Yesterday Ricky Rubio returned to Sacramento for a workout with the team. It was speculated that the Kings would attempt to trade up with either Memphis or OK City in order to get the talented Spanish guard. But after reports from Draft Express and Deadspin it seems like there are concerns with Rubio’s ability to adjust to the NBA.
“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 locker room. 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.”
Personally I’m not totally convinced that the Kings are writing off selecting Rubio. This has happened before, the Kings very well could be trying to lower other teams expectations of Rubio so that he drops to them at 4 or so that the price tag they have to give up in a trade will be lower. Regardless, it seems like Rubio, who less than a week ago was the clear #2, is slipping a bit in the draft. Where he ends up is still a mystery despite what cocky mock draft people would have you believe and the Rubio situation could play a huge factor in what might be a trade happy draft.
-KC Roberts
FanSided
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