Links: Remember Ricky Rubio?
He’s ba-ack…
With the NCAA Tournament in full swing, every time I tune into a game, the first thing I think about is how many college games I didn’t watch this season. I’ve been so tuned in to the NBA that I haven’t seen a lot of these top prospects play much at all, so in a way it’s been fun to see a lot of these guys for the first time and to formulate opinions about them.
The second thing I think about is Ricky Rubio, and I wonder how he’d fare against this level of competition. (Pretty well, I suspect.)
Who is Ricky Rubio? Hopefully you remember the name. I went to Spain about a year ago to hang with him and see him play, and I came away completely impressed. I wrote a feature in the mag and a long post here about him.
After we blew up his spot, Ricky kept doing what he’s always done, dominating games against men a decade older than him. His stock was already pretty high, especially in Europe, but now it seems to be rather high over here as well.
And he’s still just 17 years old.
Now the spotlight’s finding him everywhere. I got an email a few weeks ago from Canal+, the European mega-network, and they wanted to interview me for a special they were making about Ricky, with his family’s permission, for a show called “Informe Robinson,” which seems to be something about informing the former soccer pro Michael Robinson, the host, about a subject. It aired the other night and made YouTube immediately, of course. You can get a view of the SLAM Dome…and I take no credit for my hair being all slicked back. That’s what you get when you ask me to show up anywhere at 9:00 a.m.
By the way, Robinson asks me about going all the way to Barcelona and not “interview”ing Ricky. And technically, that’s true, because I never sat down with a recorder and asked questions and got answers. The team has rules, after all, and Ricky was only 16 at the time. But I spent two days with him, his mom, his dad, his brother, his sister, had meals with them, went to games with them, had coffee with them. Maybe I didn’t “interview” him, but I learned plenty.
45 Responses to “Links: Remember Ricky Rubio?”
Mar.27 at 2:30 am
MagicMike2k7 says:
nice
Mar.27 at 2:41 am
Justin Adler says:
For not having an ‘interview’ that Ricky Rubio article was one of my favorite articles in recent memory.
Mar.27 at 3:50 am
Mush says:
Ricky Rubio or Jesse Dunn?
Mar.27 at 3:50 am
Mush says:
whose better?
Mar.27 at 5:18 am
peteb80 says:
That “phone conversation” is hilarious. Was there anyone at the other end at all? Or were you really talking to the guy? I’m absolutely looking forward to seeing Ricky play on the biggest stage, I just hope you guys (el media) don’t overinflate his ego until then. Also, they don’t interview him either or is there another part of the video?
Mar.27 at 5:41 am
James the balla says:
He dont look all that good.
Mar.27 at 6:43 am
Solito says:
By the time he enters the draft, he can play NBA Ball in Barca…
Mar.27 at 7:13 am
Bigi says:
Lang,you sleek son of a B***h!
Mar.27 at 7:24 am
KA says:
what the hell happened in that last play?!!
Mar.27 at 7:53 am
Randy Brown says:
The cruel basketball gods, they’re what happened on that last play
Mar.27 at 7:54 am
TADOne says:
Lang is funny as hell looking into the camera and smiling slyly like there is some inside joke or something only he and the camera man know about.
Mar.27 at 8:42 am
Eboy says:
Whenever I hear the name Ricky Rubio I either get visions of a Latin Rick Rubin or a B-Boy from the Bronx from back in the day. Also, is is the lighting or are Lang’s eyebrows pencil thin or dyed blond? Where’s your brows, brother?
Mar.27 at 8:44 am
karan says:
i need english subtitles for the rest of the video
Mar.27 at 9:35 am
Ryan Jones says:
Every time Lang looks into the camera, an Amazonian tribesman loses his soul. Or something.
Mar.27 at 9:45 am
Marcel Mutoni says:
wait…lang is white?!!?!?
Mar.27 at 9:56 am
Slobodan Chutzpah says:
That. Was. Hilarious.
Mar.27 at 10:27 am
Sparker says:
mr. whitaker… loved that smile when he referred to slam as “prestigious”
Mar.27 at 10:30 am
Sparker says:
but wait a minute… will he start ahead of calderon?
Mar.27 at 12:08 pm
riggs says:
harry potter can ball son!
Mar.27 at 12:44 pm
AbdAs-Salaam says:
There are no basketball gods, there is only one God.
Mar.27 at 12:54 pm
Bro. D. says:
I like the Austin powers music during the hl reel. I kept expecting Rubio to start dancing with with a band in some 70’s flat with Lang in the background.
Mar.27 at 12:56 pm
John E. Sanford says:
Awesome stuff Lang.
Mar.27 at 1:37 pm
Jas says:
Best player not in the NBA? Number 1 Pick? That’s ridiculous. Rubio is nothing special. I’d take Brandon Jennings over him any day.
Mar.27 at 1:50 pm
Arvydas Sabonis says:
The future!
Mar.27 at 2:35 pm
TADOne says:
I’m waiting for an adult star named Ricky Rubio. Stan Van Jeremy can be his agent.
Mar.27 at 2:46 pm
rav says:
I love how when Michael Robinson says ‘Lang Whitaker’ in Spanish, and then says it normally when he speaks on the phone!
Mar.27 at 3:27 pm
Son of Shawn says:
So, I suposse that Jas and James the Balla at 15 y.o. were playing against pros, and at 16 were the Spanish League and Euroleague leaders of steals per game, ok the kid isn´t very athletic but he´s something special
Mar.27 at 3:28 pm
Son of Shawn says:
Deshawn Stevenson dixit: “that boy is overrated”
Mar.27 at 3:38 pm
jbn74sb says:
I hereby challenge Lang to a forehead fight.
Mar.27 at 4:18 pm
Lang Whitaker says:
Wait, how do you say my name in Spanish?
Mar.27 at 5:42 pm
jbn74sb says:
Mi nombre.
Mar.27 at 6:29 pm
RV says:
call him ricky “jumpstop” rubio, he had that jump stop down as a little kid, and he used it to help him hit that shot too. From that clip he seems like Manu, mixed in with Bones Barry with more emphasis on passing
Mar.27 at 6:45 pm
jeremy says:
he got some good handles man…he will be in the league someday…
Mar.27 at 6:46 pm
Zee! says:
Blowin up the spot like Fred did to Rollo…..
Mar.27 at 7:03 pm
James says:
At the start, when Lang is holding the phone, and he looks at the camera and grins cheekily, it looks so much like he’s prank calling someone
Mar.27 at 8:58 pm
boobie_gibson says:
In one of these pictures in there, he looks like Jose Calderon
Mar.27 at 10:31 pm
Hubert says:
lang isn’t that fat after all.
Mar.28 at 1:53 am
TC says:
Why does Lang look like a villain in superhero movies?
Mar.28 at 4:31 am
hursty says:
how tall is he? hes never seen the inside of a weight room yet obviously… he’s only 17 though. Slam has shotgun on interviews as a rookie though hehe.
Mar.28 at 10:50 am
Squirrel7 says:
I saw him play for his Spanish league team against Guildford Heat in the ULEB cup, and his style was so effortless, even against guys far older than him. He certainly needs to bulk up, but he could easily be a Shaun Livingston-esque player (hopefully minus the inuries).
Mar.28 at 12:45 pm
tike says:
whens the kid coming to the states!!?
Mar.30 at 5:49 am
hursty says:
never tike. never in the history of never occuring neverness.
Mar.31 at 12:38 pm
Kieran says:
i dont speak spanish so i dont know what was being said but to use the names michael jordan and magic in relation to this dude is crazy.
Apr.6 at 9:37 pm
Chris says:
Not really impressed with this dude. I agree with ^, no way should he be compared to Magic or Jordan!
Apr.10 at 1:33 pm
SLAM ONLINE | » Band of Brothers: Volume 1 says:
[…] After a much needed mid-afternoon siesta, I headed over to the gym with my main man; we’ll call him Jim (Team USA on-base caretaker, US Army official, and all around ridiculous personality). We caught the end of Spain-Greece. The US had already lost to Greece, and the Greeks were methodically Socratizing the over-matched Spaniards (no Ricky Rubio—he’s like, trying to win an ACB league championship or something…by the way, watching Lang on Canal Plus while in Germany was a highlight of my first afternoon’s down time…). […]