What's the problem with point guards who can't shoot?
For years, it's been debated exactly how high a team's offensive ceiling can be if it employs a ball-dominant point guard who doesn't shoot the ball particularly well.
We saw during the later years of the Celtics' Big 3 dynasty what that cap can look like. Even an attack that employed Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen had unexpectedly poor offensive output. Part of that was because of the way defenses could defend Rajon Rondo, who was a playmaker and creator, but who couldn't hit shots from the outside.
The Timberwolves are going through a similar issue with Ricky Rubio, as Bradford Doolittle outlined during an extensive piece for ESPN Insiders. Here's a quick look at it:
You can read the full piece here, though it is behind the Insider paywall.
(h/t ESPN)
Rubio no longer has Kevin Love to team with, but needs to stay on the court first and foremost. Doing so might help him recover some of his 3-point shooting, though at this point, you wonder if he's ever going to become consistent from other zones. He's a good isolation player, but the developing Timberwolves aren't building around him any longer.
The foundation in Minnesota is Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns, and younger point guards such as Zach LaVine and Tyus Jones lurk on the depth chart. It will be interesting to see what becomes of the likes of Rubio, Rondo, Carter-Williams and Payton in the next couple of years. Given the way NBA offenses go about their business these days, can a team win with a "pass-first" point guard?
Or can an innovative team learn how to build on what these guys do well? If the answers to both these questions is no, it might be hard for this kind of player to find work in coming years.
