He might be too young for NBA draft considerations and this is probably not the first topic about him, but Spanish Ricky Rubio seems to be the real deal. The 15-year old PG (already 6 ft 4) who is famous as the youngest player to play in Spanish professional league (14!!), yesterday won the Under 16 European Championship with Spain (2OT win over Russia). His performance in the finals: 51 pt (16/24); 24 reb; 12 assists and 7 steals. It was his third triple double in the tournament. This is the most impressing single game performance I can remeber of in European youth chamionships.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting arre:</div><div class="quote_post">omg...</div> lol, i was thinkin the same thing
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting P.A.P.:</div><div class="quote_post">Meh, he's ok..</div> Ya, I dropped 75 on France back in the day, I even dunked on Boris Diaw Then following game, I posterized Anderson Varejao Back to reality, this is pretty good considering he's a sophomore in HS pretty much facing Europe's best youth!
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Spanish phenom Ricky Rubio has been completely dominating the competition in Spain and in junior tournaments for the past few years, but his performance at the U16 European Championships showed that he's just getting warmed up. In one of the most thrilling games ever in European junior competitions, Rubio had the most dominating performance in a U16 competition with a staggering 51 points, 24 boards and 12 assists in the Championship game. The 6-foot-3 point guard would not let his National team lose, nailing a desperation half court shot with 1.1 seconds on the clock to send the game into overtime. The game would end up going into a second overtime where Rubio helped Spain defeat Russia to the delight of 3,000 plus home crowd fans in Linares, Spain. His feel for the game and skill level is extremely advanced for a kid that hasn't even turned 16. He's drawing comparisons to "Pistol Pete" Maravich with his dazzling passing and ball handling and the way the game comes so easily to him. Over 8 games of the tournament, Rubio averaged 23.3 points, 12.8 boards and 7.1 assists, leading the event in all three categories. Rubio was the youngest player to appear in an ACB game seeing action for DKV Joventut, (the same team that draft prospect Rudy Fernandez plays for) at the age of 14.</div> Source
Update: Rubio is leading Europe's best competition Euroleague in steals with 3.8 spg (in 19mpg) at age 16. He is projected as early candidate to be the 1st pick of the 2009 NBA draft. If he can improve his long range shot, Rubio could turn out to be the best guard Europe produced since Petrovic.
He's getting 4 steals a game in just 19 minutes? Why doesn't he play more? And is he like a true PG or like a PG/SG?
