Another Former Mad Ant in Euroleague Action

Sammy Mejia, who played for the Mad Ants about half of our first season, is really making a name for himself over in Europe. He helped lead the French club Cholet to the French championship last year, and he is back leading that team in the Euroleague. I once spent a month practicing in Cholet while I recovered from an injury and looking to get a job, and I am really impressed that this once solid, but not big, team has gone on to be a Euroleague team. The lost last night to Barcelona and Sammy had a great game with 17 points and 5 boards.

You know who did not play well? Ricky Rubio. I know people love this guy, but I just don't get it. I watched him do nothing in the Worlds, and he continues to do nothing in Europe. Last night he played 19 minutes (he doesn't even start!), shot 0-3 (0-2 from three) and had 2 assists. For the season in the Spanish league, he is averaging a whopping 4 points per game while shooting a tremendous 20 percent from the floor (18 percent from three). I am sorry, but a few fancy passes per game does not a franchise player make. It certainly does not make up for a complete inability to shoot. Overseas stats mean something to me, and this guy has red flags all over him in my opinion. The last guy I remember this hyped coming out of Europe was Darko Milicic, and we all know how that turned out. I read often where Minnesota is essentially building their franchise around Rubio -- I would be careful with that, because he has demonstrated nothing to this point to indicate he could do that. There are lots of people who are smarter and paid better than me to make these decisions, and I am sure I am wrong about the guy, but that is what I see to this point.