Olympics

[Shabazz]

Where can one watch highlights of the basketball games? They're very hard to find online (or I made minimal effort to find them and want someone else to do the work).

[O_Gardino]

Bledsoe is a better all-around basketball talent. But he only plays in 2/3 of the games. And he is a driving PG that is not good (compared to the rest of the PGs in the league) at passing or making good decisions with the ball. His A:TO ratio is atrocious. I really hope that doesn't stay that way the rest of his career, but I don't think there are a lot of examples of guys finally turning it around in year 7 or beyond. He isn't what is needed for this team.

I don't know what he can do about his health. So far, he has missed significant games every other year. Maybe he will play a full season this year.

I think he could be a lot more effective if he just ran fewer plays through himself. Bring the ball up and spot which teammate is in the best position to initiate the offense. Booker, Len, TJ, or himslef. But he should only drive when he has a clear mismatch. Like a poor man's Tony Parker or a rich man's Derek Fisher.

[Furlanfufi]

I don't think Bledsoe should be our future star, but to think Rubio is a good replacement is nuts.

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[Aztec Sunsfan]

It's not about replacement, is about better fit. We have athletes and shooters that would benefit from having a real distributor on the floor, and our PG neither create plays, nor effectively takes over games, and as others said, he is so TO prone, that negates his overall superiority over Rubio. PG is the ONE position you can't afford to have low Assist/TO ratio. Call me spoiled, but I'm used to either ubber-passing-first PG (Nash/Kidd) or clear-cut above average scoring PG (KJ/Marbury), is part of why I'm a Suns Fan.

I can understand Bledsoe as a potential Russell Westbrook, but he is not even a Marbury, and of course he is so behind KJ, Kidd and Nash that people is frustated and willing to sell low on him. Count me among them, I must accept that a Bledsoe/Rubio swap is a bad deal, but that is as far as I'm sick of watching Bledsoe over reaching on the floor and ultimately losing key portions of every season, derailing any playoffs mirage hope, and at the same time, serving as an excuse for it.

[Indy]

^ This

[O_Gardino]

I'm with Furlanfufi on this one. I think Rubio is one of those guys who looks better on the other team. Please remember that Rubio is a historically bad shooter. What does he do when Booker has the ball?

I understand being frustrated with Bledsoe, but trading him for a player with the opposite set of glaring weaknesses wouldn't improve the team.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

Yes it could, if his strenghts are a better fit for the team, and you can hide his defficiencies better.

You can plan around a clear weakness (of course opposing teams can also), you can practice as a team to hide weak defense, bad shooting, etc, What you can't plan around is uncertainty, as in, does Bledsoe is going to overdribble and lose the ball in that key posesion? Is he going to shoot straight or airballing? Is he going to get the rebound then throw a pass to an opposing player? That's why players like Javale McGee don't stick firmly in the league. I'm not comparing them, just throwing an extreme example to make my point.

This kind of players manage to surprise you doing something stupid when you are counting on them being at least average on the task, not to mention clutch situations, when you are counting on them to perform as your best player, and that's my frustration on Bledsoe, added to his lack of constant effort, he can be Westbrook lite when he wants to (against the Clippers used to be a good bet to see SuperBledsoe), then start to mailing it, specially on defense, either game to game or quarter to quarter. Overall and in average, he could be superior to Rubio, but Ricky is a more steady player, even his crazy passes, are steady crazy passes, but of course his ugly shooting, is also steady ugly

[O_Gardino]

I certainly don't think Bledsoe is the guy for us, but those issues with Bled are issues with Rubio, as well. Over-dribbling, missing shots, needing to be the center of the offense to be effective.

If you are willing to make sacrifices on D, why not play Ulis? He knows how to run an offense and he can shoot a whole lot better than Rubio.

Personally, I'm willing to wait and see if there is a better fit available through a trade or in the draft.

[JCSunsfan]

I certainly don't think Bledsoe is the guy for us, but those issues with Bled are issues with Rubio, as well. Over-dribbling, missing shots, needing to be the center of the offense to be effective.

If you are willing to make sacrifices on D, why not play Ulis? He knows how to run an offense and he can shoot a whole lot better than Rubio.

Personally, I'm willing to wait and see if there is a better fit available through a trade or in the draft.

This, I am fine with finding a better fit than Bledsoe. But Rubio is not it.

Ulis would be, potentially.

[Indy]

This is all moot since Minny wouldn't want/need Bledsoe.

[Furlanfufi]

I don't think you can hide Rubio's shooting. He's getting worse at that.

And Spain is not exactly a team filled with bad shooters.

I still think Bledsoe can get better - even if I prefer to trade him.

[Nodack]

I like Bledsoe. He has flaws. Who doesn't? Bledsoe plays for us. Rubio is just some other guy that doesn't play for us that probably
isn't as good.

I have been using the NBC app that works pretty good. You can watch the games on it delayed pause etc but, the games go away pretty fast so you can't really count on it.

[Mori Chu]

I would probably like Bledsoe better than Rubio for us if his ACLs still existed and functioned properly.

[carey]

I would probably like Bledsoe better than Rubio for us if his ACLs still existed and functioned properly.

They do?

[Indy]

Yeah, he just doesn't have any cartilage.

[Shabazz]

I'm a Rubio fan, but I actually like the Bledsoe-Booker fit for a number of reasons.

Also, I would encourage people to browse the list of NBA point guards and come up with someone attainable that would be a better fit than Bledsoe. And also to consider how many of the top 20 PGs are actually "pass first."

[bajanguy008]

Wow , not even one comment on the USA vs Australia game yesterday lol. That was a pretty good game with Patty playing at what I call his "usual level" when he in FIBA tournaments droppin 30 but Melo really came up big with KD and Klay not getting any shots to drop.

[JCSunsfan]

Back to the Olympics. My wife got me caught up watching gymnastics. Simone Briles is the MJ of gymnastics. What an amazingly powerful athlete and seems to have no nerves whatsoever. Her personality reminds me of DBook. Its all fun.

Some Ethiopian woman just broke a 22 year old record in the 10k. She ran the 10k a minute faster than the men's gold medalist did in London 4 years ago.

[Split T]

Do you maybe mean the women's gold medalist from london? Mo Farrah won gold in London with a time of 27:30

[The Bobster]

Men's team less-than-impressive again in the first half. Lead Serbia 50-41.