Ricky Rubio and his agent, Dan Fegan, have started applying the pressure on NBA teams to ensure he ends up in the best possible media market. Because he still has to spend his own cash to get out of his Spanish contract, he has the leverage to return to Europe if the “wrong” team drafts him.

(Why would anyone not want to play in Memphis?)

Therefore, Memphis and OKC can just draft around him. Instead, Fegan (who failed to stop Milwaukee from drafting Yi Jianlian but got him moved to the NYC market eventually) wants his client in L.A. or Sacramento to get at that California cash.  Sacramento drafts fourth, but haven’t the Clippers promised to take Blake Griffin with the first pick? Rubio couldn’t end up in L.A. still, could he?

He could, as it turns out.

Memphis, the team that nearly buried fellow Spaniard Pau Gasol, has the second pick and the first opportunity to draft Rubio since Blake Griffin must go first by national edict.  However, the Clippers are deep (if not sensibly so) up front with Chris Kaman, Zach Randolph, Marcus Camby, and so on.

Therefore, they’d much prefer a point guard. However, they would waste the power of the first pick if they merely picked Rubio instead of trading down and trying to get the youngster. That’s why rumors persist that the Clippers want out of the first spot.

So nothing’s remotely clear about this draft and may not be until draft day. All mock drafts are intellectual exercises at best.