Utah Jazz: Reviewing the FIBA performances of current Jazzmen + Rubio

Ricky Rubio

Although Ricky Rubio is no longer a member of the Utah Jazz, it has still been intriguing to follow his FIBA performance and will be even more interesting to see how he fits in with his new Phoenix Suns team. He was obviously incredible as evidenced by his winning the tournament MVP award as he averaged 16.4 points per game, the 16th best mark among all teams, while averaging six assists per game and he even shot the ball quite well by his standards at 43.6 percent from the field and 38.7 percent from deep.

Seeing Rubio carry a team for much of the tournament with crafty finishes and flashy dimes should have Suns fans feeling excited about what he may be able to bring to a team that hasn’t had much stability at the point guard spot for quite some time. He could very well be prolific alongside the likes of Devin Booker and big man Deandre Ayton.

Then again, for Jazz fans, seeing how well he played in FIBA should be both exciting, as Rubio most certainly remains respected in Utah, but also frustrating. There were times when Rubio was exhilarating for the Jazz, just as he was for Spain, but other times when he was one of the most irksome players on the court.

For every two or three good games he’d have, it seemed like there were four or five bad ones in between. Rubio was one of the most erratic, inconsistent and unpredictable players on the Jazz roster the last two seasons. One game, he’d be hitting shot after shot and setting up teammates with ease, the next he’d be clanking easy looks, failing to finish and turning the ball over irresponsibly. The fact that he played so well for Spain makes it hard not to question why that couldn’t carry over in Utah,

It was those aforementioned shortcomings, along with the fact that he didn’t create any spacing for the Jazz or command much perimeter attention from the defense, that largely led to Utah moving on to a more dynamic threat in Mike Conley.

While Rubio was overall fantastic in FIBA play and was certainly deserving of the MVP nod, even throughout Spain’s march to the championship he had some of those same issues. He’d have games where he scored a lot but was horribly inefficient. He also averaged 3.5 turnovers per game which was tied for fifth most among FIBA players. That tendency to cough up the ball was a consistently major blemish for him in Quin Snyder’s system.

In other words, while I truly hope nothing but the best for Rubio and am proud of his FIBA accomplishments, I would caution Jazz fans who believe Ricky’s FIBA performance may mean it was a mistake to move on from him, and Suns fans who think they’ll be getting FIBA Ricky all season long. Rubio’s NBA career has consistently shown us that he’s largely an inefficient and turnover-prone player, and he’s likely to remain that way.

That doesn’t mean he can’t do good things – he most certainly does! – and I’d bet he’ll make the Suns a better team next year. However, his FIBA run was definitely small sample size theatre, and I predict that the Rubio we see next year in Phoenix will be much more like the one we’ve seen throughout his NBA career rather than the one we saw win the MVP Award in a championship run by Spain.