Ricky Rubio. Pistol Pete Meets Magic Johnson?

He’s the youngest player to have ever played in the Spanish ACB League at 14, an Olympian – winning a silver medal with the Spanish national team in 2008, and a guaranteed top 10 pick in the 2009 NBA draft. Ricky Rubio is touted as being the best basketball player outside the NBA and he’s just 18.

What may be more amazing than all his accomplishments is how relatively unknown he still is. Rubio’s family, until recently, have carefully protected the young phenom from the media. He was only made available for interviews when he was selected to the Spanish national team to play in the 2008 Olympics. Three years after he began his professional basketball career.

With his Olympic play and the upcoming 2009 NBA draft, Ricky’s name has begun to circulate more and more in North America’s basketball circles.

So what makes Ricky Rubio so special? Pepe Sanchez, former NBA guard, may have said it best:

“I think he’s a freak of nature – being so young and being so skilled and also so cool all the time… he knows the game and he can only improve. I think he’ll be a great player.”

Youth and skill aside, Ricky brings a very refreshing view of basketball to the court. In his first press conference he criticized the NBA’s current emphasis on individual play, “basketball isn’t one-on-one. It’s five-on-five, plus the bench.” For a predestined star still too young to be eligible for the NBA draft to have such a holistic view of the game is something that immediately sets him apart.

His game? While many see his long, lean build, and on-court flair and compare Ricky to Pistol Pete Maravich, Lang Whitaker, editor of SLAM magazine, sees more of Magic Johnson in the young point guard, “Maravich was a scorer first, while Ricky seems suited to being a distributor first and scorer second.” Rubio has a tremendously high basketball IQ, quick hands, coordination, patience, and lightning quick reaction time. He’s going to be a constant triple-double threat when he enters the league and will end his career with at least a few quadruple doubles to his name.

Ricky also brings intangibles to the table and a competitive nature one would expect in someone who has accomplished so much so quickly, “If I’m losing, I’m going to do everything possible to win. I do the same thing on the court.” His hustle on both ends of the court was also one of the highlights of the Spanish national team’s Olympic performance.

His awareness of space on offense and his ability to see plays unfold before anyone else is only surpassed by his even better understanding of defense: Ricky averaged 3.1 steals a game in his first year in the Euroleague in just 18 minutes and at just 14 years old.

Whether because of the NBA fine for commenting on underage prospects or in a futile attempt to keep Ricky a secret, NBA insiders have been hesitant to talk at much length about the young prospect. From Eastern Conference to Western, GM’s are talking:

“He’s the European LeBron James. He’s not so crazy strong, but he does other things: the creativity, the Maravich-type stuff. He brings people out of their chairs and he’ll put them in your stands. He’s a top-three pick.”

“A tremendous talent,” described one Eastern Conference GM before ensuring the rest of his accolades were off the record.

With comments like that, suffice it to say the secret’s out: Ricky Rubio is on his way to the NBA.

Image by Aitor Arrizabalaga.