Revisiting Ricky Rubio. Also, Alliteration.

Possibly the creepiest Ricky Rubio picture ever.

A couple of days ago the American National team played a tough exhibition match against Spain, winning 86-85 thanks to a Kevin Durant block at the end.  Of much interest to many NBA fans was point guard Ricky Rubio, the highly touted prospect drafted by the Timberwolves with the 5th pick last year.

Ricky is a source of great consternation for me.  As a Kings fan last year, I spent most of the miserable 17 win campaign alternating between Ricky Rubio and Blake Griffin highlights.  One of these two players was going to be a King, I was sure of it.  I was even in favor of Rubio over Griffin for a little bit.

But alas, draft day came, and the Rubio hype had gone down a little bit.  Still, many Kings fans wanted him and when he eventually slipped to the Kings position at 4 and the Kings passed on him for Tyreke Evans, Kings fans cursed the heavens.  Rubio dropping to 5th was a seemingly impossible proposition before the draft, but Minnesota was happy to take him when he fell in their laps.

Unfortunately for Minnesota, Rubio's buyout with DKV Joventut proved too much of a roadblock to allowing him to come to the NBA immediately, so instead Regal Barcelona bought him out of his contract and allows him an NBA escape clause starting after next season.  Meanwhile, Kings fans eventually came to celebrate their Rookie of the Year in Evans, and Minnesota fans were left to ponder what could've been if Kahn had simply used even one of their top 6 picks (Minnesota had the 5th and the 6th pick in the lottery, using the 6th pick on Jonny Flynn) on a guy like Stephen Curry, or Darren Collison, or Brandon Jennings.

So why do I think that Minnesota (and David Kahn to be more specific) made a good decision in taking Rubio at 5?



First and foremost, you have to look at what Minnesota had to trade to get that 5th pick.  Kahn traded away Randy Foye and Mike Miller to Washington for Oleksiy Pecherov, Darius Songaila, Etan Thomas and the 5th pick.  Foye and Miller were both set to expire and had been huge disappointments in Minnesota.  Of the players Minnesota got from Washington, Songaila and Thomas were both later flipped for expirings, and Pecherov was an expiring for himself.  So in essence, Minnesota basically traded players that had no future with the team for the 5th pick in the draft.  How often does that happen? Almost never.  I've made fun of David Kahn plenty, but that was a steal of a trade.

Also at the time, Minnesota was severely lacking in backcourt depth.  Ricky Rubio was highly regarded as the best point guard available, and as I said earlier, it was widely considered a longshot that he'd slip past Sacramento at #4, who also desperately needed a point guard (some would say they still do depending on which side of the Tyreke Evans is a point guard argument you are on).

Ever since the draft, and the ensuing comedy that has been David Kahn's management stint, Rubio has somewhat been unfairly knocked in my opinion.  "He can't play against NBA players", "He won't be able to defend or score", etc.  In my opinion a lot of this is due to the success of some of the other point guards in the draft, namely Tyreke Evans, Stephen Curry, Brandon Jennings, and Darren Collison, the last 3 which were taken after 5th.

But watching Rubio play against some of the premier guards in the NBA the other day showed me that he can play with them in a competitive sense.  This should have been made clear to everyone in the Beijing Olympics, when he held his own against the NBA's best at the age of 17.

Another thing people forget is how young Rubio is.  Despite not coming into the NBA the year he was drafted, he's still about a month younger than John Wall.  If he does come over to the NBA after next season as the Timberwolves organization says he will, he will only be 21 as the season starts, plenty young for a rookie, and with a lot more experience in a professional setting than some players.

Now by no means do I believe that when he does come over will Ricky be one of the top PGs in the league.  But I do think that with time and NBA experience, he can be.

There are a few things I gleaned from watching the replay of the exhibition game about Ricky's game that will translate to the NBA:

1. He is a phenomenal passer, but probably too flashy.  This reminds me a little bit of when Jason Williams was a rookie with the Kings, in that he could light up a crowd with some of his passes, but would also make plenty of dumb mistakes.  At the end of the game for instance, Ricky flips a no-look over the shoulder pass to Rudy Fernandez to attempt the game winner that Rudy almost failed to catch.  It's those kind of plays that will drive coaches insane in the NBA and fans wild with excitement.  When he does come over, he will instantly be one of the better passers in the NBA, but I also expect him to be one of the worst at turning the ball over as well.  This will improve with time.
2. His jumper has improved.  Watching him in workouts for the Kings last year, and also of clips before, his jumper was very mechanical and slow, and he usually heavily relied on the set shot.  Now his release on his jumper is much quicker, and he's developed a bit of a stop and pop in transition, which will really help in the NBA.  Scoring will still not be his strong suit once he starts out, but I don't think he'll be a detriment to his team there either.
3. His defensive instincts are there, but still need a lot of work.  He had a couple nice defensive moments in the game, especially picking Rose's pocket, but he also was continuously getting blown by the quicker NBA guards like Westbrook and Rose.  This could always be a problem for him, because its hard to get more athletic.  But he has the size and length to keep them from going too far if he works at it.

All in all, I'm excited for the World Championships, and sincerely hope that in a year's time, Mr. Rubio does not renege on his promise to come to Minnesota, because those fans deserve a little excitement.  And if he does come over, he might not be a Curry or Jennings, but I don't think people will be so harsh on Kahn and Minnesota for passing on those guys in favor of Rubio.