Young stars Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine took center Friday and Saturday with their high-flying performances at NBA All-Star Weekend in Toronto.
But arguably the Minnesota Timberwolves' most important player, fifth-year point guard Ricky Rubio, continued to fly under the radar.
Rubio is having one of his best season in Minnesota, averaging 9.7 points. 8.6 assists and 4.4 rebounds in 30.3 minutes per game while continuing to play stellar defense. Those numbers are right around his career averages, but advanced statistics show his improvement from previous years.
Rubio has a player efficiency rating of 18.1 for 2015-16, which is the highest of his career. He's also having a career year when it comes to true shooting percentage, turnover percentage, offensive rating and win shares per 48 minutes.
While those numbers may not seem All-Star worthy, consider this: Rubio is fifth in the NBA in Assist Points Created with 18.7, an NBA.com statistic which measures the points a player creates through assists.
Add in his 9.7 points per game, and Rubio is responsible for 28.4 points per game, which is 28.2 percent of Minnesota's offensive production. That's the highest among Minnesota's regulars.
His value was especially apparent during the week before the All-Star Break, as the Timberwolves won three games against likely playoff teams in the Clippers, Bulls and Raptors. Rubio averaged 14.7 points and seven assists in those games and played solid defense against Chris Paul, Derrick Rose and Kyle Lowry. He limited each to below-average nights in several respects, especially Lowry.
Minnesota's young stars will likely continue to garner accolades, especially if they score at the clip they have been. But Rubio's penchant for assists appears vital to the Timberwolves' offensive success, and his stingy defense has anchored them on defense. Count on him to continue to be the on-court leader of this team in the second half of the season.
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