I agree that those 2 for 12's and 0 for 8's happen too often. I am a huge Ricky fan and I get tired of it as well. But the analysis for why that is happening has to be deeper than what we've seen here so far.
(Disclaimer: the rest of this post is not addressed at Candrew specifically, I'm not pointing him out)
One of the things that many people on this board seem to overlook when it comes to the Jazz offensive struggles (maybe it's lazyness, maybe it's lack of understanding / awareness, maybe it's just because it goes against their preferred narratives) is the fact that most guys on the team just refuse to take bad shots even when there's not a better option out there, which is why Donovan and Ricky end up shooting more than they should, and usually worse shots too. You just can't have the luxury of having so many guys like Rudy, Ingles, Korver, O'Neal or Exum focusing only on the shots they like, even when the team needs them to shoot in different situations. You can't have them passing up scoring opportunities only to dump the ball to Mitchell or Rubio under pressure and force them to take an even worse shot only because Rudy refuses to try anything other than scoring on a roll to the basket or off a put-back, and Ingles won't shoot a 3 unless he's got time to release the ball and is confident he can make it, and he won't look to score from two if he doesn't get a clear lane for a lay-up or the occasional teardrop. We see those instances dozens of times every week and it has a direct effect on the two guys that end up with the ball more often, not only because they are they main ballhandlers, but also because they are the most aggressive and unafraid to miss in those situations, because they understand eventually someone needs to take the shot.
This situation is what's lead Rubio to shoot 18.3 times per 100 possessions for the Jazz when he had only averaged 13.6 FGs per 100 for the Wolves, and a big reason why despite some pretty evident improvements in his game as a scorer, he continues to be so inconsistent and have those 2 for 12 nights. That's the reason why a guy like Joe Ingles, "one of the best shooters in the league", takes 66% of his shots being open (closest defender 4-6 feet from him) or wide-open (6+ feet) as per NBA data, which is almost as often as Rubio, a guy "that defenses constantly leave wide open". That's also a big reason why the offense gets so stagnant, so often, cause the starting C not only will not try to score from beyond 5 ft, but also has made just *11 shots all season* that are not lay-ups, dunks or tip-ins (and he's at 177 FGM!). So when you have good man-to-man defense from the other team, when your guys are tired or you're not moving the ball fast enough and can't find an open man, you don't have the possibility of dumping the ball into the post and running an inside-out offense, or simply waiting for your 7'2'' C to draw another defender, because everyone knows he won't even look at the basket.
This is not to say all of Rubio's and Mitchell's struggles are influenced by their teammates, but when you have a team that is lacking in so many areas offensively, when you have guys that are either gun-shy or flat-out trying to keep their %'s up, looking for a scapegoat or focussing on the guys that are more affected by those factors comes off as lazy, uninformed and, frankly, pretty dumb.
