A team that I am really excited to watch this season will be the Minnesota Timberwolves, and for many reasons. Of course everyone is enamored by Andrew Wiggins, I believe that Anthony Bennett will have a much better season this year, Zack LaVine will be a Sportscenter regular, and the addition of veterans Thaddeus Young and Mo Williams make for an interesting team. All being fed with some jaw dropping assists from Ricky Rubio. After years of losing and trading Kevin Love, the Wolves have done a good job of setting themselves up in a position to succeed. In their case, success would take form in developing young players opposed to making the playoffs this season in the brutal west. Essentially since the Kevin Garnett trade this team has gone nowhere with bad personnel decisions and a propensity for being caught in NBA purgatory. Now is the time for Flip Saunders to turn the tables, choosing to build opposed to rebuild. I do not envy the front office for the Wolves this season, mainly in regards to Rubio.
This will be one of the tougher decisions in the NBA moving forward. The Timberwolves have until the end of October to sign him to an extension and by all signs they are so far apart that this does not seem likely, leaving Rubio as a restricted free agent at years end. Rubio is looking to sign a five year max contract with the Wolves leaning more towards 4 years $48 million.
Lets take a look at Ricky Rubio and try to determine his overall value. There have been many comparisons to “Pistol” Pete Maravich, but I find this laughable. I am old enough to have seen Pete play and I can tell you first hand that Rubio doesn’t even come close to the offensive talent. Maravich could light it up from almost anywhere on the court averaging over 24 point per game for his career, a number that would definitely be higher if the three point shot was a part of the game. It came into effect in his last season when he played extremely limited minutes and games due to injury. Even so, he went 10 for 15 beyond the arc. Rubio so far has much better assist totals than Pete and can be looked at as a better defender. Maravich would have been a max player today, but except from the flashy passing, the comparisons of the two end there.
Another player who I believe Rubio can be compared to is Jason Williams who, once again was one of the best highlight film passers in the game. At this point their numbers are quite similar with Rubio having an higher assist average by roughly 2 a game. Neither players would win any field goal percentage awards with their numbers being in the ballpark of awful. Jason Williams was an exciting player to watch and with maturity became a very good team player later in his career but was not an all star player in any stretch of the imagination. Searching for comparisons, Rubio and White Chocolate are very close and Williams was never a max contract player.
It is definitely tough to gauge against either player because Rubio has only played three seasons vs. entire careers, but J Will would have been the closest. Taking a look at future potential for Rubio brings me to my next and final comparison. Rookie of the year and ten time all star Jason Kidd. Evaluating both players first three years in the league, their numbers were quite similar on the offensive end with low point and field goal totals along with high assist numbers. Their style of play was also remarkably comparable. Now most will say that Ricky Rubio is no Jason Kidd, and at this point, he isn’t. But watching both players in the early part of their careers they are almost carbon copy. Kidd will no doubt be enshrined into the hall of fame, had a high basketball iq and routinely finished in top ten mvp voting. Max contract.
The important questions are how high his ceiling is, how he will fit into Flip Saunders system playing without Love, and can he improve his offensive numbers. By all accounts Rubio has been working on his jump shot but it still remains to be seen how much it will improve this season. One telling stat although with a small sample size from his overall game is the Wolves are shooting 48.9% this preseason with Rubio on the floor and 40.6% with him on the bench, so his value goes far beyond his scoring numbers. Saunders has traditionally coached very poor 3pt teams and does not place as much value on the three, preferring good open shots. He is also known to run zone defense more often placing a high priority on that end of the court. This style seems to fit Rubio’s game although the open looks to his teammates will disappear if he cannot keep the defense honest with at least an improvement on his jumpshot, a task much tougher with the loss of Love. There are so many questions that it is extremely difficult to place a monetary value on him. Its a question of gauging then paying for potential.
So this brings us back to the position the Wolves are in with the signing of Rubio. Do they lock him up in a long term contract today? Let him feel out offers in the off season? If that happens and the Timberwolves low ball him after the season, does he end up in the same situation as Chandler Parsons and the Rockets, eventually seeing him go to another team willing to pay him the big bucks on a long term deal? All of these are difficult questions to answer, and puts Minnesota in an extremely tough place. This will be his first season without having a superstar in Kevin Love, and one of the questions has to be can he take on a leadership role with this organization moving forward. Like Rajon Rondo, a player I believe is not worth a max deal, there will be teams that are willing to offer it, and that’s what they are up against. There is a lot to like about the direction the Wolves are going with some very good potential, but the signing may lead to financial issues in the future with a team too young to compete today. So what they have to ask themselves is are they going to get Jason Kidd or Jason Williams, or something in between. In my opinion, I believe they cannot sign him to an extension right now because there are too many unknowns. Let him play out this season with this young squad, and see what develops. He would need to show leadership qualities and an improvement in his offensive game, namely his shooting to acquire the contract he is seeking basing it mostly on future potential. My guess is that it will go into next summer with Rubio eventually getting the five years he wants from Minnesota, building what could possibly be a team competing for a title in a few years. Many pieces are falling into place for something special to happen in Minnesota, but will Ricky Rubio be part of it? I hope so.
Lets take a look at Ricky Rubio and try to determine his overall value. There have been many comparisons to “Pistol” Pete Maravich, but I find this laughable. I am old enough to have seen Pete play and I can tell you first hand that Rubio doesn’t even come close to the offensive talent. Maravich could light it up from almost anywhere on the court averaging over 24 point per game for his career, a number that would definitely be higher if the three point shot was a part of the game. It came into effect in his last season when he played extremely limited minutes and games due to injury. Even so, he went 10 for 15 beyond the arc. Rubio so far has much better assist totals than Pete and can be looked at as a better defender. Maravich would have been a max player today, but except from the flashy passing, the comparisons of the two end there.
Another player who I believe Rubio can be compared to is Jason Williams who, once again was one of the best highlight film passers in the game. At this point their numbers are quite similar with Rubio having an higher assist average by roughly 2 a game. Neither players would win any field goal percentage awards with their numbers being in the ballpark of awful. Jason Williams was an exciting player to watch and with maturity became a very good team player later in his career but was not an all star player in any stretch of the imagination. Searching for comparisons, Rubio and White Chocolate are very close and Williams was never a max contract player.
It is definitely tough to gauge against either player because Rubio has only played three seasons vs. entire careers, but J Will would have been the closest. Taking a look at future potential for Rubio brings me to my next and final comparison. Rookie of the year and ten time all star Jason Kidd. Evaluating both players first three years in the league, their numbers were quite similar on the offensive end with low point and field goal totals along with high assist numbers. Their style of play was also remarkably comparable. Now most will say that Ricky Rubio is no Jason Kidd, and at this point, he isn’t. But watching both players in the early part of their careers they are almost carbon copy. Kidd will no doubt be enshrined into the hall of fame, had a high basketball iq and routinely finished in top ten mvp voting. Max contract.
The important questions are how high his ceiling is, how he will fit into Flip Saunders system playing without Love, and can he improve his offensive numbers. By all accounts Rubio has been working on his jump shot but it still remains to be seen how much it will improve this season. One telling stat although with a small sample size from his overall game is the Wolves are shooting 48.9% this preseason with Rubio on the floor and 40.6% with him on the bench, so his value goes far beyond his scoring numbers. Saunders has traditionally coached very poor 3pt teams and does not place as much value on the three, preferring good open shots. He is also known to run zone defense more often placing a high priority on that end of the court. This style seems to fit Rubio’s game although the open looks to his teammates will disappear if he cannot keep the defense honest with at least an improvement on his jumpshot, a task much tougher with the loss of Love. There are so many questions that it is extremely difficult to place a monetary value on him. Its a question of gauging then paying for potential.
So this brings us back to the position the Wolves are in with the signing of Rubio. Do they lock him up in a long term contract today? Let him feel out offers in the off season? If that happens and the Timberwolves low ball him after the season, does he end up in the same situation as Chandler Parsons and the Rockets, eventually seeing him go to another team willing to pay him the big bucks on a long term deal? All of these are difficult questions to answer, and puts Minnesota in an extremely tough place. This will be his first season without having a superstar in Kevin Love, and one of the questions has to be can he take on a leadership role with this organization moving forward. Like Rajon Rondo, a player I believe is not worth a max deal, there will be teams that are willing to offer it, and that’s what they are up against. There is a lot to like about the direction the Wolves are going with some very good potential, but the signing may lead to financial issues in the future with a team too young to compete today. So what they have to ask themselves is are they going to get Jason Kidd or Jason Williams, or something in between. In my opinion, I believe they cannot sign him to an extension right now because there are too many unknowns. Let him play out this season with this young squad, and see what develops. He would need to show leadership qualities and an improvement in his offensive game, namely his shooting to acquire the contract he is seeking basing it mostly on future potential. My guess is that it will go into next summer with Rubio eventually getting the five years he wants from Minnesota, building what could possibly be a team competing for a title in a few years. Many pieces are falling into place for something special to happen in Minnesota, but will Ricky Rubio be part of it? I hope so.