Quite possibly the slowest of slow weekends if you’re a basketball/Blazers fan. As much as I love basketball and respect what the American women were doing…blowing out New Zealand and poor Jillian Harmon just wasn’t going to get it done.
Thankfully Blazers Edge had something to perk me up. Ben with the talk about Ricky Rubio. Yes…that Ricky Rubio. The Ricky Rubio. I’ll talk about what shook me the most about the Rubio article…but first I guess I should address Mr. Rubio himself. I guess I should write this before I continue so you get some background. I’m not on the Ricky Rubio express train. I’m also not on the anti-Ricky Rubio express train. I’m just chilling at the train station right now. I may joke that he’s just a younger Sergio but that’s just to get under people’s skin (and to make Sergio’s day). Truth be told I just have not seen enough of him playing to make a good judgment. I haven’t watched enough to really be able to make an educated argument. I will say this…the hype has got to stop. Can we please lay off the hype? Please. He drew my disdain from Day 1 when SLAM called him possibly ‘The best player in the world not in the NBA’ and people comparing him to Magic Johnson and Pistol Pete. The Spanish Pistol Pete? Let him be Ricky Rubio first before you put that on him. In the hair department and skinny department I see it. But do people forget how good Pistol Pete was? The guy averaged 40+ in college…led the NBA in scoring in 76-77 with 31 points a game. Pardon me if I’m not going to listen to you tell me Ricky Rubio is Pistol Pete no matter how flashy he is.
Rubio no doubt has skills…he’s proving that outside of YouTube videos in the Olympics with his performance against China. A 17 year old fearlessly playing with top players. But he’s kind of like a college freshman, ups and downs. Against Greece he was getting beasted. Against China he looked like a hero. Against Team USA he had flashes of brilliance, the kind that are probably even more impressive considering he’s 17. For the most part he handled the pressure but he did turn the ball over. He plays hard, he plays defense…you can see it. If he develops a jumper…watch out. But give him time. There’s no need to give him this insane buildup.
Now back to Blazers Edge and the reason for the title of this post. At the end of the link they had a poll saying Rudy or Ricky? Rudy’s only winning 51% to 48% after 400+ votes. Now of course this question is hypothetical because there is no chance the Blazers should be able to snag him. They shouldn’t be close to the high end district of the lottery for a while. But… Really people? What happened to Rudy-mania? Can anyone explain choosing Ricky over Rudy to me? I know everyone loves to talk about how much the Blazers need a PG. And on paper Rubio = the prototype for a PG. Reading the comments under the post, there were some arguments that Rubio would fit the Blazers biggest need long-term. For what should be the last time…Brandon Roy is our primary ballhandler/play maker. The sooner people realize this the sooner they’ll realize that the Blazers don’t need this great PG prospect. All Portland needs is a solid guy who will play hard, make open jumpers and not turn the ball over recklessly. That’s why Steve Blake has worked for the most part and Jarrett Jack has not. Think I’m crazy? I pretty much paraphrased what B-Roy said. If he’s saying we don’t need a Paul or Deron type PG than we don’t need it. Rudy fills a need now. Someone on the perimeter who can score. What can Rudy not do offensively? His ability to shoot should more than soften the blow from losing James Jones.
I just found it funny that people went from slightly overrating Rudy to underrating him to overrate Ricky. I swear that makes sense. The spoiled brattiness has got to stop. Quit saying Bayless is like Kevin Johnson or that Rudy is the greatest ever. Or that Brandon Roy’s injury is the end of the world. Let’s wait till the season starts and the wins start coming.
That cannot come soon enough.