MINNEAPOLIS — It's all about communication, yet nothing about the language.
It's about hanging back or driving forward, about somehow letting teammates know what your — and thus their — next move should be. It's about words and motions and decisions made in just fractions of a second.
A point guard must do all that, and more. In basketball, and especially on Rick Adelman's Timberwolves, a team's offense runs through him, and with so many duties, the position requires much more than athleticism. It requires integration and comfort, which are sometimes harder to achieve than a flashy pass.
This season, two of the Timberwolves' highest-profile new players are Spanish-speaking point guards J.J. Barea and Ricky Rubio. Despite having spent just more than a month with their new team, both have acclimated well to their roles, to the point that hesitation has almost disappeared.
Rubio has played in each of the team's 19 games; Barea, plagued by hamstring and ankle injuries has appeared in just six. But despite somewhat different styles of running an offense, neither the rookie nor the sixth-year veteran has had trouble adjusting to Adelman's system.
"With Rick's offense, I think it helps that you know what to do and how to run a certain thing," fellow point guard Luke Ridnour said. "You know, having three guys that play, even when we play together I think it helps us understand the game and make it easier, not just for ourselves but everyone else."
When Ridnour, Barea and Rubio are all healthy, the team has three players it can use at point guard. Each falls in a different place on the spectrum of explosiveness to pragmatism, and coaches can use each as a weapon to alter a game's pace. In his limited minutes, Barea has been the most vocal, often pausing to shout directions and gesture to his teammates before then speeding into the action. It's a style of play that's in part due to adjusting to a new team for the first time ever, but it's also an element of his approach.
Rubio lies at the other extreme. Pauses are rarely a part of the 21-year-old's game, and his keen basketball instincts are spotlighted nearly when he brings the ball down the court and passes to the last possible player one would imagine him choosing. Although that might seem like a liability, a talented player assuming teammates' instincts are in sync with his, it's worked for him, not only this season but throughout his career.
The rookie explained his approach not in terms of instinct, but rather in terms of nerves.
"I'm not nervous," Rubio said. "I've been a pro since I was 14, and I know how to play a pro team, and I'm not going to be nervous in this case."
Which leaves the oft-overlooked Ridnour, who can at times embrace the best of both his teammates' games. He has Barea's experience, but with a greater comfort level in Minnesota, and his fast-paced start to this season has done away with any talk that the team might have a surplus of point guards.
If anyone can best see what Rubio and eventually Barea can add to this Timberwolves squad, it's Ridnour. He sees the faster-paced offense and the precise passing that's in part a result of having two healthy point guards in nearly every game. But he also notices the little things, the misreads and mistakes, and they're becoming fewer with time.
"We're kind of learning each other on the fly in a new system," Ridnour said. "I think it's just something you learn as you play. That's the only way to get it."
On Wednesday in Dallas, though, the team had only one healthy point guard, Rubio, who played 46 minutes. In fact, Wayne Ellington was the only other healthy guard on Adelman's roster. That obviously limited the coach's options, but he's been able to see the potential that his three-guard system has throughout the season. Last Monday, for instance, Ridnour handled the ball more in the second half, while Rubio played off the ball. Schemes like that, taking the pressure off one player to conserve energy, will be crucial when the team's point guard lineup is at full strength.
"We have to be better at that as far as who's handling the ball so that Ricky doesn't have to handle it constantly," Adelman said.
So though Rubio at times casts a wide shadow over his fellow point guards, Adelman knows the value he has in the two veterans, who can both extend and complement Rubio's game. Up until now, injuries have been the Timberwolves' greatest roadblock in implementing that scheme, but with the biggest obstacle, communication, a seeming non-factor, point guard play should be one of the team's assets going forward.
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