Media source claims source says media report on Ricky Rubio wrong

August 26, 2009

From ESPN.com comes a story of reportage on reportage about reportage on the Ricky Rubio-to-Barcelona story. (So if you include Ball in Europe in on the mix, you’ve got four degrees of separation from the real story whatever that may be. But what the hell, that’s life in the 21st century.)

While Spanish-language outlet Marca.com had reportedly reported that Regal FC Barcelona “agreed to pay Rubio’s former team, DKV Joventut, €3.7 million for the rights to” Rubio, ESPN’s apparently nihilistic “knowledgeable source” informed that “Ricky Rubio hasn’t signed anything. Joventut hasn’t accepted anything. It’s not over yet.”

Oh.

Of course, Marca.com are no dummies. Yesterday, they reported on the non-possibility of Rubio going to the Memphis Grizzlies to play with Marc Gasol as opposed to playing with the Minnesota Timberwolves; you know, the team that, um, drafted him.

Meanwhile, the ESPN.com story makes reference to “the ever-changing landscape” of story, yet the landscape is changing. It’s just the media reportage of the reportage that’s changing because America is experiencing something of a lull in professional hoops buzz right now.

Ah, isn’t 2009-10 — and the whole darn 21st century — cool so far?

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This post was published on August 26, 2009
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Comments: 3
  1. Teo
    16 years ago

    after ricky rubio comes home with the gold at the end of september having played a phenomenal eurobasket collecting 7ast/game with all his amazing teammates, he will get so many endorsement deals done in his home country that it would be asbolute idiocy to leave spain right now and pay money for it. Staying in barca will make him richer, a better player and a potential euroleague final4 winner, as barca has a perennially strong team.
    What exactly can the nba oppose to that?
    Oh, a rebuilding team at the bottom of the heap of nba teams with mediocre teammates who won’t make him look good and shitty weather.
    I say let him enjoy the blast that his youth will be in his hometown, the girls, everything and go to the NBA at the very advanced age of…say…21.
    He can still hit the weigths then and wait until he’s 23 to destroy every point guard east of derrick rose.
    Did I mention that spain is the european epicentre of sports right now? Especially barcelona which happens to be his hometown. Hanging out with Messi and Rafa Nadal has got to be worse than wearing a warm coat half of the year in minny, right?

    Or he can go to minnesota now and live happily ever after without the girls, the fame, the tan and…the money.
    Boy, choices….

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    • 16 years ago

      Good points, all. However, do you really think that a Timberwolves jersey would be so prohibitive as to wipe away all chances at overseas endorsements? Would Pau be any more popular if he were playing or Barca or Madrid (this is a legitimate question, as I am no expert on Spanish sports culture)?

      Perhaps the fact that this process has taken up an entire summer might hurt his chances of making as much of a killing as he could have–the US has never been big on wafflers, unless their name rhymes with Favre–but Rubio could still pick up a pretty penny with just a few endorsement deals over here. Despite the hullabaloo of the past couple months, I think there are a few brands out there still willing to take the plunge.

      And though the T’Wolves may be low on wins, they are still high on talent, and Kevin Love and Al Jefferson may be two of the best young bigs out there to pick up the back end of a pick n’ roll. Also, you mentioned he could maybe come over at 21-23, but would that really prove as much? For some reason, if a player comes over young, he remains young for years in the eyes of the public, and if he came over at 22, people would look at him as less of a boy wonder and more of a seasoned veteran, which may not play well on the commercial end of things (see:18-year-old LeBron James’ $90 million Nike payday before he was even drafted).

      Enjoyed reading your post, and just wanted to toss a few things out there for consideration. Thanks Teo.

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  2. Teo
    16 years ago

    Since apparently he hasn’t signed anywhere yet, my points evaporated into a great heap of smoke. IF he signs with barca, I stand by my reasoning, but staying with Joventut will be pretty sucky, as he has been the best player on that team quite a while now (especially since rudy left) and reports say he isn’t exactly playing golf with the front office anymore.
    This is so much better than the shaq-lebron story for an offeaseason, I really like it.
    But as a fan of european basketball, I have to admit that I would really like to see at least one year of RR against top notch european competition. He already plays in the best domestic league, if he could be on a good euroleague team and to a final 4 that would absolutely transform him as a player. Especially point guards really have to take their game to another level in order to succeed against the pressure of the likes of dimitris diamantidis, papaloykas, prigioni, mcIntyre, navarro, … you name it. All seasoned veterans who won’t waste one possesion in such a setting. Manu tried his luck with a euroleague final4 and came out as the mvp of that thing and I guess he turned out quite a nice nba player in clutch situations, didn’t he? So before we lose him for good I vote for one year of rubio in a final4-team. Anybody care to sign my petition?

    Andof course you are right, Freakknick, playing with quality bigs like Love of Al should be a lot of fun and I think that Rambis will also be a great coach to play with, so it is definately a situation where RR will want to be in in the long run. But every player coming over sees a drop in production the first year(s) in the nba (mostly it works the same for nba players as well in europe) and if RR comes over now, at 18 -relatively unpolished- that could bum some people out. If he comes over after getting even more ready against the best we got over here playing for a championship he might just get the injection of poise and swagger he will need to make it in this new challenging environment. Although RR isn’t short on swagger…. we’ll see. And about Pau, he DID play with Barca before he went to the states and now he is a big star over there as well. Obviously he wouldn’t be more popular had he stayed longer, but it took pau some years in the nba to get his rep down as a good player, since europeans are regarded with some nagging afterthoughts (thanks Darko, really) and at least he was already a star in spain.

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