A phenom to follow

So, which line do you like better:

Player A's 19 points, 13 assists, 10 rebounds and 11 steals in 33 minutes

OR

Player B's 51 points, 24 boards, 12 assists and seven steals in a double-OT win (including a mid-court buzzer-beater to force the second extra period, incidentally).

Trick question, actually. It's the same player: Ricky Rubio, 15 years old and already having seen Spanish League action, just having led Spain to the European under-16 championship. Here's some comment from ACB.com via Draft Express, whose Luis Fernandez has a fine summation of Rubio's tournament (and thanks to Sportsfilter for the link):

"As Babunashvili hit an incredible fade-away 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds to go, the Russians exploded with joy while the Spanish shrank in despair. Nobody had any hope left, even the Spanish coach had given up. Nobody seemed capable of reacting, even to inbound the ball for that final second. Nobody but Ricky Rubio, who was asking like crazy for the ball. Finally a teammate reacted and sent the ball to him; a couple of strides and, sneaking through three rivals, he threw that bomb from the mid court, hitting the board just before going down into the net."

Part of me thinks it's pretty silly and even potentially harmful to put so much attention on a kid barely into his teenage years. But Rubio, off this kind of performance, certainly sounds like one to follow over the next few years.

For one of those Youtube collections of Rubio in action, go here.

Vaguely related: Chris Sheridan, talking to Chris Bosh at the worlds in Japan, has this one on CB4's sporadic playing time with the U.S. team. Bosh doesn't sound like a happy camper, but he's willing to play along:

If Chris Bosh knew several months ago what he knows now -- that he'd be buried along with Brad Miller on the end of the bench -- would he still have been willing to join Team USA?
"That's a good question. I'm not sure," Bosh told Insider on Thursday night after the U.S. wrapped up preliminary-round play with a 103-58 rout of Senegal. "I can't say that I would, but I don't think anyone would have told me that."

Couple more Bosh quotes culled from the estimable Mr. Sheridan (for the rest, you have to be registered as an ESPN Insider):

"I've just been kind of itching to play for two or three games now, and at least today I had a chance to show what they've been missing and show a reason why I should be playing a little bit more," Bosh said. "It's not over. I'm sure in the long run I will contribute; that's what I believe. We still have four more games left."
AND:
"We're going to practice for two days, and I'm going to put myself in a position where I'm going to do good and it's going to be hard not to play me. I just have to play as hard as I can at practice and prove my worth."

Comments

[Brendan]

Being a Raptors fan, can't help but smile when reading this. Good to know that Chris Bosh is level headed and is not going to open a bottle of whine.

BTW, I'd take player B's line. As you mention Mr. Young, it'd be prudent to keep an eye on this kid. So far he sounds very impressive. If the kid pans out, maybe Jorge and Jose can do some sweet talking for us :)

[Hoops Addict]

wow, great find Chris!