitzed or double teamed.
Getting a real point guard to play alongside Rose makes the Bulls doubly dangerous as a passing offense built on movement traps. Rose suffered offensively when Butler was walking the ball up because Butler as a point guard was looking to score off isolations and not to set up the offense.
Ricky Rubio as a backup guard
As a backup playmaker, Rubio may keep the offense in sync and spell Rose for a full quarter or so and boost the second unit’s production with his passing game.
The Bulls suffered greatly whenever Kirk Hinrich or Aaron Brooks ran the point on the second unit because both players tended to look for their own shot first, given Hoiberg’s admonition to shoot when open. Brooks was terrible matching up on defense with taller and stronger lead guards. Justin Holiday proved to be at best, a defensive wing, who also was a high-energy scorer at times more than a passer.
Rubio running the backcourt in the second unit provides better ball distribution for keeping the offense energized and even stretching leads like the old Bulls “Bench Mob” used to do.
Towards the playoffs, if the Bulls are in the running, Rubio’s shooting game also peaks. He was hitting 39.6 percent of his 3-pointers by March last season. In February, Rubio was fifth in assists per game and second in steals per game among NBA point guards.
Rubio has never had elite shooters in Minnesota around him. Zach LaVine and Shabazz Muhammad are streaky at best, but are still among the strongest fast-break finishers in the game.
With the Bulls, Rubio has elite shooters in the starting lineup and in the second unit, which should allow him to consistently help the team increase long range scoring and raise his assist totals even higher.
The Bulls’ shooters should cover for Rubio’s streaky offense. His guard defense still ranks among the top defensive NBA point guards, so why worry or nitpick about drafting Kris Dunn who is already too flashy for his own good and has a very high assist to turnover ratio among his draft class: 21.9 percent career turnover percentage (18.3 percent this year). (Plus, he can get tunnel vision and force long range shots.)
The latest breaking news has the Bulls trading Cameron Bairstow to the Detroit Pistons and practically stealing promising backup guard Spencer Dinwiddie, a lean 6’6″ combo guard whose game after a few D-League stints. Things might get tricky because Dinwiddie may also move again if the Bulls actually want Rubio in a deal.
But if the Bulls are keeping Dinwiddie, they can now ask for Shabazz Muhammad instead of Tyus Jones if they think the backup guard spot is filled at this point and have Ricky Rubio as the hedge for Rose for any future injury issues.
Ricky Rubio as Derrick Rose’s replacement
Rubio is known as a pass-first point guard who can get his points during the course of a game, but is not a volume shooter or as consistent from long range as everyone wants him to be.
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But, the scoring numbers that Rubio doesn’t put up go toward his assists to teammates and could double or triple as he spreads the attack to four more players on the team for a better-looking Hoiball flow offense.
Jimmy Butler will never be able to do that (spreading the attack to his teammates) and he did claim exuberantly last summer that he was the Chicago Bulls’ next point guard. He may have stats that indicate he passes the ball, but if you watched the games, he hogged the ball during fourth quarters to look good, but really looked like he does not fit Hoiball at all.
Rubio has already proved he can be a good point guard against the top-tier scoring guards if the Bulls make the playoffs and go all the way.
Butler’s value is as an individual player. Rubio’s value is as a team player who makes the system work smart. You don’t see that in stat sheets easily; four guys playing better with a pass-first point guard. Keeping Jimmy Butler on the Bulls for another year means Fred Hoiberg has to babysit him with sets designed for Butler at the expense of four other players on the team standing around while he warms up.
GarPax are too astute to let anyone in on what the Bulls front office are cooking for draft night, but I strongly feel they will trade Butler, even if their trade partner isn’t Minnesota.
Steve Rosenbloom of the Chicago Tribune has been practically screaming for GarPax to do anything to fix the roster. His big suggestion was moving Butler out.
For now, I think I see who the Bulls may be really gunning for and are keen on not letting other teams know until draft night. The Bulls never revealed they were going to try and move up in the draft to grab Doug McDermott in 2014 until they did.
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Let’s see what GarPax, with Fred Hoiberg also part of the player review team, do with all the player offers on the table.