I'm less worried about the rebounding then the effort. In the past Rui would kind of look at the ball and just not move. His Mr Roboto basketball mind was calculating whether to get back on D or stay on offense Now at least he's boxing out. That's a big improvement if you allow your teammate to get the board getting a rebound assist is good enough
Rui and everyone else that did plays tasked with fronting Jokic and getting into him low sure nutted up and took the physical consequences of it for JJ’s game plan.
Rui has really improved defensively this year. He’s also turned himself into a real threat from outside. I, for one, am really glad that he wasn’t traded.
Me too!! Glad to have Dalton back too and just shocked and amazed Rob was able to hang onto AR when negotiating the Luka trade. Props to JJ and staff and Max for his hard work resulting in him being the next most valuable player Niko agreed to take instead.
I don't want this to sound like I am throwing shade at AD, who I absolutely love as a player... this is strictly about Rui, but he plays better overall with Luka than with AD on the floor and he defends better and plays harder too. For whatever reason, I am not getting into that, but I think it's pretty evident. The guy is averaging close to 20/7 lately, and the increase in defensive effort is obvious to anyone who knows something about basketball.
Rui has been great. Looks like someone that works hard and tries to improve, that's a great skill. Kudos to him, will be key for us this year as the X factor
Absolutely, he was a big key in this win and in keeping teams honest going forward. It seems to me he is passing better, seeing open teammates more. Rui and LeBron being strong allow us to give up some height without paying as big a price. Definitely an X factor. Kind of like a McAdoo/AC cyborg. Program him for the task of each game and get out of his way...lol.
He's been great as a cutter and with Luka and Bron, he's going to feast on opportunistic basketball. Strange injury. Hopefully it doesn't return.
