Seven Reasons Why Ricky Rubio Would Be a Great Fit for the Toronto Raptors

There has been quite a bit of confusion over the whole situation with Ricky Rubio, and a lot of people are wondering what happened/is happening with him, when he could possible be coming to the NBA, and then of course, once he arrives, where he will play. 



Well, here are the answers to those questions to the best of my knowledge.  According to what I have read, the earliest he could come to the NBA is the 2011/2012 season, because he has a buyout option in his current contract with FC Barcelona.    



However, if he were to decide to come over and play in the NBA next season, it would have to be with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and it is still unknown whether or not he actually wants to play in Minnesota. 
With this being the case, it is quite likely that Minnesota will try to trade him while his value is still high.  If this happens, I suggest that the Raptors make a strong push to acquire him, if the price is right. 



However, Rubio could also wait another two years, which brings us to the 2012/2013 season, by which point he would become a free agent and would be free to undergo negotiations with teams that are not the called the Minnesota Timberwolves.  Therefore, if we would like to wait two more years we could and should make ourselves one of those teams.


Okay, so I hope you guys understood everything from the first slide. It is a lot of information to take in at one time, and honestly, there is still a lot more to it than what I explained, I just didn’t want to draw it out too long, so nonetheless, following this is my little disclaimer and then I will get started.



Alright, since I am unsure as to whether or not all of this will actually happen, and I do not know exactly what Minnesota would be asking for in return if they were to trade him next year, I haven’t really spent too much time thinking about what we may have to offer the T-Wolves in exchange for Rubio’s services; however, what I have been doing is taking the time to think about the top seven reasons why I think Rubio would be a great fit for the Raps.


So here they are, in no real specific order...


7. He Wants To Play on the East Coast



Apparently, Ricky Rubio has stated that he would like to play on the East Coast, and I have even heard that he has expressed interest in coming to Toronto. 



This is excellent news for us, because it means that we already have our foot in the door. When you consider the other six reasons I am going to mention, I think we would have a pretty good chance of landing him either this coming season via trade with Minnesota or the year after that by signing him as a free agent.


6. Point Guard of the Future



Now, I know we already have Jerryd Bayless, who has been labeled as our possible point guard of the future, but, Rubio does have some great potential.  He hasn’t really been able to live up to the huge amount of hype he had received; however, in his defence, he has been being examined through a very critical lens, which tends to focus on the wrong areas of his game.



Rubio is the definition of pass first point guard, and that is exactly how he plays.  He is committed to his team, and he is willing to do whatever it takes to win with little if any concern for individual stats.  He plays a much more team based game than most point guards in the NBA today. 



Because of this, it is hard to rate his play by simply looking at his statistics.  Much like Reggie Evans, he is the type of player who does the small things that don’t necessarily show up on the stat sheets, yet they add up and certainly pay off big in the long run. 



Much as Reggie Evans injects the Raptors with energy, Ricky Rubio offers a high basketball I.Q combined with superb court vision and awareness both on offense and defence.


5. He Plays Defence



Speaking of defence, because of his high Basketball I.Q and his above average length at his position, he is more than able to shut down opposing point guards. 



Ricky Rubio is 6’4" and has a wingspan of 6’9”.  He understands the game very well, and he is great at reading plays and anticipating what others team will do on offense.  This makes it much easier for him to interrupt plays and often times come up with the steal.   



Furthermore, defence is one area that has notoriously been a problem for the Raptors. If they plan on contending at some point in the near future, it is necessary that they have a good defensive PG to compete with teams like the Celtics and Bulls, who have superstar guards Rajon Rondo and Derrick Rose.



** Rubio has won at least one defensive award while playing in Europe, and he has also led his league in steals on at least one occasion.   


4. International Flavour



I use this every time I am considering reasons why any international player should come to Toronto; however, it is with good reason.  Toronto is a very multicultural city.  This really helps international players by facilitating the transition period and also by helping them feel at home in a foreign country. 



This “International flavour” also applies to the team itself.  The Toronto Raptors are a very diverse team with six international players, good enough for tops in the league.  This would make the transition process on and off the court much easier for Rubio because there are six other guys who have experienced the same thing and will be able to help him through it.        


3. Jose Calderon


Of the six international players I mentioned in the last slide, the most important one would have to be Jose Calderon.  Calderon would certainly be a key part of our effort to convince Rubio to come to Toronto.  Furthermore, I think Calderon has a lot to offer his fellow Spaniard as he would serve as a mentor for him and guide him both on and off the court. 



Calderon is more than capable of running the Toronto offense, and here’s hoping that he can help Rubio develop into the same type of player.  In addition, Calderon is an excellent jump shooter, particularly from behind the three-point line, which is the area of greatest weakness for Rubio.  So hopefully, Calderon would help him work on this, and also, between Calderon and Barbosa, they could even help Rubio improve when it comes to his ability successfully finish at the basket.  



However, in the end, this would all depend on how willing Jose Calderon is to once again share/surrender the starting point guard job in Toronto, as well as how willing Rubio would be to either share the starting job with Calderon or to split minutes with him as his backup. 



However, one quality that I have seen in both of these men is their willingness to take a back seat if it gives the team a better chance to win.  Jose did this for several years without any complaints, and I think Rubio would do the same until it comes time for him to take over.  



2. He Understands the Game



As I have stressed throughout this entire article, Ricky Rubio possess superb court vision and he has a very high basketball I.Q.  As a result, he will undoubtedly make everyone around him better.   




His ability to find the open man and the open passing lane ranks up there with the best of them.  As a result, he has drawn comparisons to NBA greats such as “Pistol” Pete Maravich as well as current pure point guard stars like Steve Nash.   




It takes a lot to be compared to guys like Pistol Pete and Steve Nash; however, in this case, I feel that Rubio is deserving of the comparisons.  It will undoubtedly take a year or two for him to adjust to the league, but once all is said and done, I think he will end up finishing his career à la Steve Nash: an underrated player throughout the beginning of his career, but he will certainly finished strong near the end of it, like Nash is doing right now. 



So, here’s hoping he is still a Raptor when that happens.


1. He Wants to Win and He Knows How to Do It



Ricky Rubio knows how to win.  He was a member of the gold medal Spanish National team in the FIBA Europe under 16 championship in 2006, he won the Euro Cup championship with Joventut in 2008 and he also won a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. 



Rubio wants to win and he wants to play with the best players in the world.  This is why I know that he will end up in the NBA sooner rather than later. 



Also, it is important to note that the Raptors are not a team with an undisputed star that we can depend on game in and game out to put the team on his shoulders and get the win for us.  Instead, we have several guys who work together to get the job done, and although they may not each be at their best every game, they are starting to learn how to compensate for each other when someone else is struggling.   Although it has not translated into many wins this season, I think it will soon enough. 



The Raptors will remain like this for years to come, and Rubio’s team first mentality and his ability to make everyone on the team play better go perfectly with the way this team functions.     


Final Thoughts



In the end, I think Ricky Rubio would be a great addition to our team, especially if we are able to get him for cheap.  I think he is extremely un-selfish, especially considering how much this is evident in the way he plays the game.  Furthermore, I don’t think he would mind splitting time with Jose and I feel he would fit in very well with the team’s chemistry. 




Also, I completely disagree with the way he has sometimes been portrayed as a selfish and cocky player who refused to play for a team like Minnesota because he wanted to be drafted by a big market team like LA or New York.  There is much more to his decision, such as his contractual issues with his former team, and he also needed to consider what was best for him and his family. 




Off the court, I see Ricky Rubio being a very loyal and humble person, such as Jose Calderon (not only because they are both from Spain, I actually see a lot of similarities between the two that go far beyond their common nationality), or Steve Nash, to whom he has also drawn comparisons on the court.




If we were to acquire Ricky Rubio, we would have a solid young team with lots of potential at each position (assuming we draft a bright young SF with our lottery pick in this year’s draft).  So, all we will have to do after that is to wait and hope that all of that potential will translate into success.


Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to comment. 

Taco Bell Skills Competition 2011: Jose Calderon and Other Star Guards Snubbed

I’m browsing the NBA.com homepage today, and as per usual, the first thing that catches my eye is the fancy Trade Deadline countdown, but that’s nothing new; I’ve seen that before, so I continue down the page and check the top stories of the day.

So I am cycling through the lead stories. I begin with a story on the announcement of the All-Star reserves that came earlier tonight; not too shabby.  Then, there is an ad hyping up the Heat-Magic game later tonight; should be a good one.  After that, I see a Spurs ad, but I don’t feel like hearing about the Spurs, so I skip to the next one, and then bam, there’s Charles Barkley all up in my face talking about his “Not so terrible website”, but that’s not what I want to talk about,

I want to talk about what I saw next.  It was an ad for the Taco Bell Skills Challenge.  Intrigued, I decide to further investigate and place possibly place my vote.

So, how am I feeling about this Taco Best Skills competition right about now? Well, to be honest, I am quite disappointed.  Right away, I am thinking, okay, Chris Paul is an elite guard in the league, and yeah, I am well aware that he was recently and probably still is first in the league in assists per turnover ratio as well as assists, but why does he get a free pass to the contest? He was not even in it last year.  If anyone should get a free pass, it should be Steve Nash, the defending champion (not too to take anything away from Chris Paul’s game).

So anyway, I eventually get over myself and decide to scroll down and see whom all I can choose.  There is Baron Davis, Tyreke Evans, and Derek Fisher…and right about now, I am shocked, yet I somehow find the strength to keep going.  I see Tony Parker, Stephen Curry, Derrick Rose, John Wall, and Russell Westbrook, and I can finally breathe easy again.  I am quite content now, knowing that the regular superstar point guards are there, but then, not too shortly after since I have an incredibly short attention span, I start thinking to myself…where be D-Will? And Rondo? And, where the hell is Nash?

Then I start thinking again, okay, if they’re going to have guys like Tyreke Evans, Baron Davis and Derek Fisher as candidates, then there is absolutely no reason why Jose Calderon should be left out.

Now that I am absolutely flabbergasted by the situation, I decide to check out some stats and see how accurate my initial reactions really were.  Derek Fisher is averaging 2.8 assists per game and is definitely not the quickest cat in the league, so why is he here?

Then I check out the next guy, Baron Davis; what do I see?  Well, he is not much better than Fisher is; he has got 6.6 assists per game, which are good enough for 18^th in the league, 18^th!  So again, I get over myself and check the third and final member of the trio of disappointments, and it's even worse, Evans is 27^th in the league with 5.5 Assists per game.


Dazed and confused, I ask myself, why did they choose these three players? They are all on underachieving teams (sorry LA, had to be said, even though I still have faith), and aside from Fisher, their teams are playing horribly.  Therefore, this means I can forget about them trying to select someone from a good team, and it furthers they theory that Jose Calderon should have been selected as an option.

Calderon is seventh in the league with 8.5 assists per game and third in assists per 48 minutes with 13.5.  And it gets better; he is second in assists to turnover ratio with 4.03 assists for each turnover, so with accurate passing like that, are you really going to tell me that he wouldn’t be one the best when it comes to getting the pumpkin through those tiny little hoops?  Because if you are then I say, you are lying!

The only knock on Calderon when it comes to an event like this is that he doesn’t have blinding speed, but then again, neither does the aging Derek Fisher or the out of shape Baron Davis.  And aside from that, one might say that he isn’t popular enough to be in the event, but then again, isn't the point of these events to help the rising stars gain momentum and popularity?

Well since that is the case, I say more power to him. Winning this event could be a huge boost for Calderon and could finally get him the popularity and respect he deserves.

Therefore, in conclusion, I will steal a chant/quote from last year’s dunk contest and rather than cheering “Let Shannon Dunk”, I say “LET JOSE PASS!”

If you enjoyed this article, please comment and let me know, and if you hated it, comment anyway and let me know why.

I hope you enjoyed what I have to say on this topic because I still have a lot more to say, so stick around to hear more in the near future.