Written by Zachary Bennett
With the NBA Draft less than two weeks away, speculation regarding who the Minnesota Timberwolves will take with the No. 1 pick has dominated headlines as well as conversation throughout the Twitterverse. While knowledgeable basketball heads unquestionably place Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor atop the list of coveted prospects, various pundits believe president-coach Flip Saunders has a hankering for other collegiate and overseas amateurs — who happen to be point guards — such as, D’Angelo Russell and Emmanuel Mudiay.
Rumors should almost always be taken with a grain of salt, especially those of which surface a few weeks before the draft. Like many NBA executives, Saunders is willing to move anyone at anytime if he believes it will help the Wolves improve; no player, save Andrew Wiggins, is untradeable.
“I’m not locking in anybody at 16 wins, I’ll be honest.” Saunders explained during his state-of-the-team press conference.
By this thinking, one should take seriously recent reports which claim Minnesota is exploring potential trade suitors for Ricky Rubio. (ESPN’s Chad Ford has said on multiple occasions Saunders would be willing to trade the 24-year old point guard for the right deal.) However, chances of the Wolves actually moving Rubio this season — let alone before the draft — are very, very slim.
Though it’s thought to be highly unlikely, the idea of trading Rubio is egregious. If Saunders wanted to draft a point guard a la Russell or Mudiay, the incoming asset would grow alongside Wiggins, Zach LaVine, and whoever is selected with the No. 1 pick. Trajectories of each of the aforementioned players would then be pretty damn unified. Whereas Rubio, entering his fifth season with a perpetually draft-lottery bound franchise, is no longer in the thick of the developmental stages of his career. He may actually prefer the idea of joining a playoff contender, although he would never, ever admit it publically.
Moreover, in the eyes of a playoff contender, or any organization hoping to acquire his services, Rubio is by no means a proven asset because his development is almost annually put on hold. It’s difficult, though not impossible, to argue he will improve certain aspects of his game, so why would anyone be willing to part with a top-10 pick in the upcoming draft for an 24 year old unfinished product?
Last season was supposed to be telling in terms of his scoring ability, but, as has been the case during his five year stay in Minnesota, Rubio’s progression was stunted because of injury. He’s not yet the polished all-around point guard the Wolves hoped he would become. Rubio has yet to shoot better than 40 percent from the field, above 35 percent from 3-point range, or sustain adequate health over the course of multiple 82-game seasons.
“I haven’t been healthy, I owe this team a lot.” Rubio said after a practice during the closing weeks of last season. “In four years I’ve only had one good season, one 82 game season, so I mean, I owe this team a lot.”
Still, some will assert Rubio, aside from Wiggins, may quite possibly be the best player on the roster, and thus it would be foolish to trade him. If the Wolves were entering 2015-16 with playoff aspirations, perhaps this statement makes sense. However, the upcoming season will be yet another rebuilding year and therefor Rubio’s presence is less paramount.
“I don’t want to get to the playoffs; I want to build a team that can win in the playoffs.” Saunders said back in April.
That’s what we’re trying to do, and so if you’re gonna try to do quick fixes just to get there, you might get there, but you’ll be back out of it. That’s not what our goal is, our goal is to build something that can really grab ahold and something that these players can all work together and grow together and kind of bond and feel together and feel, ‘Hey, we want to be here, we want to be together, we want to grow and make it work.’
Despite the pitfalls, areas where Rubio is proficient — passing, defense — make him an indispensable part of the Wolves overall growth. Someone needs to orchestrate the offense and safely distribute the ball because, as far as production is concerned, having a rookie run the offense would, in all likelihood, negatively impact Wiggins, LaVine, Shabazz Muhammad, Kevin Martin. Save Martin, if these guys aren’t getting enough touches, or put in position to be successful, how can they possibly improve?
From the moment the Wolves signed Rubio to a contract extension, Saunders knew he was committing to his point guard of the future. For better or worse, Rubio and the Wolves are meant for one another, and I don’t believe that’s going to change anytime soon.
“There was no question all along that Ricky wanted to be here for our organization.”
Saunders said last November, immediately after inking Rubio to a four-year, $55 million dollar contract extension. “It just says something about his character that he wants to be a leader, he wants to be someone that’s going to lead the team to where we want to go. To me, that showed great competitiveness, it showed great loyalty to the organization, also to the community which he gets actively involved with, so we’re excited.”
Zachary Bennett isn’t sure if he should be writing in the third person. He’s a contributor to Cold Omaha, covering the St. Paul Saints, Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx. Bennett sometimes writes at Hardwood Paroxysm.