Five ways Ricky Rubio helps the Phoenix Suns immediately
By Adam Maynes
He will help Deandre Ayton offensively
Honestly, the most important part of this signing is that it is a part two in a two-part series of improvements to the people around Deandre Ayton who will be able to help the second-year center grow in the way the franchise needs if they’re ever going to sniff the playoffs.
A man who one compared himself to Shaquille O’Neal, Ayton had a reasonably decent rookie season, and when considering the air of uncertainty on his NBA roster and his past connections to his former University, to average a double-double (the first rookie to do so in Phoenix Suns history) was still a very nice accomplishment.
But we want more – a lot more.
Aside from the strange, hand-cuffed strategy that Igor Kokoskov seemed to employ with Ayton that we can presume will be significantly amended under Williams, Ayton’ biggest fault in his game wasn’t even his fault: his point guards could not get him the ball in the post.
Ricky Rubio has a seriously good offensive IQ, and if Monty can both get Ayton in the right position in the post and force him to play at a high gear for all 48 minutes (his second major problem), Rubio is going to get Deandre the ball whenever and wherever he needs it to be effectively, which will pay off in a big way.
The signing of Ricky Rubio alone, I believe, will make Ayton a 20 point per game player this coming season (he averaged 16.3 points per game last season so an additional 3.7 shouldn’t be all that difficult to achieve), and we will finally see those gigantic 30 and 15 breakout games that we knew were possible last season, only no one could keep him in the game offensively to pull it off.