Well, if Rubio manages to get into the draft, I'd love to see KP work his magic and do a "consolidation deal" to pick up Rubio. Something like: buy another first-round pick, package Portland's two first-round picks, Bayless and/or Fernandez and potentially take back a contract in exchange for the rights to Rubio. I think Rubio is absolutely the real deal, and a Rubio/Roy backcourt would be amazing.
I understand the excitement over Rubio....but....I have to play devil's advocate for a minute. How long will it take Rubio to adjust to the NBA game? Rudy is struggling and Sergio never did. PG is also generally considered the hardest position to learn. How close is Rubio to physical maturity? If the older Rudy is getting beat down, how is Rubio going to cope! He may have the head for the NBA, but IMHO the body is nowhere close. How mature/emotionally stable is he? Batum is the orphaned son of a pro player. I wouldn't extrapolate his mental toughness to just any teenager. If Rubio winds up with a team that expects immediate contributions, I can see this getting rather ugly.
Well, I don't think there's a greater issue going from European basketball to the NBA than college to the NBA. Rodriguez hasn't struggled to "adjust," IMO...he's just not very good. A failed prospect. Rubio is considered a much more talented player. Rudy actually succeeded right out of the gate. He's struggled in the second half, which has something to do with a standard rookie wall and probably something to do with his hectic playing schedule over the past year (counting Olympics). That's a concern. Any rookie point guard is going to have a learning curve and Rubio isn't built powerfully. But he can always start the season off the bench, behind Blake. I have a lot more faith in Rubio to produce than Rodriguez. Bayless, I don't know. I'm a big fan of his talent, but I don't think he'll ever be a passing whiz. I don't think he has to be to succeed alongside Roy, but I will admit being intrigued by the possibility of having a dazzling passing play-maker. Rubio's distributing ability is supposed to be special, so I'm not sure if comparisons to players like Rudy or Sergio are terribly useful. He's a greater talent. He'll still need time to adjust, but quite likely less.
Um, I may be out in left field as a big Rubio fanboy, but I think a lot of those concerns aren't really huge deals. As far as the size aspect, he's been playing against pros bigger, stronger and tougher (physically) than he since he was 14. He started the gold medal game against the US at 18. He's becoming pretty well known for his team D, and knowing how to mask his average athleticism with BBIQ and playing the passing lanes better than anyone in Europe. (I need to find that quote again, sorry) I don't think anyone's questioning his ability to make plays on the offensive end, right? buy up a first or two, package with ours, 3M in cash, take a bad contract back (Arenas?) and send Bayless with one of the Outlaw/Webster/Blake (exp. contract before Jun 30). Kinda makes you think twice about that rumored Arenas+#1 for RLEC deal, huh?
Added something. Dude's the master of the 10pt/15reb game. He's only 6'7, but he has a little bit of ups and snatches balls out of the air.
