Ricky Rubio

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Ricky Rubio

Position	Point guard
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight	180 lb (82 kg)
Team	Joventut Badalona
Born	October 21, 1990 (1990-10-21) (age 17) El Masnou, Barcelona province, Spain
Nationality	Spain
Draft	Ineligible until the 2009 NBA Draft
Pro career	2005–present
Awards	2006 FIBA Europe U16 Championship MVP

Ricard "Ricky" Rubio Vives (born October 21, 1990) is a Spanish pro basketball player. Considered a child prodigy in basketball, Rubio became the youngest ever to play in Spain's ACB, arguably the top domestic league in Europe, on October 15, 2005.^[1] The 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) tall Rubio is playing point guard for Joventut Badalona in both the ACB and the Euroleague, generally regarded as the world's top annual basketball competition outside the NBA. Displaying amazing talent and maturity despite his young age, Rubio is commonly regarded as the best European guard prospect since Dražen Petrović. Due to his scoring dominance and creativity, Rubio has been compared to Pete Maravich.^[2] Former NBA guard Pepe Sánchez, who then played at the point for ACB rivals Unicaja Málaga, made this comment in a February 2007 interview for a Euroleague profile of Rubio:

“

I think he's a freak of nature — being so young and being so skilled and also so cool all the time. You can see that he knows what he's doing. He's not playing out there with pros based only on his talents. He knows the game and he can only improve. I think he'll be a great player. It all depends on him, but I personally think he's going to be great.^[3]

”

Despite his notability, he is being carefully shielded from excessive media attention. Joventut and the Rubio family have agreed that he will not be available for interviews until he turns 18.^[3]

In August of 2006 Rubio led the Spanish national team to the FIBA Europe U16 Championship. During the tournament (excluding the final game), Rubio achieved two triple-doubles and one quadruple-double. In the 110-106 double overtime finale victory over Russia, Rubio scored 51 points (including a three-point buzzer-beater shot from mid court to force the first overtime), grabbed 24 rebounds, made 12 assists, and stole the ball seven times — a performance unprecedented in tournament history. Rubio also was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament after leading it in points, rebounds, assists and steals.

Rubio made his Euroleague debut on October 24, 2006, versus Panathinaikos of Athens. He displayed extraordinary maturity as Joventut's backup point guard for Elmer Bennett. As of the end of the 2006-07 Euroleague regular season, he leads the Euroleague in steals by a large margin, averaging 3.45 steals per game, although playing only 18 minutes per game. He also ranks 17th among the top passers, averaging 3.27 assists per game.

Rubio was featured in SLAM Magazine in April 2007. [1] In the piece the author noted that he considered him the best non-NBA player in the world and compared him to Magic Johnson.