By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Rubio is currently in Spain, preparing for the eighth major summer tournament with his country’s national team: The EuroBasket 2017, where the “Rojas” will look to defend their title as continental champions.
That’s from where he joined 1280 The Zone to talk about various Jazz related topics, including how he feels about playing alongside French center and defense professor Rudy Gobert.
“With Rudy Gobert, I can really set up plays for him and make his life easier on the court,” Rubio said. “I never played in the NBA yet with a center that can really jump that high and I can throw lobs to. It fits my game really well. I can play the best pick n’ roll with him.”
So it seems that bygones are bygones. What do we mean? Following the semifinal OT win of Spain over France in the EuroBasket 2015, Gobert had tweeted “Hard to play when somebody can touch you but you can’t touch him!”. “Him” in question being Pau Gasol. Gobert was basically firing shots at the officiating of the match, calling the refs out for providing what he thought as “protection” to the Spanish center who won 11 fouls in that game. Gobert himself was fouled out after spending 31 minutes on the floor.
Rubio had responded to Gobert’s message by retweeting it and writing “No class act”.
But that is just history now and you should expect a fruitful and showtime-packed cooperation between Rubio and Gobert on the floor.The lobs will be a grand part of the picture, absolutely.
Rubio also talked about Australian forward Joe Ingles who was his teammate in Barcelona back in 2010-2011, the year before he left for the NBA, and is going to share locker rooms with him once more in Salt Lake City.
“Joe (Ingles) was my roommate in Barcelona. As soon I got traded I talked with him. I was so excited. He wasn’t sure he’s going to come back then. But he said how he loves Utah. He talked how great the fans, the city and the organization are. I was really excited.”