"A few thousands folks were spending part of their Sunday afternoon in the nation's capital watching an abysmal display of basketball, and they would've gone home bitterly disappointed if not for a certain 21-year-old with a stubby beard and a messy Beatles haircut.

Everything changes when Ricky Rubio jogs to the scorer's table and checks in. The game changes, and so does the mood of whoever happens to be watching.

So, too, perhaps, does the fate of a franchise.

Rubio finally has come to the NBA, and in case you haven't noticed, he's already made the NBA a better place. Nine games into a stateside journey that began in earnest when he turned pro in Europe at 14, Rubio already is exerting his unique brand of basketball majesty on the pre-eminent pro league in the world. "