It has been said, you might have heard, that a picture is worth a thousand words. We'll fall quite a few hundred short of that mark with this image of Ricky Rubio -- tweeted by the point guard himself from his @rickyrubio9 account -- but it still struck us enough to find five things about it that make us like the youngster even more:

1 He's watching playoff basketball. In contrast to some players who disengage from their sport once their season is over, Rubio remains intent on watching the two best teams in the Western Conference (the Thunder and Spurs) do battle in Game 1 of the conference finals. We'd like to imagine he is picking up some tips on how to stop Russell Westbrook and Tony Parker in the future. Regardless, it's nice to see.

2 In the text of the Twitter update, Rubio says he is at the airport to pick up a couple of people, including his brother Marc. A millionaire basketball player doesn't have to make a run to the airport to pick up family. But Rubio does. Solid.

3 While some might scoff at his wardrobe -- cap, sleeveless shirt, shorts and flip-flops -- that's pretty much the official uniform of many 21-year-old males during a Minnesota summer. And remember, this picture was taken on Sunday (8:29 p.m. based on the timestamp on the tweet), a crazy-hot day. Rubio knows what it takes to be One Of Us.

4 The beard. While the wolfman look might be counter-intuitive when it comes to staying cool during a humid Midwestern summer, a good injury rehab needs a little eccentricity. There has to be sweat pouring off that beard as Rubio works to strengthen that ACL. When the time comes for him to make his triumphant return to the court, he can shed the weight of the beard and gain the strength of a thousand men. Or something like that.

5 He is sitting on a baggage carousel -- a pose as effortless and youthfully exuberant as a no-look pass. Also, the leg is elevated. That's a good thing early on in the ACL recovery process. It can't be bad at this point, right?

MICHAEL RAND