NBA Mentors: Which former stars could help current talent?

Ricky Rubio and Jason Kidd

Much like Michael Kidd-Gilchrist before him, Ricky Rubio has some serious offensive issues. On the positive side, Spain’s favorite son does have the ability to make an overarching on the game from an offensive standpoint, thanks to his incredible vision and passing ability in conjunction with the position in which he occupies, but his overall production level has been challenged in recent seasons based on his utter inability to convert buckets. Instead of “remaking” Rubio’s entire shot structure, however, we will go the other way and pair him with a somewhat similar figure in future Hall of Famer Jason Kidd.

For the first ten (yes, ten) seasons of Kidd’s career, he was nothing resembling a quality shooter. The 6-foot-4 point guard shot just 40.2% from the field and 32.5% from 3-point range during that collection of years, and while that is better than Rubio’s career production (36.8% FG, 32.3% 3-PT), the gap isn’t terribly wide. Obviously, Kidd was a much more effective player during this time period, simply because of his insane ability to create for teammates while knifing through opposing defenses, but from an overall skill perspective, the two players are quite similar when evaluating high-level defense with beautiful passing.

The biggest difference, though, is that Kidd managed to overcome his limited outside shooting, and while he was silently improving in that area, he excelled in finishing at the rim among the trees. Rubio’s biggest issue is not his outside shot, although that is a problem, but it is instead his utter inability to convert around the rim. For his career, Rubio stands at just 47.7% on shots within 3 feet, while Kidd ended his career at 54.5% in that area with the ability to reach 60+% in a given year.

With Kidd in his corner, Rubio would have a mentor that thoroughly understands the majority of issues, but at the same time, Kidd’s tutelage would come in handy when attempting improvement in a much-needed area. Ricky Rubio is still only 23 years old, and as such, there is plenty of time for him to develop as a player, but even marginal improvement in his shot conversion would do wonders for a player who already excels in so many areas.

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