Ricky Rubio ('90), point-guard from FC Barcelona, has been choosen by FIBA with the Young Men`s Player of 2009 award. "It's difficult to come up with new ways of praising Rubio," said FIBA Europe President George Vassilakopoulos. "He has the talent and the work ethic to be not just good, but great and I look forward to following his career." Secretary General Nar Zanolin aded "When I think of Ricky I can't help but remember the final of the 2006 U16 European Championship Men".

In that game the prospect collected 51 points, 24 rebounds, 12 assists and 7 steals.

The full ranking (made by experts and public) is: Ricky Rubio ('90), Milan Macvan ('89), Jan Vesely ('90), Kostas Koufos ('89), Jonas Valanciunas ('92), Kostas Papanikolaou ('90), Robin Benzing ('89), Antoine Diot ('89), Toni Prostran ('91), Enes Kanter ('92), Dejan Musli ('91), Bojan Bogdanovic ('89), Edwin Jackson ('89), Xavier Rabaseda ('89) and Sead Sehovic ('89).

 

Photo: Nike