ATLANTA — Minnesota's loss to Milwaukee in its second game of the season was disappointing for controversy hounds. Brandon Jennings and Ricky Rubio finally played each other on American soil, but Jennings didn't have anything antagonistic to say.
The Bucks' flashy and candid point guard, who had 24 points and seven assists, clearly outplayed Minnesota's Spanish import rookie, but when asked about his relationship with Rubio, Jennings said, "I wouldn't say it's a rivalry."
Yeah, whatever — there's no way Jennings didn't get any pleasure out of outplaying Rubio and winning the game.
Prior to the 2009 NBA Draft — where Rubio was selected fifth, five spots ahead of Jennings — Jennings said about Rubio: "Yeah, I think I'm a better player than he is. I just shoot the ball better than he can. The only thing I've seen him do sometimes is when he has a home-run pass or something like that. I think the dude is all hype."
Hype has dogged athletes before Rubio, but, over the past 20 years — coinciding with the NBA's international boom — it's acted as unique baggage that foreign players have struggled to shed. Rubio is the latest, most conspicuous case — the guy probably has as many media requests as Kobe Bryant even though he's a rookie and plays for a mediocre (albeit blossoming) squad.
You know Jennings went at Rubio extra hard when the two were on the court. You know every opposing guard probably goes at Rubio a little harder than usual in a "let me see what this young Spaniard is about" kind of way. (Sort of like how Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen took turns shutting down Toni Kukoc in the 1992 Olympics, finding vengeance and vindication in every Kukoc miss.)
Timberwolves assistant coach Terry Porter, a former point guard, was quoted after the game saying, "When you're a player and you got a young point guard and a guy who has a lot of hype, as a veteran you want to go at him and see what he's made of. That's part of the process. That's the initiation, so to speak, to the point guard-hood of the NBA."
That's what Rubio is up against this season.
He's like the NBA's Tim Tebow on a smaller level. He's polarizing. Some people love him and some people don't like him very much (hate is too strong).
At a recent game in Atlanta, Rubio was booed several times. This is notable because the Hawks crowd can be one of the most placid in the league, conjuring up enthusiasm or ire for only the most compelling teams and athletes. That they booed Rubio is telling. They chanted "Jonas Brother" at him because of his Jonas-like wig.
Any time Rubio drew a foul the crowd moaned louder than usual. "Oh! Anytime his hair flops it's a foul, now?" one fan shouted.
In contrast, No. 1 pick Kyrie Irving visited Philips after Rubio. Irving played at Duke (a program hated everywhere, but especially in ACC country) and the crowd couldn't muster any ill will. "Love and hate" from fans is only for big stars — such as Rubio? Yep, Rubio.
It's always been clear why Rubio has captivated. He sees things on the floor that only the most gifted passers see. He's a Houdini with the ball. He's unique and precocious. He's a highlight reel.
Timberwolves forward Kevin Love was the NBA's flavor of the month last season, now he takes a backseat — at least interest-wise — to Rubio.
"I think it's great," Love said. "It brings a lot of attention to our team. And it takes a lot of attention and pressure off me."
Rubio Mania is definitely "a thing."
But, even though he has a lot of fans and admirers, there's always been — and still is — an undercurrent of skepticism and resentment from others.
Jennings wasn't the only dissenting voice back in 2009. Rubio was called a "Spanish Globetrotter," and one former AOL columnist wrote, "He very easily could be a Eurobust, who has brainwashed us with YouTube reels that conveniently ignore his turnovers and no-look flips with no-chance recipients."
Purposed or not, there seemed to be some xenophobia and ethnocentrism at work when it came to Rubio-questioning (and sometime outright bashing). Some of it sprang from a subscription to good ol' American exceptionalism ("We are the progenitors and perfectors of basketball"), some of it was the product of a string of "Eurobusts" ("Rubio who? Oh, please — not another Nikoloz Tskitishvili").
By the early 2000s, the NBA's foreign explosion was in full swing and sometimes it seemed like, for an American fan, there were more and more players getting drafted with names they couldn't pronounce. American-born college players probably didn't too much appreciate the first round "guaranteed contract" pool growing smaller and smaller.
Twenty foreign-born players were drafted in 2003, including, fair-or-not Eurobust posterboy Darko Milicic, picked second and ahead of future All-Stars, including Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh. In the subsequent years there were too many Pavel Podkolns and not enough Dirk Nowitzkis. Fans, analysts (and many scouts) started souring on the foreign boom — too many unknowns.
"People get a chance to watch the college guys, so you have an idea of the kind of player that you're dealing with," Vladimir Radmanovich said.
Radmanovich was the No. 12 pick in the 2001 draft, a draft that featured some future All-Stars, including Spain's Pau Gasol and American busts, such as top pick Kwame Brown.
"Most of us that come from Europe are enigmas and mysteries to 99 percent of the people other than the scouts and GMs that come to see us," he said
As Milicic, forever burdened with never living up to his pre-draft hype, said, "For a foreign player to come in and be the second pick, it was like ‘Who is he?'"
That's part of what Rubio has dealt with these past three years — incredulity, ignorance and cynicism. It also didn't help that it took him two seasons to finally come stateside, not without him reportedly trying to finagle his way to a more attractive city and organization. And it's not like he was averaging a triple-double while he stayed in Spain, either. So, when he finally arrived in Minneapolis to begin his pro career, there were more eyes on him than any of his fellow rookies. It's the kind of pressure that could make a make a weak dude crumble. Rubio, to the surprise of many, has thrived.
"Watching him play when we first came to practice, what we didn't know was that he was such a competitor," Wolves coach Rick Adelman said. "He's going to compete with people."
Rubio passes are highlight staples. That part of his game gets the buzz, but the hallmark of his early career has been his ability to meet the expectation and pressure head on. He's skinny and he looks pre-pubescent, but the kid isn't a punk.
Rubio was 0-10 before he hit his game-tying three-pointer against the Clippers, a game the Wolves won on a "no he didn't" 25-footer from Love at the buzzer. Rubio's trey took as much, if not more, resolve than Love's game-winner. Rubio is a gamer.
His competitive streak, production and obvious skill are gradually winning over critics.
Back when Jennings was calling Rubio "all hype," he intimated that Rubio was the worst of all the first-round point guard prospects. He might have been mostly right. There's a good chance Rubio will never be as good as Jennings, Jrue Holiday, Ty Lawson or Steph Curry. But that's debatable.
It's clear, however, that Rubio has already outperformed Jonny Flynn (whom Jennings mentioned), his fellow Minnesota draft pick that year. Flynn can barely stay out of the D-League.
What's Jennings have to say now?
"He's going to be good."
Yeah, that's a little ho-hum, but you can sense Rubio winning begrudged respect from even his most stern skeptics. If he finds a way to get over the inevitable rookie wall, maybe opposing fans will stop clowning him with boy-band references. That's gotta get old.
