More hope...... maybe I shouldn't (Rubio rumor)

[nbrans]

I remember this player, black, as it happens... shortly after his 19th birthday, having just lost a game, he really got in the face of this cameraman who was trying to take his picture, and flat out screamed at him. Yeah, he was criticized for it, although not enough to make GMs blind to his potential. He was extremely driven, and barely older than your average HS senior...

Almost exactly a year later, he was in a huge playoff game, down 2 points with 11 seconds to go, and got himself T'ed up. And it was a stupider T than Rubio's, losing a winnable game by calling a timeout when Michigan didn't have any timeouts left. But that didn't stop CWebb from being a #1 draft pick a few months later, or from being a great NBA player.

A lot of great players have done idiotic things when they were in their teens. Heck, I did idiotic things in my own teens, come to think of it! Didn't you?

This is exactly my point. I'm not saying this is something that's going to doom Rubio, but stuff like this is what dogged CWebb and led to justfiable whispers that he was a prima donna. Fact is, he WAS a prima donna and he blew situations before he got humble and great in Sacramento.

That T doesn't mean a whole lot but it does suggest that Rubio might be a bit of a handful. It's a red flag, and it would be getting more scrutiny if we weren't talking about OMFG YOU GUYS HES LIKE SO DREAMY Ricky Rubio.

Fact is, ALL these guys we're talking about are 18, or close to it. All of them have great qualifications against great competition. I get tired of people acting like all of Rubios weaknesses should be swept away because he's 18.

 

[DerekJ]

I remember this player, black, as it happens... shortly after his 19th birthday, having just lost a game, he really got in the face of this cameraman who was trying to take his picture, and flat out screamed at him. Yeah, he was criticized for it, although not enough to make GMs blind to his potential. He was extremely driven, and barely older than your average HS senior...

Almost exactly a year later, he was in a huge playoff game, down 2 points with 11 seconds to go, and got himself T'ed up. And it was a stupider T than Rubio's, losing a winnable game by calling a timeout when Michigan didn't have any timeouts left. But that didn't stop CWebb from being a #1 draft pick a few months later, or from being a great NBA player.

A lot of great players have done idiotic things when they were in their teens. Heck, I did idiotic things in my own teens, come to think of it! Didn't you?

It's blasphemy to even compare C-Webb to Rubio.

 

[nbrans]

And another thing, Rubio did not lose the game for Spain. They were already down. And this isn't the NCAA; he wasn't playing against some kids who would go on to become doctors and physicians. He was playing against a dream team. The situation is completely different, and AFAIC, makes no actual point.

I also want to address this point. Rubio had the fortune of playing for Spain in the Olympics. Which is great! Chris Kaman played for Germany. Patty Mills played for Australia. And a whole bunch of random dudes who will never sniff the NBA played for every team but USA.

So, great. He made the Olympics. It was a good accomplishment. But it's not like American college players had that same kind of opportunity.

I would like to address the whole issue of competition and how impressive Rubio's European accomplishments are. We can go back and forth over Euro Leagues vs. the NCAA all day. But let's look just at the NCAA Elite 8 game between Oklahoma and UNC. That game featured at least six probable future NBA players: Blake Griffin, Willie Warren, Ty Lawson, Danny Green, Tyler Hansbrough, and Ed Davis, and that's not counting possibles Wayne Ellington and Taylor Griffin. It wasn't even the championship!

Do you think Rubio faced six future NBA players in his entire season?

During the season Griffin went up against future NBA players Stephen Curry, Taj Gibson, Eric Maynor, Damion James, Craig Brackins, Cole Aldrich, Jonny Flynn, and those UNC guys.

Rubio went up against... who exactly? Honestly, these NCAA guys have been facing top copmetition in their AAU teams since they were in diapers as well.

Like I said, I know I'm probably too down on Rubio. But I think there has to be some more perspective about some of this stuff.

 

[fnordius]

It's blasphemy to even compare C-Webb to Rubio.

 

[TheFifthMookie]

And I'll go there: Can you imagine if an African American player lost an NCAA Championship game because of a technical in the closing seconds? "But he's just 18!!!" would not be the response.

Webber's timeout when Michigan had none. Surely that indicates he's a bonehead.

I can see this is going to be a discussion about semantics and exaggeration. Good day sir.

 

[nbrans]

Webber's timeout when Michigan had none. Surely that indicates he's a bonehead.

I can see this is going to be a discussion about semantics and exaggeration. Good day sir.

It was a mental lapse, and questions about whether Webber was clutch or not justifiably dogged him his entire career, including the golden years when he deferred to Bibby. So that's one thing to take away: sometimes those incidents are revealing.

The second thing to take away is that around that time Webber and the rest of the Fab 5 were almost universally derided by the media as punks. The criticism was loud, intense, and vociferous. But whoa boy, question Rubio's technical and everyone starts screaming "He's just 18!" Just saying that Rubio is treated to a different standard, and even his supporters can admit that he has red flags.

 

[Dime Dropper]

This is exactly my point. I'm not saying this is something that's going to doom Rubio, but stuff like this is what dogged CWebb and led to justfiable whispers that he was a prima donna. Fact is, he WAS a prima donna and he blew situations before he got humble and great in Sacramento.

That T doesn't mean a whole lot but it does suggest that Rubio might be a bit of a handful. It's a red flag, and it would be getting more scrutiny if we weren't talking about OMFG YOU GUYS HES LIKE SO DREAMY Ricky Rubio.

Fact is, ALL these guys we're talking about are 18, or close to it. All of them have great qualifications against great competition. I get tired of people acting like all of Rubios weaknesses should be swept away because he's 18.

Just to be clear, you know I'm not sweeping any of his weaknesses under the rug, don't you? I acknowledge his weaknesses. He is definitely not a sure thing, despite being the most talented Euro to enter the draft. He does have weaknesses, and significant ones at that. I do thing he will be a very good player, but I know that I could be wrong. As long as you don't think I'm saying he's a sure thing, that's OK.

And just for the record, neither Germany nor Austrailia are even close to being half as good as Spain. It's not the same thing.

 

[nbrans]

Just to be clear, you know I'm not sweeping any of his weaknesses under the rug, don't you? I acknowledge his weaknesses. He is definitely not a sure thing, despite being the most talented Euro to enter the draft. He does have weaknesses, and significant ones at that. I do thing he will be a very good player, but I know that I could be wrong. As long as you don't think I'm saying he's a sure thing, that's OK.

And just for the record, neither Germany nor Austrailia are even close to being half as good as Spain. It's not the same thing.

No, I'm not talking about you, your opinion has always been balanced.