Ricky Rubio is Here

Ah yes, Ricky Rubio. The Spanish Sensation as he is currently known. Definitely one of the better nicknames. I kinda wish it was my nickname to be honest. Not the best in sports though. My current favorites are AK-47 for Andrei Kirilenko, Kung-Fu Panda for Pablo Sandoval, the fat third basemen for the Giants, and whatever Shaq's current nickname is. Feel free to give your favorites in the comments part because I have clearly left some off. But that's beside the point. Ricky Rubio is here!

Now I am a bit of a Draft guru. I haven't been this excited about a prospect coming into the league since I was watching high school games on TV just to see LeBron James. He turned out pretty good. It was funny to me at the time and it's still funny all the people who just watched Carmelo win the college national championship in his first year were then saying he should go number 1 and he will be better than King James. I tried to talk sense into them, but they wouldn't hear it. I don't hear those people talking anymore. I was also the guy making an argument that Kevin Durant should have gone ahead of Greg Oden. I wonder where Oden would go in that draft if we did it all over because KD would be the clear number 1.

Speaking of clear number 1s, there seems to be one here with Blake Griffin. He made a good decision to come back to school for his sophomore year, it's just too bad the Clippers won the pick. They have a loaded frontcourt with Zach Randolph, Chris Kaman, and Marcus Camby. Seems pretty crowded. I would love to see them swap picks with either Memphis at 2 or Oklahoma City at 3 so they could grab Rubio and send Baron packing. Any other team in the lottery could easily plug Griffin into their starting lineup. The sorry Clippers however dont have room right now. Maybe that Randolph trade was even worse than originally thought (which is pretty damn bad).

So now we get to my boy Ricky Rubio. Here's a little taste if you haven't seen him at all. Watch it in high quality. I picked this clip not only because of the Spanish music in the background, but it kind of gives you a sense of the player he is and can be. Let me give you a brief scouting report. He's only 18 and already has the whole US Olympic team talking about him since his performance against them last Summer in Beijing.

"He's fast, he's young and he goes a hundred miles an hour," said Dwayne Wade. "Plus, his ability to play at the Olympic level shows a lot of character. Right now he's playing off of sheer will. Once he gets to know the game a little better, he's going to be phenomenal." Chris Paul also had similar endorsements of the kid. He's such a skilled passer and has unbelievable court vision. A sick handle, and he's a pure point guard with good size at 6-3 though he could stand to gain 15 pounds (he's not bony by any means like most young Euros). He's also a great defender with quickness that leads to a lot of steals. There is one knock on him and it's his shooting. He's not a great shooter an he doesn't get much lift on his shots. That's something he is really going to have to work on when he gets here. It's tough to project his numbers right now since I don't yet know where he will be playing, but I believe he can be an immediate contributor, which says a lot about a kid who is as old as most kids going to their proms. This kid is special and could be as good, if not better than Griffin when it is all said and done. The Spanish Sensation is here!