If all goes according to plan for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Andrew Wiggins will be an electric superstar wing and Karl-Anthony Towns a dominant two-way force on the interior. But two foundational players alone won’t be enough to win a title in the NBA unless they’re surrounded by quality talent.
Is that where Ricky Rubio fits in with the Timberwolves? Though unsubstantiated rumors on his future in Minnesota have cropped up all summer long, the Spanish star seems convinced Minnesota will remain his long-term home – and certainly wants to stay in the frozen tundra, too.
Here’s Rubio on his future courtesy of Gulf News’ Jamie Goodwin:
“I have confidence that the team wants me, but you know in this league anybody can get traded,” said the flashy playmaker. “You don’t listen to the rumours. You just live day-by-day and that’s it.”
When asked if he wanted to stay with the long-suffering Timberwolves, Rubio gave a firm: “Yes.”
Rubio’s name has been linked to the New York Knicks since last season, but there have been no sourced reports of discussions between Phil Jackson and the Timberwolves’ Flip Saunders about a potential deal involving the 25-year-old. Regardless, it certainly makes sense that the playmaking-starved Knicks would be interested in a guy like Rubio, though.
If he played in a bigger market or for a more successful team, it’s fair to say he’d be something close to a league-wide star. Rubio boasts arguably the league’s best court vision, and is capable of dazzling ballhandling and passing displays that only a select few can duplicate. He’s a dogged defender of opposing point guards, too, frequently using his long arms and quick hands to disrupt the flow of opposing offenses.
Other than injuries, what’s held Rubio back most is his lack of shooting and finishing ability. He’s never made at least 39 percent of his field goals in four NBA seasons, and established career-low accuracy from beyond the arc and inside the restricted area during 2014-2015. The Timberwolves, perhaps correctly, surely believe those latter developments are a direct result of the ankle issues that kept him from all but 22 games last season. Rubio supposedly made major progress as a jump-shooter over the summer months of 2014, enough that Saunders felt comfortable affording him a four-year, $56 million extension mere days after the season-opener.
Whether Rubio ever develops into a legitimate perimeter threat or not, though, isn’t as of nearly the same consequence it was this time last year. Wiggins has the look of a go-to scorer, but still may never be anything more than a secondary ballhandler at best. And while the teenage Towns is already flashing advanced skills from the post, he seems more likely to produce points from all over the floor than mostly with his back to the basket.
Rubio, then, is the perfect floor general for the Timberwolves’ uber-promising youngsters, a pair of players who could be less ball-dominant than typical stars. And even if you believe otherwise, at the very least it’s safe to say Wiggins and Towns won’t reach their full ceilings for several seasons; in the meantime, the former No. 5 overall draft choice is certainly a player who can help them get there.
In the bigger picture, or one a bit smaller, basically, Rubio’s confidence that he’ll remain a fixture of the Timberwolves’ future is definitely well founded – rumors be damned.
