Watching that Wizards game the other day, I was utterly thrilled about how Tyreke handled the clutch situation.  After icing the game, I wondered what would've happened if with the 4th pick we ended up selecting Ricky Rubio instead.  Looking at  Rubio's stats in depth, I've tried to envision how he'd do in the NBA and how he would've impacted the Kings.  (given he didn't decide to stay in Europe afterall) 

One thing I can say with absolute confidence is that he'd have a much lower scoring average than Tyreke.  Taking into consideration his minutes and competition, I think Rubio's average would be around 9-10 points per game.  The most points he's ever scored was 15.  In terms of assists, I'd say Rubio would've edged out Tyreke by maybe 1 to 1.5 and thus average around 6-7 assists a game and perhaps having a few less turnovers.  Ricky also seems to have the ability to go off for like 14 assists if he played heavy minutes.      To my surprise, he has quite the healthy stealing average.  Still,  being from Europe and being relatively small, I strongly doubt his defensive abilities would be on par with Evan's.   No way he has as many blocked shots.  In terms of rebounds, its no contest.  After the jump, I look at how I think Ricky Rubio would've impacted the Kings.

As it currently stands, the Kings offense ranks 8th in the league in terms of points scored (107).  Our defense is 27th in the league in terms of points against us (108).  I believe that if we had Rubio instead, we lose a net total of 6 points to bring us to 102.  (I assume he scores only 10 points a game and dishes out 7 assists)  That brings our offensive rank to golden state territory.  Defensively, that is harder to decide.  In my mind, I feel that 'Reke allows 5 fewer points than Rick.  If that was true, than we'd fall to the bottom of the league.  

In terms of wins, I think we  lose 3 wins.  I think we don't pull out the game in Utah where Evan's goes off for 32.  I think we lose the Pacers game and I think we lose that squeaker over the Wizards, making us 8-16.  At this point, we'd be hearing all this stuff about how Rubio's still young and getting used to the pace of the game and how he has all this great potential.  Afterall, he's barely played over 20 minutes in any stretch of his career.  Grant Napear would've exaggerated ad nasuem about how awesome every pass he made was.  By the end of January, Kings fans would've already been talking about next year's draft position.  Sure, every now and again there is a flashy pass to Kmart or Jason Thompson that makes the ESPN highlight reel, but the Kings still would lack the offensive firepower and clutch ability that Tyreke brings to the team.  And before anyone suggests I'm just jumping on the Tyreke Evans bandwagon because he's the Rookie of the month year, I suggest you read my previous post.  Now then, if we could only get a reliable big man either through a trade, next year's draft or through signing a big name free agent this off-season, I think we go deep in the playoffs.