Utah Jazz: Ricky Rubio gets insightful on Twitter

In the midst of his solid EuroBasket play, Utah Jazz point guard Ricky Rubio dropped an insightful quote on Twitter that could relate to the upcoming season.

One of the best (and sometimes worst) aspects of the modern NBA is the ability to get closer to the players than ever before by interacting on social media. Fans can sometimes engage with their idols, whereas the things players say and post online help us connect with and better understand their true personalities.

Among the Utah Jazz faithful, it’s no secret that Rudy Gobert, Joe Ingles and lately rookie Donovan Mitchell are among the best social media follows on the team. I also recently pinned Derrick Favors as the most underrated social follow of his teammates for the often cryptic, usually brief, but always awesome tweets he drops.

With time, though, one of the the newest members of the Utah Jazz, Ricky Rubio, could potentially work his way into the illustrious ranks of best social media follow (it’s an enormous honor, to be sure). Rubio tends to be quite active on Twitter, and as he gains more familiarity and popularity with Jazz fans, he should continue to be an entertaining follow.

For one reason or another, though, Rubio’s latest tweet definitely jumped out at me and caught my eye. Quoting a saying from Winston Churchill (in Spanish), the Jazz point guard had the following to say:

Translated into English, this quote says: “You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.” In other words, if one spends too much time dwelling on criticisms, distractions or obstacles along the way, it becomes all too easy to lose sight of and fail to arrive at the ultimate goal in mind.

Now, in the midst of Rubio’s fantastic EuroBasket play that has been well chronicled here on TheJNotes.com, I can’t say I’m exactly sure what his barking dogs could be at the moment. Perhaps it’s the stigma he’s carried of being a poor shooter. Maybe it’s criticisms that he hasn’t lived up to the hype that surrounded him since being drafted into the NBA. Or possibly it has to do with the fact that Rubio has yet to appear in the playoffs and will be expected to help his new team do just that.

Whatever the case may be, it could be quite easy for Rubio to get hung up on “barking dogs” and waste ample time hurling rocks at them. However, if his performances in international play as well as his apparent positive attitude since being traded to the Utah Jazz are any indication, it seems quite clear that he’s well focused on his desired destination.

The Jazz are expecting big things out of Ricky Rubio this upcoming season and hope that he can solidify himself as the concrete starting point guard the Jazz haven’t had the luxury of having for over half a decade. If he’s able to put past frustrations, resurfacing criticisms and any other distractions to one side, and simply allow himself to focus on beginning anew with the Jazz, he could very well become just that.

Typically when I check in on Utah Jazz players on social media, I’m looking for something funny or sometimes (especially in the case of Rudy Gobert) somewhat fiery to be entertained by or get excited about. However, in this case, I was pleased to see and could get used to occasional words of wisdom and inspiration from Ricky Rubio.

Because while avoiding stopping to throw rocks at barking dogs is clearly something weighing on Ricky’s mind, it’s also an important lesson for each and every one of us in our varying chapters of life. Good for Rubio for sharing a bit of useful insight to all of his followers on Twitter, especially at a time when there tends to be so much negativity flying around.

Next: Utah Jazz at EuroBasket: Kokoskov, Slovenia advance as Group A’s top seed

He’s only been a Jazzman for a very short time, but he’s already easily won me over and I’m beyond thrilled for his season ahead that I firmly believe is going to be a breakout year for him as he embarks on his seventh season in the NBA.