FanPost

In consideration of a certain Tweet...

On February 7, 2018, SLC Dunk Tweeted this question:


Where would Ricky Rubio's career be right now if he had a coach like Quin Snyder his whole NBA life?

I've been thinking of this Fanpost, how to write it, ever since.

First, I'm not as qualified as the senior denizens of the Dunk to opine on the detailed qualities (merits, demerits, and questions) of Quin Snyder - but, for the sake of this article, let's stipulate that there is only one Quin Snyder, just like there is only one Greg Popovich (too bad!), and only one Tom Thibodeau (thank God!!!)

Next, let's consider when Snyder was hired by the Utah Jazz (June 6, 2014), and when Ricky Rubio was released from his contract at Barcelona and officially signed his first contract to play in the NBA (June 17, 2011). Where was Snyder in the three years that Rubio was with the Minnesota Timberwolves?

Snyder held assistant coaching positions with the Los Angeles Lakers, CKSA Moscow, and the Atlanta Hawks, for one season each. The question is, would Jazz fans have wanted Snyder in 2011, after his experience after coaching collegiately at Missouri, said experience comprising three seasons with the D League Austin Toros, and a season as a player development coach with the Philadelphia 76'ers?

One could argue that, given a flux capacitor, SLC Dunk would have gone back in time en masse to fire Ty Corbin in 2011, and hire Snyder instead. However, it's also reasonable to consider that Snyder learned something while with the Lakers, CKSA, and the Hawks, that he wouldn't have learned as easily while being the head coach of the Jazz several years earlier. The rest of the Dunk can argue this question; for the purposes of this article, I'm convinced that Quin Snyder is a better coach now after having spent the three years of his coaching career that was concurrent with Rubio's first three years in Minnesota where he did.

Next, I won't bore you with the advanced statistics of Rubio during his career with the Timberwolves - let's look at two pieces of data - team wins, and team losses:

Season     W    L
2011–12 26 40
2012–13 31 51
2013–14 40 42
2014–15 16 66
2015–16 29 53
2016–17 31 51


Who were the Timberwolves' coaches for these six seasons that Rubio spent in Minnesota?

The first three seasons, Rick Adelman was the coach - but it was known that Adelman was distracted for the latter part of his tenure in Minnesota by his wife's illness.

In 2014-15, Flip Saunders took another turn at coaching the Timberwolves, while concurrently being the president of basketball operations, and given the record that season, it's clear that he and the Timberwolves #TankNoted that season (he got Karl-Anthony Towns, so the tank worked). Then, Saunders revealed illness in the runup to the 2015-16 season, and he passed away in October 2015.

For the 2015-16 season, Sam Mitchell coached the Timberwolves, but he was a different coach, with a different style, than Saunders or Adelman had, but had to work within Saunders' plan from his POBO days - that didn't work so well.

For 2016-17, Timberwolves' owner Glen Taylor hired Tom Thibodeau as the new head coach and president of basketball operations. I don't want to go into any analysis of the season, but it was fairly obvious that he didn't like Rubio, until he did (or pretended to, or realized that Andrew Wiggins as a point guard was a really bad idea, or some combination of the two - or else he wouldn't have replaced Rubio's two year contract for $29.25 million with Jeff Teague's three years at $57 million).

So, this is the long way for me to say that answering the Tweeted question about Ricky Rubio and Quin Snyder is a moot point, as far as the past is concerned. Why?

Because, if Quin Snyder learned a lot in those three years that he wasn't the head coach of the Utah Jazz, and is a better coach for those stops in Los Angeles, Moscow, and Atlanta, then Ricky Rubio learned a lot during his six years in Minnesota...

...six years of change, six years of anguish and heartbreak occasionally leavened by some really good games, and the Timberwolves tanking of 2014-15 was better for him than his season with Thibodeau...

...Ricky Rubio is no John Stockton...but, to paraphrase Hot Lips Houlihan, John Stockton is no Ricky Rubio, either...

...and sometimes, a player's best seasons come only after suffering and heartbreak (for instance, Michael Jordan scored 60+ points in a playoff game against the Boston Celtics, and lost, and look at where he wound up (although we'll never forget Dick Bavetta in Game Six, will we?))...

...so, while there's no guarantee that Rubio will ever make the NBA Finals with the Utah Jazz, much less win them, as someone who's seen Rubio for his whole NBA career (and remember, if it wasn't for the magic that Rubio sometimes conjured up, I wouldn't even be watching basketball at all - he brought me back after leaving the game due to depressive not-caring-any-more), I think there's a song that epitomizes where he's been, and where I hope he winds up...

...and Snyder with Rubio now, I think, like this song, the ending of Rubio's career in Utah will be a very happy (and somewhat delayed beyond the end of his current contract) one...

...and it's definitely a song that one can #TakeNote of :)

All comments are the opinion of the commenter and not necessarily that of SLC Dunk or SB Nation.