Ricky Rubio- The Next Pistol Pete?

For those that are not familiar with Ricky Rubio let me indulge you. He is an 18 year old phenom out of Spain. As the first player off the bench for the Spanish Olympic team this summer he flowed at times like a man 10 times his senior. He has been in the national spotlight since the age of 13 and now serves as the face os the ACB and his current team DKV-Joventut (he currently avg 11.3 assists per 40 min). I have appreciated his development since I first saw him perform at the ripe old age of 14. He has superior ball skills, great feet and hands, and outstanding court vision. He is an excellent ball handler and dribbler and can excute equally well off of the dribble and the pass (although her prefers the dribble). Not blessed with exceptional quickness, he does two things well that make up for it ... he changes speed and direction and he goes as fast side to side as he does north and south. He makes up for average quicks by being ball quick. He will be one to watch in this years NBA draft or at least in 2010.

His drawbacks include an inconsistent jump shot, questionable physical strength (which should improve as he gets in his 20's), and his inability to defend his spot. My thoughts on these things are real simple- he has not been force) to rely on his jumper and as he faces better talent this weakness will become as apparent to him as it is to me. His physical strength and abilities to guard quicker players (ala Chris Paul, Deron Williams, etc) will again become apparent when he is forced to play faster stronger talent everyday in the NBA. As a form of survival, he will turn these weaknesses into strengths.

Now that you have a little background, Rubio has been liberally described as the next Pistol Pete. As a someone who is always looking for the "Next Pistol" in my travels ... I would like nothing more than for this to be true. Now at first glance, Rubio's mop top haircut, floppy socks, striking simliar facial features, and his ball handling flair would scream out Pistol Pete. In a society where we toss the word prodigy out so easily it was too close of a match for reporters and gurus not to annoint this man as next coming of the Pistol.

Let's not be so quick to do this to this young man. Pistol Pete transformed an entire game worldwide with movements off the feet, hands, the ball ... in developing himself as one of the most creative entertainers of all time--- in any arena. He took fundamentals to a new level and went against the grain. The Pistol was as much of a political movement as he was a pioneer in the game. The Pistol did things we never saw before ... this is too much to toss on this young mans shoulders. Ricky Rubio is going to be a fine basketball player in the NBA ... maybe even an all-star some day and believe me, I will get my son out to watch him. However, as an international basketball consultant, I am wondering if the global explosion of the game of basketball doesn't come with backlash. Let me explain.

For someone like myself who has devoted a lifetime to becoming an expert on each region of the world and its styles of play, I am excited that the world is finally paying attention to the global game. We're seeing seeing styles flow back and forth across borders now (for those stat wizards, Rubio's team offense uses the 7 diferent pick and rolls ala the NBA/ 62% of his scoring comes out of the ball screen) and it's helping the game get better. The problem may be that we have become so infatuated with the global game without understanding it that when a guy like Rubio comes around we don't put him under the microscope. Instead we fall in love with the mystery of the pg across the sea... I posed a question to a colleague after we watched a dvd of an even younger point guard from Senegal in Africa. My colleague was raving about his skills ... and when I asked this simple question he paused and back tracked ---"What if I told you he was from Wisconsin?"

Maybe I am on to something ... maybe not. But in evaluating Ricky Rubio I liken his game to Brent Barry. There isn't anything wrong with that- Barry has been a very good pro. Watch for yourself. Rubio is all over youtube-- either way you'll enjoy this young man and may see him in the NBA next year or in 2010 (and he will probably be a top 3 pick). The key question is can they afford his buyout?! Yes, they have buyouts abroad too- that topic is for another day.
Until tomorrow.
DD