Why Miles Rubin is perfect fit to replace Tennessee basketball center Felix Okpara
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Dai Dai Ames, sporting a stark black practice jersey with orange lettering, pushed the pace on a fast break at an open practice on June 25.
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The 6-foot-2 lefty raced down the Food City Center court before floating the ball in the air. His 6-10 teammate Miles Rubin threw up an outstretched arm and flushed the alley-oop with his left hand.
Within Tennessee basketball's transfer-heavy group, Ames and Rubin look like they've know each other for years.
Well, they have. Building on-court chemistry isn't a challenge for the two Chicago natives.
"Me and Dai Dai, we always had chemistry," Rubin said. "We've been playing together since middle school days ... It's crazy. I didn't think this would ever happen."
If Ames is the Ja'Kobi Gillespie replacement, Rubin is set to fill Felix Okpara's role. The Loyola (Chicago) center is the tallest player in the Vols' undersized frontcourt, and he has the vertical leap to summon flashbacks of the Washington Wizards' newest member. He started all three years with the Ramblers before coming to Tennessee and averaged 11.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.3 blocks last season.
Rubin was quick to shutdown concerns of Tennessee's lack of size. The frontcourt currently consists of Rubin, Kennesaw State transfer Braedan Lue and returning forward DeWayne Brown II, both of whom stand at 6-8.
"I fee like we have an underrated frontcourt," Rubin said. "I feel like a lot of people are counting us out and don't think we have a better frontcourt than others in this conference. But I feel like we can prove them wrong and be one of the best frontcourts in the conference."
Coach Rick Barnes has been pleased with the group's growth so far in summer workouts.
"It's just a matter of them still understand what we're trying to do and reacting as opposed to overthinking things," he said. "We've been impressed with their energy level, their conditioning's been good. The post guys have probably progressed more in the last week and a half more so than what they did earlier."
Barnes knows, though, the Vols will need to be flexible with the smaller group. He said he's having the players "learn two to three positions" to have the option of moving guys up and down the lineup.
It also helps to have multiple ball handlers. Tennessee was limited largely to just Gillespie and NBA lottery pick Nate Ament as its trusted facilitators. With this roster, Barnes has empowered "six to seven" players to "get the rebound and run the break."
With so many ball handlers, all Rubin has to do is run to the basket.
"It's good to have a lot of ball handlers I feel like I can trust," he said. "I don't have to play on ball as much as I did previously. They can feed me the ball, pass the ball from different positions. It's just easier on everybody else."
Wynton Jackson covers high school sports for Knox News. Email: [email protected]
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Miles Rubin, Dai Dai Ames to replace Tennessee stars Felix Okpara, Ja'Kobi Gillespie