Phoenix Suns: Grading every player’s 2019-20 season
By Jono Perilli
Ricky Rubio
The Phoenix Suns’ biggest free-agent acquisition was a welcome surprise for the team and provided some great effectiveness throughout the 2019-20 season.
After arriving from Utah, Rubio was immediately thrown into the starting point guard position, and he thrived alongside his new teammates. Phoenix leads the league in assists, and Rubio was the main impact on the Suns topping the league in dishes. Rubio didn’t make a huge improvement, but his impact was expectedly superb in every way. He was decent on the scoring end, but we’re all here for his fantastic playmaking ability, and he showed that for the Suns.
In 57 games, Rubio averaged 13.1 points per game, along with an astounding 8.9 assists per game and 4.6 rebounds per night. He improved his 3-point percentage to 35.1 percent, and he became fairly reliable, which suits the Suns’ new character. Also, Rubio was great on the defensive perimeter.
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Rubio had some fairly impressive games this season, even finishing a game in Milwaukee with a 25-13-12 triple-double, leading the team to an excellent win against a top team. Rubio was actually the perfect point guard that the Suns have been looking for, and it won’t surprise me to see them change their draft preference because of how good he was this season.
The biggest issue for the Suns, in this case, is Rubio’s detrimental contract. In the offseason, Rubio signed a lengthy three-year, $58 million deal with the Suns, which will chew through the team’s salary. Another issue was that Rubio did hit a bit of a roadblock later on in the season, struggling to keep up efficiency, but his earlier progress is way too good to ignore.
It’ll be very interesting to see whether the Suns continue the Rubio road, or whether they’ll deal him away in the offseason. For now, Rubio was impressive and delivered some classic Rubio quality in the 2019-20 season.