New Phoenix Suns point guard Ricky Rubio feels he's starting to hit his prime as a player, joining a team hoping to rise in the standings and erase the recent years of underachieving the franchise has endured:
“The culture is changing here. You can see with the moves they've made going in the right direction,” Rubio told “Burns & Gambo” of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. “I'm about to hit my prime, physically and mentally, so I wanted to have a place where I can show that.”
The Spanish floor general spent his first six seasons in Minnesota and the next two in Utah before it became evident he no longer was in the Jazz's future plans after they traded for Mike Conley. Rubio had his first experience in free agency, soon inking a three-year, $51 million deal to become Devin Booker's backcourt partner:
“It's been a crazy summer. It was my first time in free agency so I had to figure out how it worked,” he said. “When a team asks you to be a big part of the project, I thought I had to keep them in mind. It came down to the last minute but I took a big opportunity here in Phoenix.”
While he faced setbacks through the middle of his tenure with the Timberwolves, Rubio has been a relatively healthy plug the last four seasons, playing an average of 74 games through each of his last four seasons:
“Yeah. I'm 28. Physically I feel stronger than ever,” said Rubio. “The last 3-4 years have been healthy seasons overall. I feel like I have a lot of basketball ahead of me and still the best is yet to come.”
Only time will tell if Rubio is indeed the partner Booker really needs. If the 6-foot-4 point man is really hitting his prime, he should combine a newfound 3-point shooting ability with the stiff defense he showed upon breaking into the league, as his steals average has plummeted the past three seasons to a career-low 1.3 per game in 2018-19.
