The "BUG" of the small ball era, the efficiency is at the bottom every year, but the salary has earned hundreds of millions, and the 31-year-old is still rushing to renew the contract.
Shooting may not be so important to the center, whether it was in the past or now, but for the players in the backcourt, not shooting is like a cook can't cook, the driver can't drive, especially in the small ball era, the defender without a basket is either high or low, or is on the verge of being cleared.
For example, Elfrid Payton, in the first 6 years of his career, his average assist per game was not less than 6 times, but since the end of the rookie contract, Payton has been taking the basic salary, no way, who let his three-point shooting rate always be below 30%;
There is also TJ McConnell, although born in general, but the passing ability is first-class, assists and turnovers are ranked in the top few in the league than usual, if it were not for the three points is too poor (shooting rate of 28%), he would have become the No. 1 position of the starting level;
Of course, there are exceptions to everything, look at the Spanish golden boy Ricci Rubio.
Since entering the league, Rubio has not been able to shoot, and his true shooting rate has ranked first in the team almost every year, but even so, he has been in the NBA for 11 years, and in 14 years (4 years 56 million) and 19 years (3 years 51 million), he has won 2 big contracts with a total price of more than 50 million US dollars.
However, in the past 3 years, because Rubio's shortcomings on the offensive end are too obvious, so every offseason, he is always the first one to be purged, from the Jazz to the Suns, from the Suns to the Timberwolves, and then to the Current Cavaliers, it seems that Rubio is about to become the next star defender eliminated by the small ball, maybe as soon as the contract expires, he will immediately become a basic salary veteran, but the result?
According to Cavaliers correspondent Chris Fedor, the Cavaliers are already discussing the issue of renewing Rubio and seeing him as a puzzle piece for the team's future. Could it be that his offense has really improved?
Look at the data, in terms of personal offense, Rubio's most commonly used are still these 2.
One is the ball-holding blocking: only 0.75 points per game, second only to 65.2% of the league's players, ranking 6th from the bottom among all players who have at least 5 starts per game, only better than Edwards, Jaylen Green, Kevin Porter, Cunningham and Jaylen Sagas, these rookies;
The second is fixed-point shooting: 0.9 points per game, second to 65.3% of players in the league, ranking 124th among 144 players who average at least 3 shots per game.
Although the three-point production reached 1.7, a career high, but the shooting rate is still only 33.8%, and what is more embarrassing is that Rubio is not only not good at the outside line, but also the end of the inside line that he was good at, the shooting rate has dropped from 58.2% to 49.3%, and the true shooting rate is 48.4%, which is not only a new low in the past 7 seasons, but also the first in the team.
Obviously, in the personal offensive area, Rubio not only did not improve, but also all declined, so why should the Cavaliers consider extending the contract?
Speaking of which, it is necessary to mention Rubio's two magic weapons for standing in the alliance.
One is the organization: Rubio's ball quotient, the overall view is the league's top, passing precision, and extremely efficient, this season, he can still deliver 6.6 assists in the case of only 22.9% of the round, the assist rate is 34.6%, ranking 11th in the league, is the team's second brain after Garland, although the shooting ability is extremely weak, from the data point of view, he will not become a short board in the lineup, but the Cavaliers' current best golden oil, no matter who he matches, can play a 1+1 > 2 Role.
When playing with Garland, their combination can achieve a difference score of +13.8 points, ranking first (playing time of more than 300 minutes);
When playing with Allen, their combination's goal difference score can reach +10.8 points, ranking second;
When playing with Mobli, their combination's goal difference score can reach +10.9 points, ranking first;
In the Cavaliers' top five-man combination of all goal difference points, Rubio's name appeared 4 times, and it is clear that Rubio is the best choice whether as a leader in the locker room or a catalyst in the lineup.
The second is defense: this is also Rubio's ability has always been underestimated, although it looks a little "sweet", but in fact, the golden boy is also a tough guy, the strength is not bad, and the speed of movement, but also enough to be active and focused, this season, his defensive efficiency can reach 99.7, ranking 21st in the league, averaging 1.4 steals and 2.2 interceptions per game, while also having 1.0 saves, 3 statistics all ranked at the top of the league.
In terms of limiting the shooting rate, Rubio also did a good job, under his defense, the opponent's shooting rate will drop by 4.2%, whether it is less than 6 feet of the inside line, or 23 feet away from the outside line, Rubio can make the opponent's shooting rate, drop at least 7 percentage points, which is a defensive effect that many elite defensive players are difficult to achieve.
When Rubio is on the floor, the Cavaliers can score 1.9 more points per 100 rounds on the offensive end, 5.9 points less on the defensive end per 100 rounds, and 8.2 points per 100 rounds, second only to Garland and Allen.
Can you see that in today's Cavaliers team, Rubio plays a very important role, he can make these 3 young players glue together, if rubio is missed, the Cavaliers are confident of finding a more suitable replacement in the 2022 offseason? Maybe there will be, but the knights may not dare to take risks.