NBA: 10 players certain to regress in 2019-20
By Greg Steele
6. Ricky Rubio, Phoenix Suns
Ricky Rubio will suit up for his third NBA franchise in the 2019-20 season and his results have been mixed. He will enter the season on the heels of a standout performance at the FIBA World Cup. Rubio has been a consistently strong defender, but has suffered on the offensive end whenever he has not had shooters around him.
As he attempts to step in and pilot the Phoenix Suns, Rubio finds himself expected to facilitate a workable offense with only one good shooter (Devin Booker), while helping to develop prize young big man Deandre Ayton and to maximize the value of Phoenix’s other recent draft picks.
The task is a lot for Rubio to handle, and may force him into the ill-fitting role he was forced to adopt during much of his time in Minnesota. On the shooting-starved T-Wolves, Ricky Rubio often took far too many jumpers. With no one to kick the ball out to, Rubio’s greatest strength disappears.
Sadly, that appears to be precisely what he will be asked to do with the young Suns this year.