Ricky Rubio Materializes, Underwhelms

Ricky Rubio, knight-errant of YouTube, finally worked out for the Kings yesterday, and no one seemed terribly thrilled, least of all Ricky Rubio.

The Sacramento Bee's Sam Amick reports:

Rubio, who had planned on working out for the Kings last week before he became sick on the trip, took part in an individual workout that included Petrie and coach Paul Westphal and lasted approximately an hour. While the session remained secret at the request of his representatives, he told The Bee it was a necessary exercise that hardly showcased his game.

"It's difficult to show them what I have to do on the court, because there are no teammates and nobody there," Rubio said at the Sacramento airport just before leaving town. "I can't show them what I do on the court. This workout is not my style. I need my teammates around me to play basketball. I was alone."

Meanwhile, DraftExpress' Jonathan Givony believes the Kings, drafting fourth, were cooling on Rubio before the workout:

It's looking more and more clear that the Kings are not nearly as enamored with Ricky Rubio as they once were, for a number of reasons. The official party line is that Sacramento is concerned that Rubio will struggle to assert his leadership ability on the group of players they currently have in place, due to the fact that he's only 18 years old and not a native English speaker. One of the biggest issues Sacramento had last year was with the culture of their team lockerroom. On top of that, the Kings are worried that will Rubio will have a huge target on his chest coming into the NBA, and that other players will "try to go at him every single night."

Just days before the draft, Rubio remains its most fascinating story, if only for the various psychodramas that seem to spring up all around him. Consider this blog entry, from the Bee's Sam Amick, who marvels at the lengths to which grown men go to get a glimpse of the kid (and who, not incidentally, chased down Rubio at the airport to record three minutes of Spanish-accented mumbling). Amick uses the word "shame" four times.

Between this and Brandon Jennings' lame shit-talk and the Kings' assorted phantom concerns, I'd say Rubio has already had a substantial impact on the NBA. He hasn't played a minute yet and he's turned the whole damn league into a bunch of neurotics.

Kings finally get to see Rubio play [Sacramento Bee]