Interesting, any reporting on his relationship with Igor?
Whats with the big drop in assists when he went from Minny to Utah from 9apg to 5apg?
Apparently they got along great and Igor has been credited with helping make him more assertive in looking for his own shot and scoring. He also helped him improve his shot, which was a bit flat before. They don't know if he would leave because he does like it there, according to reports, but Phoenix has Igor and that would be an opportunity for him to come in and play in a system he's familiar with and has excelled in. He probably had the most productive season of his career last year as far as helping his team win despite the dip in assists. It's odd how that happened with his assists being almost cut in half but he was more impactful than stats indicate, according to Utah fans and I can see that also. I went to one of the Suns/Jazz games last year and Rubio was everywhere that night, always in the middle of a play it seemed.
No extension talk that they've heard. He is on a large contract now that he hasn't lived up to until he went to Utah. He's making $15 million this year, so he got a Knight/Bledsoe type contract coming off his rookie deal but Minnesota basically gave him to Utah, they got the #20 pick in the draft in return. Apparently Utah brass want to see him perform like he did last year again. Without Kokoskov there it will be interesting to see if their offense is the same and he has the same impact. They questioned that possibility also. Best case for us is that he sucks and we can sign him cheap. I wouldn't mind giving up something in a trade to get him here sooner though, depending on what that is. If Snyder changes the offense a lot then Rubio might revert to his Minnesota form, putting up empty stats, and they'll want him gone. Exum had a good showing last year and they can play Mitchell at PG also, he's more of a PG than Booker. He's like a CJ McCollum/James Harden type of combo guard and can play either position.
As far as the drop in assists it has to do with how Utah's offense ran. Rubio was their PG but they spread the ball around a lot. They basically ran a dual PG offense with Rubio and Mitchell, with Mitchell handling the ball and running a high pick and roll with Rubio off on the wing. If Mitchell didn't find something for himself or others then he would kick it to an open Rubio who would shoot or facilitate for someone else. He had the ball in his hands less and didn't need to set up his teammates as much. His scoring was the best it's ever been so he managed to make an impact even though his assists went down. The numbers don't tell the full story though.
Here is an ESPN article that talks about the 6 most intriguing players headed into next year, Rubio is listed first. Reading that will help explain why his assists went down but he's actually contributing more.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...oston-celtics-lineups-most-intriguing-players
