General

In Hindsight, Who Would’ve Been a Better Fit in Minnesota Than Rubio?

Sep 1, 2009, 2:00 PM UTC

Shatteringly, immensely, powerfully, and somehow unsurprisingly, Ricky Rubio’s staying in Spain. Even three David Kahn trips abroad couldn’t alter the course of history. Or, to apply a little hindsight, what’s been rumored in one form or another for weeks, and what Rubio’s ambivalence on draft night strongly suggested. â†µ
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â†µNow what do we do? How do we pick up the pieces and go on living? What basketball news is possibly left to discover between now and training camp’s start? All these questions will have to go unanswered for now. But what about Kahn and the T-Wolves? â†µ
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â†µAs I wrote yesterday, things had gotten to the point that David Kahn’s professional legacy was being staked on the outcome of the Rubio situation. Right now, he’s looking either too smart for his own good, or having fallen for what looked too good to be true.â†µ
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â†µBefore we rush to crucify Kahn, let’s keep two key facts in mind: the Wolves do retain Rubio’s NBA rights and the T-Wolves aren’t exactly left with a gaping hole at the one. You can’t say that drafting Jonny Flynn was the tidiest, or most efficient, way to allow for this contingency. But the way it’s all gone down, Kahn did make the right call. â†µ
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â†µFlynn’s highly-regarded, popular, and could be nearly the buzz-starter Rubio was expected to be. And now, he’s the undisputed starting point guard of the Minnesota Timberwolves. And the fun doesn’t stop there. Al Jefferson should be healthy and dominant next season; selecting Wayne Ellington gives them a deadly shooter; Kevin Love is for real; Corey Brewer wants to turn his career around; and I’ve always liked Ryan Gomes. Not a bad nucleus.â†µ
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â†µHowever, even if the Wolves will survive, maybe even flourish, there’s now an entirely different kind of nagging question hanging in the air. Say Flynn works out, and over the next two seasons, Minny establishes itself as a Western team on the rise. Say Rubio ends up being superfluous. The question: Who might they have had instead?â†µ
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At the risk of rubbing salt in a state’s fresh wounds, here are a few guys who might’ve worked well for the T-Wolves:â†µ
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â†µStephen Curry: He doesn’t have Ellington’s size, and pairing him with Flynn would make for an awfully small backcourt. But Curry was once projected as high as third, and showed this past season that he’s more than just a shooter. He’s also a big name already, which would also help make up for missing out on the draft’s biggest name.â†µ
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â†µJordan Hill: With Jefferson and Love locked in for the foreseeable future, Hill might seem like a redundant pick. Then again, when’s the last time anyone complained about having too many young bigs? If Hill was spry enough to catch D’Antoni’s eye, he wouldn’t look bad rounding out a frontcourt rotation off the bench. Ask the Pistons about that. â†µ
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â†µDeMar DeRozan: No one’s sure how polished, or potent, DeRozan will end up being as a pro, and whether his ridiculous athleticism will translate into NBA game. Still, who has ever turned their nose up at a physical phenom like DeRozan who many think could be a ferocious slasher. And imagine him at the receiving end of one of those acclaimed Kevin Love outlet passes. Oh well. â†µ
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â†µTerrence Williams: Put Williams with Love and you’d have enough non-Flynn ball movement to make possible an offense more wondrous than a thousand dancing Rubios. Williams may not have “possible All-Star” written on him like these others, but what team wouldn’t want a bouncy, charismatic point forward with a nose for the ball and a highly-evolved basketball IQ?â†µ
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â†µOkay, so after that, things trail off, and you can easily argue that bargaining chip—or insurance, or mere curiosity—that Rubio’s rights represent is more valuable than anyone the Wolves could’ve had. â†µ
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â†µYet as the years march on, and any number of the above players thrive, what self-respecting Minny fan won’t look toward Europe, or wherever Rubio then plays, shake his fist, yell “why?”, and then realize they should probably be directing their emotions toward David Kahn. Wherever he is by then.
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