Ricky Rubio Is Awesome

Another one for the It's too early to say 'I called it' file... but I will acknowledge I am dying to do so.

I am referring to the play of Ricky Rubio in the ongoing FIBA World Championships.

Long before the Furriners blog existed... I had opinions. Many of them involved Derek Anderson. Some of them did not.

One of the opinions I expressed around the office was that I was extremely disappointed in what I saw of Ricky Rubio in the 2008 Olympics. We were told he was a new Pistol Pete/Steve Nash. And although I am too young to have ever seen Maravich play, I consider myself a Pistol Pete fan... so I was excited to see this kid. I was extraordinarily underwhelmed - but, of course, Rubio was a 17(!) year old playing in the Olympics against the likes of Chris Paul and Deron Williams - so I didn't want to be too dismissive of his talents.

Of course, now Rubio is all of 19 and I admit it's still too early to call him all hype with no substance - and not to bring up a 20+ year old take on Larry Bird by Dennis Rodman - but one can't help but wonder if Rubio would be such a big f'n deal if he were a black kid from Baltimore?

Today, Spain lost in the first round of knockout round of the World Championships. The rest of Spain's starting lineup are all very fair NBA players (& Marc Gasol has improved to the point where he has to be considered above-average for an NBA center). Here is the basic stat breakdown for the Spain starting five:

Juan Carlos Navarro - 27 pts, 5 ast
Jorge Garbajosa - 18 pts, 6 reb
Rudy Fernandez - 15 pts, 5 reb
Marc Gasol - 13 pts (6-7 fg), 5 reb, 3 blk
Ricky Rubio - 3 pts, 3 ast, 3 to

What's the word for the Rubio performance? Underwhelming... yeah, that is it.

And, for the record, this is from the Sports Guy 2009 Draft Day Diary:

5:03: ... An orgasmic Fraschilla says Rubio is "the best passer in the last decade of drafts" and he's "got a Gretzky-like feel, he sees the game two and three plays ahead." Totally agree.

We'll see.

And I will say that I watched preliminary round coverage of the tournament and the same Fran Fraschilla was decidly non-orgasmic when saying that it was time for Rubio to start becoming a dominant player rather than just a vat of potential.