Milwaukee Bucks Should Avoid Ricky Rubio At All Costs

With a number of roster decisions awaiting them, the Milwaukee Bucks would be best served by avoiding any rekindled interest in Ricky Rubio.

As the Milwaukee Bucks look to alter the shape of their roster via free agency and maybe even trades in the coming days and weeks, they’ll undoubtedly consider a number of options that could see them improve their rotation for next season.

There’s arguably no area where their need for clarity and new options seems more pressing than at the point guard spot. Even if the team still believe in Michael Carter-Williams‘ future, the free agency of Jerryd Bayless and Greivis Vasquez automatically creates a need for reinforcements.

The starting spot is up for grabs as the team searches for the right type of guard to partner with Giannis Antetokounmpo, and it only seems natural for the Bucks to consider all options available to them to fill that need.

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One name that almost seems like a certainty to surface in the discussion at some point is that of Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio.

With the Timberwolves choosing to select Kris Dunn with the fifth overall pick of last week’s NBA Draft, it doesn’t seem like too much of a jump to expect Rubio could be looking for a new team very soon.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports even indicated as much in a draft night tweet.

In Milwaukee’s case, they have a history of being mentioned in Rubio rumors dating back to the trade deadline.

In a report from Wojnarowski at that time, he indicated that although the Timberwolves had not been actively looking to trade Rubio at that time that was a detail that was likely “to change in the summer”.

That same report also saw Wojnarowski reference Bucks head coach Jason Kidd‘s admiration for Rubio.

"“Minnesota may start canvassing the market for a better shooting point guard to pair with young stars Karl Anthony-Towns and Andrew Wiggins. One NBA coach who has long been enamored with Rubio, league sources said: Milwaukee’s Jason Kidd.”"

As a legendary point guard in his own right, it’s unsurprising that Kidd admires the Spaniard’s game. Make no mistake about it, Rubio is a highly skilled floor general.

Now set to enter his sixth season in the NBA, there’s little doubt left in regard to Rubio’s playmaking. With a career average of 8.3 assists per game, equal to 9.5 per 36 minutes and a relatively low turnover rate to go along with it, Rubio clearly excels in identifying and creating scoring opportunities for those around him.

With a strong work ethic, an affable personality, and a generally impressive basketball IQ, Rubio sees the floor well. That translates to the defensive end too, where although he has generally been a part of bad defensive teams, Rubio is a reliable source of ball pressure and consistently ranks among the NBA’s leaders in steals. A career average of 2.2 per game is not found too easily elsewhere.

So, with an exceptional ability for playmaking and a good track record of being a disruptive presence on defense, why shouldn’t the Bucks want Rubio as their point guard?

The answer is very simple, and it seems to be the same reason why Minnesota is ready to move on from Rubio. As Charley Walters of the Twin Cities Pioneer Press recently noted:

"“Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio’s days in Minnesota were limited even before the team drafted point guard Kris Dunn last week.Among the reasons: Rubio’s inadequate outside shooting. He is not a legitimate three-point threat (31.8 percent during a five-year career) to defenses, and that would make it difficult for the Wolves to eventually become a legitimate contender for an NBA championship.”"

If it would make it difficult for the Timberwolves to become a contender, it would make it nigh on impossible for Milwaukee.

With non-shooters like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker entrenched in the long term starting lineup, and big men who can shoot while still being competent in more traditional senses tricky to come by, the Bucks can’t afford to leave Khris Middleton as the team’s sole shooter and expect to win.

Perhaps, even more pressing on the list of reasons why the Bucks shouldn’t have any interest is that we’ve seen this movie before.

In Michael Carter-Williams, Jason Kidd has already fallen for a point guard who can steal and pass with an inability to shoot, and having been a player in a similar mold who ultimately learned how to shoot in his own playing days, Kidd has to be careful of not trying to fix every point guard out there that has a broken jumper.

Rubio is a very good player whose strengths would be wasted with Giannis handling the ball, while simultaneously his weaknesses would be magnified significantly as part of a lineup devoid of shooters.

Next: Milwaukee Bucks Face Decisions On Players Bound For Free Agency

If Milwaukee choose to pick up a point guard this summer, there’ll be nothing wrong with them siding with a more obvious fit. The last thing anybody needs is another failed experiment at point guard.