Speaking of Ricqui Rubio, many fans must have mixed opinions about this Spanish handsome guy. His good overall view, keen insight and incomparable passing are sought after by many fans, but at the same time, the shooting level that is so bad that he can't bear to look at it is also a problem that Rubio has been unable to solve for so many years, and even dubbed "Lu Yizhong" by many Chinese fans. The stagnation in recent years has also made the Timberwolves and fans lose patience and send him to the Utah Jazz this summer.
More and more voices are questioning that Rubio is a seriously overrated player. Rubio, who became famous at a young age, is not bad in the NBA now, but it is still much worse than everyone once expected of him. There is really a reason why Rubio was called the "Golden Boy" back then!
Born in 1990 in Barcelona, Spain, Rubio trained in basketball from an early age and became a well-known basketball player in the local area. On 15 October 2005, Rubio made his debut in the Spanish Basketball League, where he also set the record for the youngest appearance in the adult category of the Spanish Basketball League, at the age of 14 and 359 days. In this way, Rubio, who is not yet 15 years old, began his career. In 2006, Rubio made his European debut, averaging 3.45 steals per game this season, already leading the league, and Rubio was only 16 years old.
What really made Rubio shine was the 2006 U16 European Championships. Rubio, who had been training in the adult arena for a year at this time, was naturally the number one star of the Spanish team, and his performance in that tournament was really amazing to everyone. Facing Croatia in the semifinals, Rubio scored a super quadruple-double with 19 points, 10 rebounds, 13 assists and 11 steals to lead Spain to the final. In the final with Russia, in the face of the opponent's key defense, Rubio sent 51 points, 24 rebounds, 12 assists and 7 steals of the "explosion" data, truly overnight fame.
In the 2007-08 season, Rubio, who was given a steady playing time, was selected for the best team of the Spanish Basketball League, and he is also the youngest player to be selected for the best team of the Spanish Basketball League. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the under-18-year-old Rubio won the Olympic silver medal with the national team. Also in 2008, Rubio won awards such as "Mr. Basketball Europe" and "FIBA Young Player of the Year".
Objectively speaking, Rubio is a very "precocious" basketball player. At a very young age, he had a ball quotient and a level of understanding of the game far beyond his age, so he has always been a much larger presence on the field than his peers, which is why he was praised as a "golden boy" or "genius" at that time. When he was still young and immature, Rubio's shortcomings in shooting weakness were masked by the light of his body and did not stand out. Coming to the NBA, as I got older, this shortcoming was magnified more and more seriously, which caused Rubio's current situation. But I still believe that the former Spanish "golden boy" will not be willing to become more and more invisible, hoping that Rubio, who has changed his court, will have a new start next season!