Where’s Rubio?

Yes Joe, how dare you speak the truth.

He really wants play in NBA and I’m a sure that the cold is not a big problem for him. The main thing is the money that he has to pay to his team in Europe as a byout 6 million dollars. With the 5th pick he dosen’t have enouhg money to pay and maybe with a trade a team like the nicks with biger market have the chance to pay that money with commercial contracts. If he is going to the t-wolves this year maybe he will need to work in a Mcdonals after the games to live and pay his rent.
He is negociating with his spanish team to reduce his byout and come to the NBA but the DKV joventut don’t want lost money and his best player. So will see what happens.
So T-wolves and American fans don’t get upset and let him try to have the oportunity to play in NBA without that pressure. If he has to stay one year more in Spain to go free to NBA let him do it.
This way at least we can enjoy one year more live (belive me) the best point guard that I have seen.

Best

^ I disagree. Brandon Jennings > Ricky Rubio. Ricky is a good passer, yes. But what else does he do? What else can the kid realistically do? His handles aren’t even that great, he’s not unbelievably fast, he’s not very athletic, he can’t hit a jumpshot at all, he’s definitely not strong… What’s the point of him having court vision when he won’t have the ability to maneuver around and USE his “court vision” that effectively in the NBA? Even if he gets around 5-10 assists a game, so what? He’ll be getting like 3-5 points a game and 2 rebounds. Big deal.

Rubio is a product of HYPE. I’m sorry, but this friggin’ kid is supposed to be the second coming of the one-and-only PISTOL PETE? This is an exaggeration, but remember what people were saying about Darko before he was drafted? Yeah.

Also, If rubio averages double digit assists his first year, he easily gets ROY. Besides Action Jackson (who I think was 23), has there ever been a rookie to come in and average double digit assists? Off-hand, I know Magic didn’t, Oscar didn’t, Gary didn’t, Tiny didn’t, Cousy didn’t, Isiah didn’t…

gasol brothers should teach him a lesson or two.

@ Jukai: Okay, I exaggerated about the handles. He has handles. But he doesn’t have Brandon Jennings handles.
And I was saying best-case scenario, not right off the bat. Rubio is not getting double digit assists right off the bat, nowhere near it; especially playing alongside Flynn. I’m saying IF one day, Rubio gets to be a starter and THE point guard, and gets to handle the ball for like 30+ minutes a game, he might come close. He’s still not going to be as good as Jose Calderon, pretty much ever.

In my opinion, Rubio is going to be a bust or a mediocre player. If he proves me wrong, I’ll admit it.

Teddy: feel free to correct public defender. He did burn Jason Kidd in two consecutive plays but THEN hurt his hand and pretty much didn’t play very well for the rest of the game.

Are you serious? Rubio is already as good as Calderon? How can Rubio be a bust then, if Calderon is already near-All-star caliber? Are you telling me Rubio is going to get 8 assists per game his rookie year?

hahahaha its not even between these 2 losers! theyre both busts! ALL HAIL STEPHEN CURRY!!!! boy be splashin 3′s in these chumps faces all dayy baybayyyy

@ blake: 40% FG… Playing in Europe… Not a good shooter. How is that a wrong statement? Thanks.
And care to tell me how many 3′s Rubio took? This is an exaggeration, but a guy can hit 1 three the entire season going 1/1 and its still 100%. And if I’m not mistaken, Euroleague plays with a closer 3 point line.

Ricky Rubio. Spanish for “Steve Francis.”

I don’t think it’s “hate” as much as it’s “if you enter the DRAFT, you don’t get to pick which team you play for.”

This kid must not know the legend of Steve Francis and how karma caught up to him within a short 10-year career span.

So if you can choose between two options I´m sure that pay 6,6 $ millions from your pocket to have the honor of play in the L-Wolwes (earning 2,2 millions in two years) instead of wait two years (and save 4,4 $ millions) isn´t the smart one, and I can´t believe that all of you will decide to pay that amount of money to play in Minny (remember than in two years he´ll only be 20 y.o.)

OK lets cut to the point. Ricky is choosen by the T-Wolves. The next pick they choose Flynn, like a slap in the head, like a “ok we want you little Ricky but we dont really trust you becoming THAT good so lets increase our odds of having a great point guard by picking Flynn” kind of move. Now lets get inside Rubio’s mind. You’re a star in your country. One of the two biggest teams right there, Real Madrid, is making a move to get you and give you big contract for next year. Would you really choose the T-Wolves instead??? It may be a shocker for all of you, as b-ball world ends in Oregon or Florida for most people on that site, but playing for Real Madrid may be better than playing for the PG-loaded T-Wolves right now. And thats a fact for sure. No the NBA is not the only dream of every kid on this planet. No playing for a team where he has no future is not the only dream for the best prospect coming from Europe since ages (RIP Drazen Petrovic). No he is not a b*tch just because he makes you all remember NBA is not the only place in the world where we play b-ball. And I’m not even talking about all that money he’s got to pay to come. Seriously… in Ricky’s boots, would you pay to play for the T-Wolves WITH Flynn in the roster??? Rubio is a great player, seen him live at least twenty times and he’s NBA ready. But he is also an intelligent kid, playing professionnel for 4 years and aware of a lot of things happening around him. And Russ I mostly love everything you write. But Steve Francis??? The translation from Ricky Rubio??? Come on man. Not even close to the point.

Agree with you on those points. If you’re not aiming for the NBA, you’re not aiming high enough, indeed. I was just trying to explain that for a spanish kid like Rubio, returning to play in sunny Spain is not a nightmare. That kid loves to play there. But you’re right, he made his own bed and he’s gotta live with that. I just want people to wait a little before bitching a kid that made his own bed but still doesnt want to sleep in it. He tried something it didn’t work. But do you feel like he would have done the same if the T-Wolves would not have picked Flynn JUST after him??? I dont think so.
To compare him with Francis for the “I’m bigger than the system” is good. But they’re not the same players at all. Not at all. And people may hate him now, but I’ll still say it : Rubio is a mature kid. More than everybody think. He knew what he was doing since the start, believe me. I wouldn’t say the same about the guy that had that brilliant idea in the T-Wolves staff : “Now that we got Rubio, lets pick Flynn, not trade Ricky and see how all that mess ends up”. Really. Some brilliant move there.

If one more person brings upt he performance of Rubio against Chris Paul and Deron Williams, I’m going to scream.
Paul and Dwil were playing like pure distributors. They didn’t play anything like the way they play in the NBA. I seriously doubt that Rubio would have kept up with the Chris Paul we saw give the business to Jason Kidd and Tony Parker a few years back. Or the Deron Williams I know. Both players toned their games down because of the players around them and the offense the team ran.

I agree with Jukai’s comment at 10:34 a.m.
Can’t have two standards. Yes, this decision may be what’s best for Rubio. No doubt. But, when other players have made similar decisions, they’ve gotten ripped. To suddenly leave him alone would smack of hypocrisy, unless it meant that no longer would these types of decisions be questioned. I don’t think that’s going to happen.

LexaB: You’re being hypocritical. How come when Francis b*tches about where he wants to be, he’s “being bigger than the system” but when Rubio does it, he’s just being thoughtful and mature and deciding he would rather have another option. That makes no sense to me. Rubio COULD have played in Sacremento if he showed up and did all the workouts w/o whining, talked straight to the execs and gave them a guarentee he wouldn’t go back to Spain. Rubio DIDN’T. And now Rubio’s upset about a decision and is retreating beacuse of something he did.
He talked all this “the NBA is my dream!” but suddenly that dream doesn’t matter anymore, because it’s not the situation he wanted. That’s unreal to me. he’s punking out.
NOW if Rubio said, “look, I want to play in Spain for another year or two so I don’t have to pay my buyout, and I can come in more of a complete player” that’d be one thing. To sign with Real Madrid because he didn’t get to go on the team he wanted after all that talk about his “dream,” well, Rubio would lose all likeability to me.

Honestly, it sounds like staying out of the draft entirely would have been Rubio’s best move if he was concerned about money. He knew he was going top five. He knew the top five teams were all in horrible markets.
Why is he surprised he got drafted by the team he got drafted by?
I mean, he could have just waited a couple years and skipped all the drama. He alreaady knew what his buyout was and he knew how much money he was going to make.

Rav: It’s one of the greatest sporting names in the world… for soccer. Not for basketball.

@Jukai
You may think it’s being hypocritical. You’re kind of right about that point cause I didnt explain my thinking process very well. Francis is an American player, attended HS and college in the US. NBA was the only place he wanted to be, that’s sure. No way he would have gone to Spain or Europe to play if all that “I’m not going to vancouver” sh*t turned bad. So yeah, for me, it’s being bigger than the system. You’re right on one point : Rubio told people “NBA is my dream”. But when you live in Europe, you didn’t read Rubio interviews for the last six months only. Since at least three years, Ricky repeats, in sp&anish media, how NBA is his dream but he doesn’t want to go there to just play and show his skills in a bad team. He keeps saying staying in Spain wouldn’t be bad. Totally different situation than the Francis’ one.You’re right about another thing. Rubio COULD have played in Sacramento if he did everything they wanted for the work-outs. But as al told ya, if you know the kid a little bit more than from Slam, ESPN and Youtube, you would know he really is a kind, intelligent, well manered, polite and mature 18-years-old.But clearly the people around him, mostly Dan Fegan, didn’t handle the situation well. And that’s an understatement. They acted like b*tches, not Ricky, and in the long run the only one it will cost something to is Ricky.That was my only point from the start. Dont hate on a kid that didn’t want all that mess to happen. Too easy to blame someone when you dont know the exact situation. BTW, nice arguing with you about that, really like that exchange of ideas.
And to end with your last point. I’m from Europe but lived in NYC for a few years. I’ve also always idolized the NBA and frankly, if I was a great player (I’m a player, not a great one ), I would do everything possible to play one day in the L. But my question was not to choose between Real Madrid and the T-Wolves. It was to choose between a team that brings a lot of good players this summer, wants you to be their running PG and will clearly be one of the favorites to reach the Euroleague’s Final Four (watch one day if you can, you’ll be surprised : those teams are good, really good, not the NBA-like athletic b-ball but better than a lot of NBA teams in pure b-ball wise), a.k.a. Real Madrid, and one team that’s rebuilding, will likely miss the playoffs and where there’s a guy called Flynn that will share minutes with ya (Rubio is not a 2, not at all, and neither is Flynn)?? Frankly, I would choose the first one. More to gain for your career, more to learn for your b-ball knowledge.
And yes Real Madrid is “one of the greatest sporting names in the world… for soccer”. But believe me, in European b-ball, that name rings a lot of bells too. And in Spain, for spanish fans, soccer or b-ball, Real Madrid is still Real Madrid. The biggest housename in the sporting world.

@Jukai
Come on man, you’re wiser than this. Dont tell me you believe everything from the reports from Sacramento but nothing from other reports, mostly europeans yes but a lot of those journalists followed Ricky in the US for those work-outs, that tell how his agent played a bad role in all that mess. I think the truth is between all those reports. Yes he refused to do quite a lot of things. But who tells you that was only HIS decision and not something his agent told him to do “for his good and his futur”??? Maybe thats not only a black and white situation. Maybe we can see the grey between the lines of all those reports.