5) Ricky Rubio, PG — Spain
The “Spanish Samurai” may be just one year into his Jazz career, but it was one helluva year. It didn’t start out that way, though.
Before we had even reached the mid-way point of the 2017-18 season, there was a vocal contingent of Jazz fans calling for Ricky Rubio‘s head. His shooting was as bad as advertised, his defense had been a letdown and the Jazz simply couldn’t score when he, Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors shared the floor.
It was bad times.
Fast-forward to now and Rubio officially has both a breakout year (having logged career highs in points per game, field goal percentage and 3-point percentage) and a playoff series victory under his belt. In many ways, he’s become the heart and soul of the current Jazz squad and a true fan favorite.
Ricky Rubio has several nicknames. He was "The Greatest Showman" in Game 3. Here is a look back on his playoff triple-double. #UtahJazz #takenote #nba pic.twitter.com/sX6z3kmgEC
— Jeremiah Jensen (@JeremiahJensen) April 23, 2018
When the Jazz lost his services for Round 2 versus the Houston Rockets, it was a gut punch the team couldn’t recover from.
Jazz stats: 77 GP (77 starts), 13.1 PPG, 5.3 APG, 4.6 RPG, .418 FG%, .352 3P%
Next: No. 4