Pass-first, score-second Rubio's game isn't typical in modern NBA

The NBA playoffs begin this week and with them comes a veritable parade of point guards whose scoring both at the rim and from great range has reshaped the game.

It's no coincidence the best of the bunch, reigning league MVP Stephen Curry, leads the best team, the Golden State Warriors. But there are many others — Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook, Portland's Damian Lillard, Detroit's Reggie Jackson, Boston's Isaiah Thomas, Charlotte's Kemba Walker, Toronto's Kyle Lowry, to name just some — who have brought their teams this far.

Lifted by their late-season surge, the Timberwolves to a man are aiming to join those teams next season, but a question looms: Can you still win big without one of those scoring point guards who can shoot the three, break down defenses with the ball in his hands and score 30 points any given night?

"Analytics people might say no," Sacramento coach George Karl said, "but I say yes."

Wolves management probably pondered that question in February when General Manager Milt Newton discussed trades involving point guard Ricky Rubio with Milwaukee and other teams. It's a question that could surface again before the June draft.

Rubio's statistics shooting from distance and finishing at the basket have improved these past two months, but the 25-year-old Spaniard, nonetheless, remains an anachronism: an imaginative point guard who does almost everything on both ends — creates, defends, guides, unifies, maybe even burns — except score proficiently and dependably.

He also remains true to himself. Inspired in his youth to play point guard after he heard Magic Johnson explain how an assist makes two people happy, Rubio has spent countless hours in the gym and works regularly with a self-contracting coach to improve his shooting.

Rubio will never be a shooter such as Curry — drafted two picks after him in 2009 — but he must shoot well enough to make opponents defend him.

"We're a different team when he makes shots," Wolves teammate Gorgui Dieng said. "We just look like a better team when he makes shots."

In a game defined more and more each year by mathematics and the simple truth that three is more than two, Rubio vows he will never judge himself or his standing by shooting percentages or scoring averages.

"It's more about a feeling," Rubio said. "I've got to know and understand my game. I showed the last couple months I can score, but it's not my game. My game is more about controlling the tempo of the game and on defense. I know my strength. I know what to do. Of course, I want to improve in every single aspect and one of them is scoring."

Pass-first, team-first

Last month Rubio's three-pointer at the final buzzer won a game at Oklahoma City. Last week, he shot 1-for-6 from the field in one game, didn't attempt a shot all night in another and the Wolves won both, pulling off a stunning overtime victory at Golden State and winning at Sacramento.

"Even though I didn't feel like I had a big night scoring, I feel like I had a big impact on the game," Rubio said of his two points and nine assists against the Warriors in Oakland.

Modern advanced statistics can measure nearly everything about an NBA player's game, and some of them value Rubio's defensive productivity, his "true" shooting percentage and how much better he makes his team when he's on the floor. But those statistics can't measure his soul.

"I like Rubio as a point guard in this league," Karl said. "Some people don't, but he has good control of their basketball team. I think anything that builds team and builds a confidence in team is a big part of a championship and I think Rubio is the one guy on that team who is pass-first plus also is probably team-first."

Rubio declares himself healthier and his legs stronger than ever now after he missed parts of three seasons because of a torn knee ligament and badly sprained ankle. When he's well, the Wolves play with a spirit, purpose and intelligence they clearly lacked without him.

But except maybe for the career-high 28 points he delivered on opening night this season, Rubio is not the guy with the ball in his hands who will beat you by himself. At least not like how the Hornets' Walker did to the Wolves by scoring 34 points last month, or like how Jackson returned his Pistons to the playoffs for the first time in seven years by scoring 39 points against Washington on Friday.

"All the point guard's supposed to do is set his guys up, make his teammates better, be able to defend at the end and he does that," said the Wizards' John Wall, one of the NBA's best scoring points. "You have to be able to make shots, though, I will say that.

"My whole life I never had to shoot. I was just faster and better than everybody. But at this level, if they give you an open shot, you have to knock it down."

Huge advantage?

First-year Thunder coach Billy Donovan has always preferred a scoring point guard, dating to his college teams at Florida, and now he has one of the best with Westbrook.

"Just because of the ability to break down the defense, the ability to create for themselves and create for others," Donovan said. "I think it's a huge advantage, but I don't want to take away from a guy like Rajon Rondo whose job was to get guys shots and won a world championship doing it at a really high level. There are a lot of ways to be successful. There isn't just one way."

Boston won the 2008 NBA title with the reluctant-shooting Rondo at point guard. Dallas did the same in 2011 with an aging, pass-first Jason Kidd, who averaged more assists (8.2) than points (7.9). Of course, the Celtics had Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen and the Mavericks had Dirk Nowitzki, among others.

Even just five years later, the game is faster, smaller and more reliant on the three-point shot than ever.

Kidd now coaches the Bucks, one of the teams that discussed Rubio's availability with the Wolves before February's trade deadline.

"There is always a place for a guy like that because when you look at all the other guys who are scoring, someone has to pass them the ball," Kidd said of Rubio. "And then it becomes a rare and special trait. We don't have a lot of those in this league."

The Wolves roster is built for the future around young stars and scorers Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns and Zach LaVine. With those three and another high draft pick presumably coming, just how much do the Wolves need Rubio to score?

"It's good to have a scoring point guard," Rubio said, "but if the other four are scoring, actually you need a point guard who knows what to do with the ball every time."

Those three young stars are plenty responsible for the Wolves' improved play since the All-Star break. But Karl said he sees Rubio's influence there as well.

"He has done a good job explaining to these explosive players that it's not always about numbers, it's about team success," Karl said. "Call it whatever you want — experience, maturity, basketball IQ — that's what they're missing right now, but I think they're gaining it as the season's gone on."