Ricky Rubio's best NBA comparison

[TheOGJabroni]

Gary Payton without the elite athleticism.

[Sinistar6]

a small brent barry minus the crazy dunks


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c59FtQnIrjU

[longfellow44]

How about a more talented version of Kirk Hinrich without the 3pt range.

[Southward1]

Jason Kidd with less strength maybe for a current player comparison.
Michael Ray Richardson for an old school one

That's the best case scenerio anyway

[Twinkie defense]

Nash.

Rubio gets compared to Maravich because of the looks/hair and flair for the game.

Kidd has a lot of similarities in style of play but physique they're so different...

[dre_1614]

He is his own player.

Think of a guy with incredible vision and passing skills, crafty, high basketball iq, flashy, tough, poise, competitor, pesky defense, average athleticism, great hands, long and frail, bad shooter. Not sure who he compares to but that's the game he plays.

[Mr Excitement]

Rubio's game is like a poorman's Jason Williams circa 1998-2001.

Rubio is the better shooter.
JWill is the better ball handler
Both are great passers.
Rubio is the better defender.
JWill is the smoother player of the two.
Rubio is a lot slower compared to Jason Williams.
Rubio can play in a half court setting. JWill could not in his first 3 years.
Both were compared to Pistol Pete.

The thing is that Rubio is getting a lot of attention now compared to Jason Williams. Dude went under the radar in '98 draft and helped sactown back on it's feet.


I would not be surprised though if Rubio isn't a top 3 pick in this upcoming draft. There are better players.

I would pick Harden over Rubio.
I would pick Jennings over Rubio.
Possibly pick Evans over Rubio as well.

[Genjuro]

Rubio's game is like a poorman's Jason Williams circa 1998-2001.

Rubio is the better shooter.
JWill is the better ball handler
Both are great passers.
Rubio is the better defender.
JWill is the smoother player of the two.
Rubio is a lot slower compared to Jason Williams.
Rubio can play in a half court setting. JWill could not in his first 3 years.
Both were compared to Pistol Pete.

The thing is that Rubio is getting a lot of attention now compared to Jason Williams. Dude went under the radar in '98 draft and helped sactown back on it's feet.

Rubio takes uncomparably better decisions than Jason Williams.

[Johnny Firpo]

at the haters. I don't wanna compare him to anybody, i probably couldn't anyway, my basketball knowledge is nothing special. But i have a feeling he's gonna be special despite his weaknesses. High iq, great court vision, good defense, craftiness, blah,blah,blah, it's all nice, but the most important thing is that... He has ''it''. He just has ''it''.

[Roger Murdock]

Kidd is the best comparison in terms of style, although obviously not in level. Both are 6'4, both have extremely good court vision, both have strong defensive instincts and both are fairly mediocre shooters, but decent at spot-up threes. Rubio hasn't shown Kidd's great rebounding, though.

Rubio is a good rebounder though. Post-microfracture Kidd except not quite as strong. Rubio really needs to improve his strength, it'll make up for a lot of his weaknesses.

As the Guinness commercials say:

Brilliant!!!!!

[Malinhion]

Jason Williams?

Curse you, Jazzfan! I was coming into this topic just to float that comparison.

Never really a great shooter, dazzling playmaker, didn't have all the world's quickness.

[KevinFCheng]

A Sasha Vujacic without a jumpshot but slightly better vision.

[Johnny Firpo]

A Sasha Vujacic without a jumpshot but slightly better vision.

Quality stuff man. Keep it coming.

[mikero]

Maybe Andre Miller?

[Pb]

Andre Miller is a good one for the worst case scenario.

[Rakocevicftw]

"I have no idea where the Maravich comparison comes from. It's not even remotely accurate"

Because they're both amazingly creative passers. I don't get how people DON'T understand the comparison. On the fast break, Rubio is the most similar to Maravich I've seen. People bring up Jason Williams but Williams is a midget and really not on the level of Rubio in terms of making passes that actually work.

There is no great comparison for Rubio because he's very unique. He has the opencourt creativity and skill of Maravich, but none of his incredible shooting prowess. At the same time, he's a fantastic defender, something Maravich never had.

The Thunder should pick him and roll with a Rubio-Westbrook backcourt. Westbrook isn't a PG. Rubio for Kevin Love would be super-tempting though.

[JWillTheFreak]

How was williams a midget? he was 6'1... And what you mean his passes never worked? He made the most difficult passes look simple, people will bring up his TO but look at how many TOs Kidd/Paul / D Williams avg and that will suprise you...

Rubio is a mix because he aint athletic and that might be a problem because there is so many athletic guards in the nba now...

Rubio is a good passer and thats about it, he gonna need to work on his jumper and speed...

I say he is a poor man J Kidd...

[Diggity Dave]

Look familiar?

[Joana]

The only way Rubio is comparable to Williams is if you're just comparing youtube videos, fulfilled with flashy, exquisite passes.

Rubio's athleticism is starting to become underrated, btw. He's not an athletic freak like Rose, Rondo and the likes, but he won't rate as bellow average either.

[JWillTheFreak]

He is as athletic like maybe K Henrich / A Miller...