http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4437300 I thought this deserved it's own thread. I'll summarize the article for everyone: David Kahn, "I thought Ricky agreed to come over and spend his rookie contract playing for free. Instead the little ***** backed out and wanted to stay in his homeland and actually make money, what a little ****. We'll still welcome you in 2 years though, I might not be here by then."
I think it was smart for Rubio to stay, he needs to work on his perimeter game,defense, and he needs to put put on some weight. I hope he can achieve that in 2 years and actually play for the Wolves at that time, instead of forcing a trade somewhere else. That is only cool when it benefits the Rockets
Couple Simmons tweets on it http://twitter.com/SportsGuy33: playing the blame game. You cannot accept this. http://bit.ly/AAQef
I still wouldn't mind getting his rights...only this time we can probably get him for a cheaper price .......Khan should had traded him when Morey offered Brooks, & Battier for him on Draft day.....to bad Khan missed out......I wonder who's going to be the Timber wolves new GM....
It's hard to trade for Rubio now, his actual value has never been lower, yet Kahn will not be accepting any discounted offers. Kahn will look like a complete fool if he makes a deal in which he doesn't get full value back, and by full value I mean Rubio's full value before we found out Rubio wasn't coming into the league for 2 years. It's going to be difficult for anyone to trade for Ricky.
...ya, I had tweeted a couple of Kahn jokes to Simmons after I heard. I asked him, "I wonder what the odds are that David Stern already has an intern photoshopping Rubio's face out of the 2009 group draft photo?" 4 to 1? ....regardless, this is a monumental screw up by Kahn. My personal take is his ego led him to believe he knew more about Rubio and the Spanish team who had his rights than he actually did. At very least he hugely miscalculated how much negotiating leverage he had. Kahn had the least bargaining power in that 3 way negotiation and yet he wasted two valuable trade assets to take that gamble. It's just a mess all the way around. Here is why he is super screwed. If Flynn does well as THE pg in Minni, how could they possibly bring Rubio in to lead a team Flynn is already leading? The chemistry won't work no matter how good Rubio is. If Flynn struggles, the fanbase will be angry that he let their savior stay in Europe for another two years not to mention all the baggage that goes with "one has to pan out" being placed on Rubio to produce immediately after watching Flynn struggle... In my mind, Kahn HAS to trade Rubio now only in the way he has handled this, he has significantly weakened the appeal of Rubio because he exposed the strength of Rubio's hand. Basically Rubio can pick and choose where he wants to go. Remember Kobe in Charlotte or Francis for the Griz? Rubio is basically in the same position, but he actual leverage since he is already signed to make more money playing in Europe than he would in the US. Kahn is going to end up taking pennies on the dollar considering it cost him Miller and Foye a few months ago. Kahn is like the bizarro version of Kevin Pritchard....just an awful start to his soon to be short GM career.
Hmmm... does this mean that Rubio will now be teammates with Fran Vazquez? Ricky and Fran can chat about their NBA dreams, no?
"Hey Fran, you're right. American GMs are idiots, they never believe it when you tell them you're not coming to play."
I was really hoping he would come... But the idea that he can spend 2 years in europe developing his basketball IQ and make a load of money while doing it is too good to pass up on.
I agree, you can't complain about Rubio being deceptive and immature. He never lead on that he wanted to go to 'Sota and Kahn had to realize Rubio had the power to pick and choose because he is already a European Pro making millions over there. His situation is unique and Kahn should have recognized that. Plus, it's business - the only way it makes good business sense for Rubio to leave is either: to go to a larger market team(since most everything he made in his rookie deal would go to pay off his buyout meaning he needs a large market to make endorsement money), or to a place where he is going to get good playing time for a solid upcoming team. Minnesota didn't have a coach, has a rookie GM, drafted ANOTHER pg, and is probably the 3rd favorite sports team in that city. Kahn saying Rubio backed out of a deal is just sour grapes from a guy who gambled on Rubio and lost and is now in hot water because of it. It's a poor way of trying to save face...besides the "deal" he negotiated speaks nothing to whether it was a good deal for Rubio - only that he had one that Kahn was pleased with.
haha more like rubio backed kahn outta his car at the toll booth with a rat-a-tat-tat serenade like his name was caan
....so I was wrong earlier - looks like Rubio's agent agreed to the buyout deal too. Rubio just changed his mind. This truehoop article is decent enough: http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop...-Barcelona--the-Timberwolves-in-the-Cold.html
Yep. Seemed obvious to me that Kahn picked him for "value", even after Rubio's camp made it clear he didn't want to play in a smaller market. Picking up another PG in the lottery as insurance/leverage, and then trying to gain leverage in negotiations with Rubio (or trade proposals) by saying Sota could wait out Rubio playing in Europe because they essentially hold his rights forever - I believe Kahn was fully aware of the risks but took them anyway. It will be interesting to see what happens in 2 years. A possible scenario - Rubio improves to the point where he attracts a big contract offer from a Spanish or Greek club, but not to the point where he erases doubts on whether his game will translate to the NBA. I believe Sota or a NBA team that trades for his rights will be limited to offering him a rookie scale contract which may end up less than what a Euro club offers him. In this scenario Rubio might decide to take the guaranteed money and just stay in Europe.
What does this mean? Minnesota could only contribute 500K while Barcelona actually paid 5.3 million. Rubio only received about 600K in endorsements from the Minnesota community. Anyway you look at it the kid is playing for free, at least his first 2 years in the league. Rubio made a smart choice here, he's too young in his career to take a big risk and get himself injured. He needs that Barcelona contract to get himself secure financially.
Kahn is a good gm, not equivalent to Morey but he operates a lot like him. I don't think the Wolves regret picking him, like the Spurs did with David Robinson they will just have to wait two years.
Regardless of whether he "backed out" or not, this was a good decision for Rubio because there ain't no way he was going to make much of an impact the next 2 seasons in the NBA. Maybe in 2011 he'll be ready to contribute. It's good he has people in his life, like parents, who look out for his best interests. I bet they were a big part of why he is staying in Spain.
I don't blame Rubio one bit for taking a job MAKING money in Europe instead of playing for free in the NBA. He will only be 20 when he can buyout his current deal..... He is already smart at the "treating it like a business" manuever. DD
