Jeff Teague was the right choice over Ricky Rubio
Many fans questioned trading away Ricky Rubio in favor of Jeff Teague, but a quarter of the way into the season it’s turned out to be the correct decision.
When Ricky Rubio returned to the Target Center for the first time as a member of the Utah Jazz on October 20th, nobody was quite sure how to feel. For most fans, he was one of the franchises most beloved players of all time. For others, he was the epitome of a team never living up to expectations.
When he was traded to Utah over the summer for a lottery-protected first round pick owed by the Oklahoma City Thunder, it was met with a degree of uncertainty. Fans knew the trade wasn’t exactly fair, but they were curious to see what Tom Thibodeau was going to do next while reconstructing this team on the fly.
Exactly 10 days later, they officially announced the signing of their new starting point guard who will forever be connected with the Spaniard during his time in Minnesota.
The Teague addition was again met with a mixture of frustration, excitement and confusion. His three-year, $57 million contract (technically, two-years and a player option) was a steep increase over the remaining two years and nearly $30 million owed to Rubio.
Fortunately, that additional $4 million per year has turned out to be worth it for Thibodeau and the Wolves.
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Teague’s made a valiant effort to fit in with this offense, clearly allowing his teammates more opportunities to lead the offense than ever before. His usage percentage of 19.8 is his second-lowest since he became a full-time starter during the 2011-12 season and ranks 56th among all guards who’ve played at least 20 games. His shot total is also down, as he’s averaging only 11.7 field goal attempts per game—again, his second-lowest since 2011-12.
Unfortunately, the Wake Forest product does have a tendency to hold the ball too long and over-dribble. His 5.60 average seconds per touch only sits behind James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Kemba Walker and Damian Lillard—players who are notorious for dominating their team’s offensive possessions. His also averages 5.33 dribbles per touch—again fifth highest in the league.
Despite his penchant for dribbling the air out of the ball, Teague is a better overall playmaker than Rubio when you factor in his ability to get himself buckets. The latter is unquestionably superior at creating shots for others, as his passing vision and accuracy are rarely matched. But the former is an above-average creator for others and completely erases the rest of the gap with his excellent ability to create shots for himself.
We’ll ignore the fact Teague (7.9) is averaging more assists per 36 minutes this year than Rubio (6.3), as that’s likely a statistical anomaly and the result of him being on a much more talented offensive team. What we will talk about, however, is how 73.9 percent of his drives to the hoop result directly in points for his team this season. That’s a nice improvement over Rubio’s 70.1 percent. Expect this number to continue rising for the Timberwolves current point guard— his previous low since the NBA began tracking this stat in 2014-15 is 91.8 percent.
To go along with his preferable playmaking ability, the former Atlanta Hawk is more protective of the ball, committing only 3.2 turnovers per 36 this season. Rubio, on the other hand, coughs the rock up 4.0 times per 36.
Shooting the ball is another category the Wolves current point holds an edge in, especially this season, as he’s knocking down a career-best 42.5 percent of his shots from the outside. His ability to force the defense to respect his outside shot is a huge asset for a team who lacks quality spacing. He’s most adept at knocking down the 3 off an attack-dribble from the top of the key. This keeps the defense on their heels and forces them to not allow a ton of space. That doesn’t mean he can’t knock down a shot off the catch because he’s doing so at a 40.7 percent clip this year.
Defensively, Minnesota has a lot of issues and Teague isn’t innocent of wrongdoing. He has all the skills to be a plus defender, but often loses focus and engagement. This leads to his man cutting to the hoop or finding a wide-open spot on the arc for 3.
Overall, his defensive liabilities are frustrating, but are outweighed by the skills he brings to the table. His floor-spacing and creative license with the ball are welcome additions to a team who sorely lacked playmakers in the past.
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Teague was and is the better man for the job. And he’s not just the better player, more importantly, he’s the better fit for this version of the Timberwolves.