Do Americans Like Ricky Rubio?

I have been reading some SLAM magazine blog posts lately dealing with the 18-year-old Iberian basketball-playing wunderkind, and I have noticed many blog posts - posted by Americans - tend to be slanted against him.
As most readers of this blog know, Rubio rocketed into the international spotlight as a major cog on the Spanish national team that took silver in last year's Olympics. He then underwent surgery, missed a few months and since returning to play for his hometown DKV Joventut team has averaged 8.2 ppg, 6.2 apg and 1.8 spg in 21 minutes a game for 12 games. Those aren't stellar stats, but they ain't picken' from the suckleberry tree either. His Euroleague stats in 5 games, however, are pretty bad: 2.4 ppg, 2.8 apg and 1.8 spg in 13.4 minutes a game. So, he has yet to get his game on track, but he'll come around. Besides, it doesn't look like Rubio will apply for the 2009 draft anyway, and with stats like that, he'd be wise to season another year anyway.

Evidentally, Senor Rubio and his hermanos didn't get too bored while he convalesced from his surgery: Just look at how much fun they had practicing coin tossing into each other's hoodies/pockets for a McDonald's commercial!


As you can imagine, when SLAM posted the video on its site, many Americans (I assume) did not seem especially get into it. Take "eboy's" opening salvo:

You’ve got to be fu*king kidding me, right? There’s not enough words to describe how incredibly fu*king ghey and asinine this is...

Later, "underdog" enters the fray:

Pathetic. But I’m sure Ricky earned a good amount of money with this ad. So I understand the financial reasons, but c’mon. This sh- looks bad. (I don’t speak Spanish at all, so maybe for Spanish speakers this ad is funny or entertaining, but for some reason I don’t think so.)

Not to say everbody is so reactionary. Here's "RV" as a voice of reason:

i don’t understand the hate towrds the video, it’s a different culture, what’s amusing, funny, or interesting to them may not be the same for Americans. Also, it’s a commercial basically saying u can buy a burger for that much, so i guess they needed a gimmick involving the coin….

But then some Spaniards (I assume) get up in it with their own particular brand of vim:

I hope he never makes the NBA, so I can enjoy him here. U yankees think ur sh*t doesn’t smell. It’s OK with me. Keep on saying bad things about players u haven’t even seen in your life and I’ll keep suporting (good) Spanish players. BTW is great to have Navarro back. Just because he ain’t black he didn’t had a real chance to be the real leader he is in the NBA. World Camps baby. Cheers

and..

Couple of years ago, first European to go nr 1 in the draft. Then first European MVP. And Spain is still the world champion and played well against the redeem team in the olympic finals… Can’t denie that we’re catching up. Go Ricky!

I wonder if anything extraordinary in this online expression of a Spanish-American tiff, or if this all is simply a trans-Atlantic extension of the high school rivalries every Thad and Tyler knows while growing up playing football in Texas. I think there are two main differences, though:

1) While Thad and Tyler may hate each other schools, they can understand why they do so better than people in different cultures. After all, Thad and Tyler share the same god, Wal-Mart, megaplex movie theater, Abercrombie and Fitch store and even cross-date each the girls from each other's school occasionally. Whereas most Americans have never been across the Atlantic for an extended period of time and don't necessarily understand that different cultures have different ways of approaching humor. That can be very hard to wrap your head around until you're immersed in it. Similarly, Spaniards who have never lived in America may have constructed their view of America solely through commercials, MTV, Shia LaBeouf movies and Beyonce songs. Warped views run both ways.

2) Especially nationalistic Americans may view the others" from knocking America from its perch as basketball's superpower. At the head said "others" is Spain, who proved in 2008 that its arsenal of young basketball talent poses the greatest threat to beat the senior Americans in upcoming international basketball tournaments. Rubio is the best of the new generation, and will likely be the guy orchestrating the upset. And once the upset happens, there are no more excuses for America, which now has a coherent, consistent national team program focused on winning FIBA games. The U.S. will have to admit it no longer towers above the others, but is a first among equals. I don't see that as such a bad thing - if future international tournament games look like the end of the thrilling Spanish-U.S. 2008 Olympics final, we'll have entered a golden age of worldwide basketball quality.

Fernandez First Foreigner as NBA Dunk Contestant

Oh, what a time for Firsts.
A couple of days before Barack Obama became the nation's first black president, Rudy Fernandez became the first non-US born player to participate in the NBA's dunk contest.
That's 90 players in 23 years (no contests in '98 or '99) since 1984, folks. It's not like foreigners can't dunk - here's ample evidence of the aerials arts being practiced in the Euroleague. And in the NBA, there have been a few foreigner players with the ability to open bomb bay doors over rims or do nasty things in the air (e.g. Mikeal Pietrus, Manu Ginobli, Nene, Sarunas Marciulionis (look at the number six here), but none of them - save Ginobili - were ever popular enough league-wide to be voted into the dunk contest. And while Ginobili is a nice dunker, he's more known for being an acrobatic lay-up maestro than a devil-possessed ball detonator.

Fernandez came into the league with a reputation for doing R-rated things to the rim and, so far, he hasn't disappointed. An extremely popular player in Spain (where he played with Ricky Rubio for DKV Joventut last year and was the national team's most explosive perimeter threat), the weed-thin Iberian has also generated a legion of American fans with this bouncy exploits.
And so when the final spot of the four-person dunk contest came down to fan voting, Fernandez got in on the strength of 500,000 strong.

And so, without further adieu, in honor of the wicked, wicked wonders Rudy works whilst in air, here's a sample of his finest dunkmanship:

From the AFP:

The 23-year-old guard was selected through an online vote by more than 500,000 fans at the league's website, putting Fernandez into the four-man event on February 14 at Phoenix, where the All-Star Game will be played the next day.

Fernandez will join defending dunk champion Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic, New York Knicks guard Nate Robinson and Memphis forward Rudy Gay. Robinson won the 2006 competition and Gay competed in last year's event.

This was the first time NBA fans had a chance to select a participant. Others in the event had been named by the league.

Fernandez received 251,868 votes with Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook next at 147,279 and Milwaukee's Joe Alexander third on 114,963 in a competition between NBA newcomers.

Fans will have the final say in the winner of the event by casting votes by text message or at the NBA website.

Ricky Rubio Likely to Enter 2010 Draft

It appears unlikely that 18-year-old Ricky Rubio will enter next year's draft. Not only is he a little underdeveloped physically for the wear and tear of NBA play, but leaving his European team's contract appears to be a knotty issue. Oh well - I like it. He gets to have one year of stardom in Europe, and taking on the American prospects who will be coming over next year - before taking on the Big Boys in The League.

from SLAM Online by Ryne Nelson

According to Rubio’s agent, Germa’n González, “it is a real possibility” that the Spanish point guard will not declare for the upcoming 2009 NBA Draft.

The following is rough English translation, as González told to Marca, the Spanish nationwide daily sports newspaper:

“We do not want it to go like other players who have left very high in the Draft and soon they do not play. The Americans have become crazy to have players there as soon as possible. The decisions will be taken based on which the European market also provides.”

While González also said Rubio’s decision to remain in Europe is not final, Rubio’s € 6 million ($8.4 million USD) buyout could eventually cause him to stay. A complex renegotiation with DKV Joventut needs to occur in order to reduce the high costs (higher than even the salary of a no. 1 selection) of rescission.

Despite talks of being a Top 5 pick in June, worries about Rubio’s NBA-readiness will likely cause him to forgo the NBA for at least another year.

The Return of Ricky

Seemingly all hair, elbows, knees - and, oh yeah, frightfully fulgent talent too - the Iberian Boy King of Basketball is Back.

Ricky Rubio - 18-year star point guard of his home town DKV Joventut team - burst into mass international awarenesss in last summer's Olympics as the darling of the silver-winning Spanish national team.

As a 17-year-old - someone who wouldn't be able to legally smoke in the United States - he was smokin' world-class competition in the 18.5 minutes he averaged in 8 Olympic games. His line? 4.8 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2.1 steals per. His knock? 28% percent from the field. That will undoubtedly improve with age, though.

His Olympic success seemed to pave the way for the Spanish town of Badalona's Finest to dominate this season in Euroleague and domestic play. Especially since the team's star from last year, EuroFlyer Rudy Fernandez, is now scraping the stratosphere for the NBA's Portland Trailblazers.

Alas, before the season he had surgery on a wrist injury sustained in the Olympics and has missed all games until this week...

His production in the two games since his return has been understandably low: 2.5 assists, 1 rebound, 1 steal in 6 minutes per. He hasn't even attempted a shot yet. But, more importantly, his team has won its two games - against Union Olimpija and Fenerbahçe Ülker.

Still, for those hankering for visions of the "Rubio of old," check out this mix of Ricky atomizing kids as a 14-year old:

Ricky Rubio at 14 year old
Uploaded by no1pointguard

(Found through Ballineurope)

Wristy Business

My main man, Ricky Rubio, will miss the Euroleague preseason with surgery for a wrist injury. Although he's supposed to only miss the preseason, but you never know. I hope he's able to rebound soon and hit the Euroleague regular season pavement running.

From Euroleague.net:
DKV Joventut teenage superstar Ricky Rubio will undergo surgery on his right wrist, the club announced Monday. Rubio has been sidelined for the entire preseason due to this hand injury and will undergo a wrist arthroscopy as soon as tomorrow to investigate if ligaments are damaged. The arthroscopy will also allow DKV Joventut to estimate how long Rubio will be sidelined. Rubio helped Joventut to win the Spanish King's Cup and the ULEB Cup titles with Joventut last season, as well as reaching the 2008 Olympic final with Spain this summer.

What is the ACB and why is it "Ballerific"?

ACB means Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto or Associaton of Basketball Clubs. Pardon my French, but this Spanish league is considered the creme de la creme of all domestic basketball league outside of the NBA. Spanish fans are rabid about their basketball and club owners are willing to pay top dollar to attract talent to the peninsula. This league is a lot less cookie-cutter than its logo would have you believe!

For one, the color of the Spanish people absolutely pops off the league's English-language website. Go here and look at the graphic in the middle of the page by the words "El Crack." Hardly niño friendly, eh?

For two, this audaciously fun league also happens to be home to Ricky Rubio, the best young talent in Europe.

His team - DKV Joventut - is a based in Badolona, Spain, a suburb of Barcelona in the northeast of Spain.


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The 78-year old team is one of only three in the ACB to have never been demoted to a lesser domestic league and will this year place its chances for success in the hands of young Rubio.

Star Rudy Fernandez, Rubio's backcourt mate from last year, and the man who almost buried America's chances for Olympic gold in a torrent of threes, has left for the Portland Trailblazers.