The name on the back of the basketball jersey simply says "RICKY." The question is whether he'll be trading in his Spanish uniform for Sacramento Kings purple.

The biggest buzz in the countdown to today's NBA draft surrounds Ricky Rubio, an 18-year-old with heartthrob good looks who still lives with his parents in a seaside town outside of Barcelona, Spain, keeps a curfew and has a Michael Jordan poster above his bed.

In Europe, Rubio transcends athleticism and falls into that nebulous category of celebrity. But will he be as popular with U.S. fans and, more specifically, the Kings, if the team takes him with its fourth pick in the draft?

"He's a new breed – he's been compared to the lead singer in one of those boy bands," said ESPN basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla. "He's got that kind of persona along with a game that personifies flair and excitement."

There are five elements that add up to celebrity – some semblance of talent, a good back story, presentable looks, charisma and timing, said Kevin Wehr, an associate professor of sociology at California State University, Sacramento. Rubio satisfies all of them, plus he's young.

"Celebrities give us a distraction from the drudgery of our daily lives," Wehr said. "And it conforms to the mythology that we're taught about the American dream – if you work hard, live right and have talent, you will be rewarded."

Rubio first picked up a basketball as a toddler in soccer-crazed Spain, coincidentally around the time of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and the original U.S. Dream Team. Just shy of his 15th birthday and while continuing to attend his local high school, Rubio started playing professionally with Spain's ACB League, considered one of the best outside of the NBA.

It was during the Beijing Olympics last year that the world took notice of the 6-foot-4, 180-pound teenager. Rubio became the youngest player to start in an Olympics final when he took the place of the injured José Calderón, who plays for the NBA's Toronto Raptors, against the United States' Redeem Team.

Although Spain lost by 11 points, Rubio played injured and still had six points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals. He was likened to basketball legend Pistol Pete Maravich and dubbed "La Pistola."

Still, no one can predict how that experience along with his young age will translate into a grueling NBA schedule under pressure that gets more intense with the mounting hype.

"What's intriguing about Rubio is we don't know anything about him. What we hear isn't very concrete. So he's a big mystery man," said freelance sportscaster and former Kings announcer Jim Kozimor. "And when you don't know something, you tend to make up an answer – and it's usually pretty good."

Rubio is already an international phenomenon with more than 1,000 YouTube video uploads; a Facebook page with almost 26,000 fans from France, Italy, the Philippines, Indonesia, Denmark and other countries; Slam basketball magazine covers; and a "Meet the Rubios" video series at www.nikebasketball.com about his family, favorite foods and dancing skills.

But Rubio still leads a normal teenage life, said Jesús Pérez Ramos, who covers basketball for the Barcelona-based sports newspaper El Mundo Deportivo.

That is about to change, said Scott Rosner, associate director of the Wharton Sports Business Initiative, a sports business think tank at the University of Pennsylvania.

"Here you have this guy with floppy hair running up and down the court … (who) more than holds his own against the best players in the world," Rosner said. "There's potential there. He represents hope and fans want hope."

The reality, however, is that Rubio – and anyone his age – is something of a gamble, according to Rosner.

"It's very hard to project how an 18-year-old is going to develop as … a person in the next five years, and that goes for basketball or investment banking," Rosner said. "It's almost a boom or bust kind of thing. I guess that's what makes some of Rubio exciting. He could be phenomenal, or he could turn out to be a bust."

His no-look passes aside, Rubio is NBA-ready, according to Pérez Ramos.

"He can do dunks and some spectacular things, but really he knows basketball and he knows how to run a team," Pérez Ramos said. "And his mentality is very, very strong."

ESPN's Fraschilla thinks it might be beneficial for Rubio to stay in Spain for two more years, but with the NBA, "the reality is, you strike while the iron is hot."

"Honestly, he's not in the category of player as Pistol Pete, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson," Fraschilla said. "But he's the best passer to come into this draft in a long, long time."

Although Tyreke Evans from Memphis was rumored to be the Kings' top pick this week, Rubio has visited Sacramento twice with a solo practice workout Monday. There is also the extra wrinkle of a $6.6 million buyout to get Rubio out of his contract with his Spanish team DKV Joventut.

Robert Valenzuela won't reach for his cowbell until the Kings turn around their losing record. The hairstylist, 55, has had season tickets since the franchise came to Sacramento in 1985, but he canceled them last year because he found himself leaving the majority of games unhappy.

"If you have a team that wins, you don't need a good-looking 18-year-old Spaniard," he said. "We used to go when they won. We stopped going when they were not winning. Looks are nice, but not as much as teams that win."

Call The Bee's Gina Kim, (916) 321-1228.