Speaking to Spanish outlet La Vanguardia, Cavaliers guard Ricky Rubio discussed his left ACL tear, which he confirmed will keep him out of the EuroBasket tournament this September. As EuroHoops relays, Rubio also made some interesting comments that hinted at his future NBA plans.
“When my son starts school, the NBA will not be worth it. I will have to go back (to Europe),” Rubio said. “I don’t want to make him dizzy moving around when he’s six years old, at the age of starting to make friends. It was discussed with my wife and we have it very clear. There will come a time when basketball will not be the priority.”
Rubio’s son just turned two years old, so he’s still a few years away from starting school. But Rubio’s comments suggest the veteran point guard, who is 31, isn’t currently planning to remain in the NBA into his late-30s.
Here are a few more notes from around the Central:
- Rajon Rondo has averaged 21.7 minutes in his three games with the Cavaliers so far, a step up from the 16.1 MPG he averaged with the Lakers. He also has the ball in his hands more, bumping his usage rate from 15.6% (the lowest of his career) in Los Angeles to 22.7% (the highest) in Cleveland. It’s a small sample size, but Rondo tells Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated he’s welcoming the larger role. “I was fine in L.A. But at the same time, for my mental sake, I do think I will be a lot happier because I do like to compete and be involved. And here I will get an opportunity,” Rondo said. “… I wasn’t going crazy on the bench over there, but I was itching to play and have more of an impact.”
- Asked to explain a cryptic message that he posted on Twitter and Instagram, Pacers center Myles Turner clarified that he wasn’t asking for a trade and that his post reflected his frustrations with the team’s performance as of late. “All I personally meant by that was I’m just not enjoying the losing aspect of this thing right now,” Turner said, per James Boyd of The Indianapolis Star. “We lost a very close game in Boston, a very winnable game. It was frustrating for me and frustrating for my camp… so that’s pretty much all that was. I hope we can just lay that to rest because I feel like people are trying (to say), ‘Oh, he wants out! Oh, he’s trying to get traded!’ and it’s none of that.”
- K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago explores how Derrick Jones‘ knee injury could affect the Bulls‘ plans at the trade deadline, noting that the team is getting thin at power forward with Jones and Patrick Williams both on the shelf.
- Pistons head coach Dwane Casey said this week that Kelly Olynyk has been working out in the G League with the Motor City Cruise recently and that Olynyk is closer to returning to action than Jerami Grant (Twitter link via Keith Langlois of Pistons.com). Olynyk is recovering from a Grade 2 MCL sprain he sustained in early November.
Bulls are paper thin at the 4 and it’s costing them rebounds and overall interior presence. On nights when their perimeter and long range shots aren’t falling, they’ve shown just how beatable they can be.
Vooch can get defensive boards all day when shots are raining in from long range but he doesn’t defend a ton inside and none of their other bigs after him are really good enough to be relied on for big minutes, and that’s before the injuries to Williams, Green and DJJ.
Their window is not a large one. Two of their big three are in their 30’s. LaVine is in line for a supermax deal. Bulls need to strike while the iron is hot. If that means sacrificing the future potential of Williams and the depth/bench scoring of White in order to get a big piece like Sabonis or Turner, you do it and you don’t think twice.
Not saying Turner will cost both of these players, but whatever the price is, you make it work.
You are completely on target about their needs, one look at the BKLN stats makes it obvious. However, I think PWill is too good to sacrifice. White should be available, and right now it would be selling high, he is on a tear. They do NOT need a star PF, though, just someone with bulk and rim protection skills. A guy like Bagley would do, and as a rental, would be low-risk while waiting for Williams.
Turner is an interesting proposition, as he would add some ballhandling skills to the mix, which they could also use, especially later in games.
Ideally, they would reacquire Thad Young or Theis. Not sure about salary matching, but either of those would add the skills as well as some veteran leadership, which was hinted at in Donovan’s postgame comments after the BKLN loss. He noted that only DeRozan has deep playoff experience, so mental mistakes abound in late game situations. Turnovers are killing them in all their losses, as well as dumb fouls and missed assignments in transition. All these are mistakes of inexperience.
As Donovan said, those kind of errors don’t get noticed when you are playing bottom-half teams, up 12 points. But against god teams they can be definitive.
Jeez Johnny Two Times disease is back again.
Can’t reacquire either player. Love the Bagley idea. Have been on that train for a while. Bulls need a big body in the paint that doesn’t need to score. Bagley fits that.
White for Nerlens Noel would work. Or Tony Bradley for Mitch Robinson. Or White and Brown Jr for Nurkic.
Interestingly, White for Theis straight up works. Probably Bulls could add a 2nd round pick.
Don’t think they can reacquire Theis, can they? Like a fool I’ve already declared this to be the case, but seeing it again making me think I’m off here.
Oh maybe you are correct, I was just brainstorming.
The Bulls need to make low key moves that will bring in two PF’s and Sac-Town is one team that could help the Bulls.
White is expendable and could net you a PF but the Bulls need two that can rebound and work defense seeing the Bulls already have enough scoring…
Lavine just got hurt. White is no longer expendable, there goes trade talk.
You think low key moves make the Bulls come out of the East when they just got blown out by the Nets (and the Warriors) and they’re 0-2 against both the Heat and the Sixers?
Anything can happen in a 7 game series, but I don’t think low key moves tilt the balance in the Bulls favor.
AK-55, wisely, will focus on skill sets, not (listed) position. Rebounding is important, but so is having defenders who can guard quality wings (DDR can’t any more, and LaVine is aspiring to average). Team rebounding (with undersized players) is much easier than team defense (with wings who are challenged defensively).
I doubt CHI is even shopping for a classic big. Grant is different, even though he’s mostly a 4, he fits because he can guard 1-5, like PW. A big who can only cover bigs won’t fit. Not as the team is currently constructed. Grant, while a role player, will be expensive, and would be hard to keep around after this year (and Lavine’s extension).
I don’t think grant is gonna fit what the bulls want to give up in a trade, he also needs to many shots on offense to stay happy, I would prefer they shop cheaper, I feel like they only want to offer DJJ and Portland’s pick in a trade which makes sense, Coby is not as expendable as he’s being made to seem in these comments, the Bulls still need offense off the bench, while I wouldn’t say he’s untouchable in any way I just don’t think the Bulls move him
I would agree that Grant’s fit on the court is likely overridden by both the cost in trade assets that would be needed to acquire him and the luxury tax implications of adding him to the existing group.
I’m not a big fan of White, but, at midyear, disrupting anything that’s working to fix something else can prove problematic. Teams looking for fixes usually do better when they use draft picks and guys out of the rotation or who will be after the trade.