| 21 April 2009
After months of speculation, Ricky Rubio, the Spanish point guard that wowed NBA players and fans during the Olympics and was listed in ESPN The Magazine's annual NEXT issue, has officially declared for the 2009 NBA draft. His agent, Dan Fegan, confirmed Rubio would be throwing his hat into the ring on Monday afternoon.
Many believed Rubio would wait one more year to declare and play another season with DKV Joventut, his current Euroleague club. Much of that speculation was a result of Rubio having to pay a substantial buyout to Joventut to be released from the last year of his contract. The NBA's collective bargaining agreement limits NBA teams to pay no more than $500,000 of a player's buyout. This would force Rubio to pay a large portion of his buyout which is believed to be in the $8 million range.
It has been reported previously that Rubio would be headed to the NBA if he is a top three pick in this year's draft. Three of the bottom five teams in the league would gladly take Rubio as an immediate upgrade at the point, so that part of the equation looks like a lock.
Now it will be up to Fegan to negotiate his buyout down to a more reasonable figure, and it would appear that Fegan and Rubio have the upper hand based on the current financial situation for Joventut.
Joventut does not normally turn much of a profit, but they have been recently losing even more money because of the struggling Spanish economy. If the team doesn't make the Spanish League Finals, they may be relegated from the ACB (the top Spanish basketball league). Playing in a lesser league would cost them a lot of revenue. Their options at that point would be to sell Rubio's contract to another ACB team (probably FC Barcelona) or accept a lowered buyout. It doesn't appear that any ACB team would be able to match even a lowered buyout amount, so Joventut likely would accept a $3-4 million buyout in order to secure some financial relief.
Fegan is painting a picture that Rubio will stay in the draft no matter what happens and will not pull out before the June 15 deadline. This will strengthen his negotiations with Joventut and hopefully make this draft just a little bit better.
Get to Know La Pistola
Many believe (myself included) that Ricky Rubio has the potential to be a star in the NBA. He is an excellent ball handler and has an incredibly high basketball IQ. His court vision and creativity has been compared to Steve Nash and Pete Maravich. He is 6'4" with very long arms that can create steals. He doesn't have great athleticism, but his intelligence and length can make up for that. Many have criticized his jump shot saying he doesn't get great lift and it is inconsistent, but the same things were said about Jason Kidd and Derrick Rose.
One thing everyone seems to agree on is that this kid has talent and basketball intelligence beyond his years. The nineteen-year-old has not only been playing but competing at a high level in the Euroleague since debuting for Joventut in the 2005-06 season. You don't need to be a math major to figure out that Rubio was only fifteen at the time he joined one of the top leagues in the world.
Rubio really made a name for himself during the 2008 Olympics. During the Olympic tournament, Rubio averaged 4.8 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2.1 steals in 18 minutes per game. He put even better averages in the two games against his American counterparts (7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals), and he caught the attention of players like Kidd and Chris Paul.
Paul thinks Rubio is going to be a special player when he gets to the NBA. "He will come to the NBA to steal my job" said Paul during a press conference in Barcelona in October 2008. During that same press conference Paul continued to gush about Rubio saying "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." I think we can trust the opinion of the best point guard alive.
Rubio has continued his strong play in the Euroleague. He is averaging 10 points on 42% shooting to go along with 5.7 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 2.1 steals. They aren't staggering numbers until you really start to break them down. He put those stats up in only 22 minutes per game and did it with a right hand injury (his strong hand). Needless to say, an increase in minutes and a healthy hand could translate to absurd numbers.
Who Should Take Him?
This may not be a surprise to anyone reading this, but the Sacramento Kings may be the perfect fit for this guy. I'm sure they are one of many teams that would love to have him.
The Kings are projected to have the number one pick. They have a huge hole at the point and are desperate to replace Beno Udrih (who is a good back-up at best). This hole will allow Rubio playing time and the ability to blossom. They already have good, young big men thus don't have a real need to take Blake Griffin. It's almost as if he is made to order for this team.
Rubio would also get fans excited again. Rubio has a very marketable look and star power (just search McDonalds and Rubio and watch some of the European commercials that feature him). He is young and exuberant. He can do incredible things with the basketball and bring some fun back to the league. Rubio's playmaking ability will remind many in Sacramento of a young point guard out of Florida that showed up in constant SportsCenter highlights and put the city and the team in the national psyche.
He'd also guarantee two more season ticket holders at Arco Arena because Zach and I would invest just to watch him play in person.
If the Kings end up with the first or second pick, Geoff Petrie needs to pull the trigger on this kid before he becomes a star in some other city, and I'm forced to move there.
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