i think you're joking....but to clear it up, ricky lives in spain year long, so he probably plays with some of those guys more, see the coaches more often, etc..so he's got seniority in a way at the point, at least for that olympic team....so he's probably learning the new plays and things like that before Calderon.....
http://www.scoresreport.com/2009/05/26/how-good-of-a-prospect-is-ricky-rubio/?year=2009&monthnum=05&day=26&name=how-good-of-a-prospect-is-ricky-rubio&page How good of a prospect is Ricky Rubio? In the mock drafts that I’ve seen, Spaniard Ricky Rubio is the consensus #2 or #3 pick in this year’s NBA Draft. I saw him play a couple of times in last summer’s Olympics and I thought that he would make a solid NBA point guard, but I didn’t see the same things that the scouts are apparently seeing. TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott wrote a nice piece about how much potential Rubio has, and how it needs to be cultivated, not rushed to market. At the lottery, everybody said the same admiring things about his feel for the game, handle, vision, leadership … but sometimes these ideas leap from mind to mind without ever touching ground. I found myself looking around the room and wondering: How much have you even seen Rubio play? What kind of vetting has he had? Ricky Rubio will turn 19 in October. He has missed all kinds of games with injuries. He has played his entire early career in Spain. Almost everyone who makes the big decisions for NBA teams lives in the U.S. He has not done draft workouts. That pretty much sums up my concerns about the kid. Throw in the fact that he has a pretty suspect (but apparently improving) jumper, and the Steve Nash/Pete Maravich comparisons are very premature. Nash is one of the best pure shooters in the league and it’s that ability that pulls his defender out and allows him to beat people on the dribble. The Maravich comparison is more about body type than it is about how the two players play — Maravich was a scorer first and a passer second. Rubio is the opposite. It’s tough to gauge Rubio’s future without knowing how much his shot will improve; in my experience, you can either shoot the ball or you can’t, and it’s tough to turn an average or poor shooter into a great or good shooter. It takes a TON of practice. Now, the positives… When Rubio has the ball, something sizzling and unexpected could happen at any time, and it often does. He not only makes passes that make you say “wow” but he also does everything imaginable to cleverly get teammates open and then deliver them the ball. He catches defenders snoozing. He beats his man and gets into the paint, and once he gets there, the ball could be going one-handed to the far corner, gently lobbed at the rim for the big man, shoveled at the last instant to an open teammate, or anything else. Also worth noting from those highlights: The Joventut big men running their asses off. They know they’ll get the ball, thanks to Rubio. Getting big men out on the break is an important skill. Sometimes 18-year-old prospects don’t have any skills that are truly NBA ready. Not a problem here. He has elite ideas about what to do with the ball. He also has an elite ability to think through the game when he does not have the ball. Thanks to extraordinary anticipation, he’s a persistent threat to pick off the ball on defense … he’s constantly out-thinking savvy opponents, closing angles, cutting off passing lanes, and anticipating what could be coming. He has uncanny ability to strip the ball without fouling. Abbott goes on to say that Rubio is just an OK athlete and that whatever team that drafts him needs to exercise patience (i.e. he’s not ready to start right away and be successful). It sounds like he needs to land with a team that will allow him to come off the bench while he learns the intricacies of the NBA game. Unfortunately, when looking at the draft order, other than the Clippers at #1 and the Wizards at #5, there isn’t a team with an established point guard picking in the top six. Here is what Chris Paul said about playing against Rubio in the Olympics: “When I met Ricky on the court, I knew he had very long arms and I couldn’t play much with the ball or he would steal it from me. He is also very unselfish, he has great passing skills. He is like me, we don’t try to score, and we try to find the open man to help the team.” Keep in mind that was at a joint appearance in Barcelona, so Paul might have been massaging his scouting report a bit since Rubio was sitting right next to him. Paul has also called Rubio “unbelievable,” so it’s clear that he does admire the kid.
How do you know that rubio will be as effective off the dribble or in transition in the NBA? Its a completely different game we're talking about. AB has proven he can be effective in this league. Why? because of his freakish speed and athleticism. Rubio is a guy thats tearing up weak competition overseas. The speed and size of NBA players is drastically different than anything rubio sees in europe. Those same crossovers and sprints down the court wont be as effective against the athletes in the NBA. Most european players that get pegged as great athletes overseas come to america and live behind the three point line. Look at fernandez. The guy mainly shoots threes. Look at bargnani. What about Darko. Thiat guy was supposed to be a phenomenal athlete for his size. Drafted over carmelo anthony and he cant even stay on the floor for longer than 20 minutes a game in the NBA. Look at Vspan, the self proclaimed tmac of greece. thats all i have to say.
According to your logic, Calderon has much longer history in the national team, and know Gosal and other players more, he should have started over Rubio. Remember that, Rubio was only 17 years old when he played Olympic games in Beijing last year, and he was the starting pg for the spain national team!
You could pose a similar question though if the two could hang with Rubio. I believe though that Rubio's strength is not his one on one skills versus the other pg's. I think his greatest asset is his ability to see the whole court, his overall vision, and his ability to see plays before they even develop. These are special skills that only the greatest pg's possess.
he can dunk, i get it, but why is that such a great skill? He's not a dunker, he can dunk. So a point better suited for the uptempo game is a better fit for Yao?
i dont get the age thing, it may be pretty young at 14, but its not that uncommon to play pro at a young age in europe.
Ummm so what if he cant dunk he cant play?? athleticism is overrated..dude has the court vision of jason kidd and is still not even 20 years old yet.. You want dunkers watch vids of james white cos he aint gona get on the court anytime soon for us...
Well how do you know that Thabeet's athleticism will translate in the NBA? Rubio, the scouts say he's playing against better competition...the Euroleague isn't a joke anymore. We've learned this the past few seasons. Yesh there is a Darko, but there is a Adam Morrison too. It's unfair to say that Hasheem could be the Next Dwight. Obviously anyone picked in the top 5 has a high ceiling to at least go to a few all-star games. We'd expect that much from Rubio. IMO Rubio will be as good as Deron Williams, IDK about Paul...Paul is like the Lebron's of PGs if you really look at it...but I can see Rubio being a top 5 PG in the NBA...that's just me. I think Skills translate more than athleticism. Guys that usually are great athletes usually don't reach their expectations...because everyone in the NBA is a great athlete...even the guys we consider slow, we only do so because compared to other NBA players they are slow. So that's harder to judge.
you can have great court vision and passing skills, but you have to have the athleticism to break down the defense before you can use those skills. im not sure rubio could blow past the likes of chris paul or deron williams of the league.
Did you even read the original post i replied to? The poster was writing about the great things rubio can do and listed he could dunk....my point was that it's not anything special and shouldn't be seen as a great skill or rubio since he's not really a dunker...i am NOT trying to say i prefer a dunker or that he should be......
i'd be more worried about the defense, don't the nba rules favor quick guards? I can't see rubio staying in front of them...for his offense he can always use picks against them
Steve Nash never had the athleticism. Brooks is the fastest PG in the NBA, and Steve Francis and Baron Davis were both EXTREMELY athletic in their prime...were they ever considered on the level of Nash? Rubio seems to be athletic enough to impress the likes of Chris Paul and Kobe...that's all I need to know.
Dude Thabeet is 7'3 with long arms and he runs and jumps like a forward. Scouts also say that his midrange jumper will be a weapon at the next level. Think Lamarcus Aldridge and then add 4 inches and 30 pounds. How could that not translate? At worst this guy would be a marcus camby type.
Isn't Brooks better suited for the uptempo game with his speed and athletism? Brooks played pretty well with Yao, I don't see why Rubio can't either.
He has a unique set of skills and I dont believe he needs great athleticism to be a great player in the NBA. Kidd dosent have any athleticism anymore and he does fine even after microfracture surgery. Rubio has a long way to go and no doubt he will be working harder on his game once he gets here, if scouts are raving about him and he has been getting attention for a long time there is obviously something about the kid that people like. And when you see him play its pretty obvious that he has some out of this world vision on the court.
what really makes nash a great player is his absolutely ridiculous jumper to go along with his vision. The guy shoots 50 percent from 3 and 95 percent from the line. You cant give him any room to put up a J. Thats what makes him so effective. I don't know if Rubio is that kind of shooter.
for those of you who want rubio, if it would take him a few years to adapt and mature, possibly wasting the prime years of our core, and keeping us out of serious contention in the immediate future, and setting us up to rebuild, would you still pick him? I'm not saying it will happen, just wondering who wants rubio because they think he'll help now and who wants him just for the future at the expense of our present
i wasn't saying Brooks was or wasnt, just pointing out that saying rubio is better suited to play with yao because he's not a scoring point like Aaron isn't a sure thing because neither is perfectly suited for Yao, they are just different. Both can have simlar success with Yao in different ways, but neither is the perfect complement.
