Memorial day mini-bolts

Just

three  new articles to highlight this morning,

each of them have the Spanish prodigy as the main course.

Draftexpress again tantalizes us with some very high placed “anonymous source” in the know: “The bottom line here is that Ricky has a large buyout—5.75 million Euros, both for this year and the year after. Depending on the team that selects him, he’s going to make a decision on whether he comes over or not. If he’s not satisfied, there is a very real possibility that he doesn’t come. His buyout is going to cost him a lot of money, and if it doesn’t make sense for him, he won’t do it. He is going to have to pay for the privilege of playing in the NBA”
According to the source, Rubio’s decision is going to come down to two things: winning and the role he’ll play for the team that picks him. The size of the market of the team that drafts him is apparently irrelevant, since his appeal will be on a global scale, reaching far past his team’s city limits.

With that in mind, it appears that the

Memphis Grizzlies

will have to make a very strong sales pitch to Rubio for him to move off his initial stance of not wanting to play for them.

And then we have a nice breakdown over at Truehoop, where the author takes an in-depth look at what Ricky Rubio might be in the NBA at the outset: “I can’t find a single NBA scout or front-office person who is worried about his inability to finish — his age is more than a good enough excuse. Also helping his cause, he gets to the line like, and makes free throws nicely. He also has that improving 3-point shot.

But it’s worth noting that in the NBA, this kind of production tends to get you benched, or your coach fired.”

And out of the Memphis Commericial appeal via Truehoop, a little thing from the owner of the Grizzlies about Rubio and Thabeet: “Heisley — who thought about flying to Madrid with Wallace and Hollins — dismissed reports that he prefers UConn’s Hasheem Thabeet to Rubio. And he said that if the Grizzlies decide Rubio is the guy, they’ll take him no matter what his agent says.”

“We’re going to take the best player,” he said. “Everybody in the league should know that by now.”