Howlin' T-Wolf A Fresh Perspective and Completely Biased Blog About Everything Minnesota Timberwolves

I stole this right out of Henry Abbott’s Tuesday Bullets on the Truehoop Network:

Pete Mickeal, former Mavericks’ draft pick and now Ricky Rubio teammate in Barcelona, tells the Painted Area about his young teammate: “As flashy as he is with his moves, his ballhandling skills or his unbelievable passes, he’s sometimes as good on defense as he is on offense. That’s his skill that might go unknown in the NBA world, but here in Europe they can already appreciate that. I don’t know if he still leads the league in steals, but this guy plays unbelievable defense on the point guard and he rebounds the ball and he’s improved his three-point shooting. He has so much more confidence in his three-point shooting, and we all know he can put the ball on the floor and get to the basket. I mean, you’ve got a guy who can do everything. His confidence is so high, this is the reason he’s so good. It doesn’t matter if he misses a shot or if he makes an unbelievable pass and doesn’t complete it perfectly, he’s still going to go back the next play and continue to play. For being 19, he’s well beyond his years. For me, his mind is the same type of mind as Steve Nash for passing and having the mindframe to control the game. We’re not talking about having the exact same skill level, we’re talking about having the mind to control the game, in any situation. He’s 19 years old, but believe me, nobody in this locker room looks at him as 19. We look at him as Ricky, that’s it. He’s proven himself. I’m the only one who jokes with him and calls him ‘Young Fella’ (laughs), but that’s it. He’s proven himself. He goes to work every day, he comes in early to shoot. What I’ve learned for him is that his work ethic is second to none — this is what’s going to get him to the top.” (Rubio is in several of these highlights from the last week, by the way.)