Ricky Rubio Doesn't Like Cold Weather

Ricky Rubio has gotten out of his tricky buyout clause with his Spanish league team, DKV Joventut.

But don't get excited, NBA fans; he's simply moving to another Spanish league team, after Barcelona paid his $5 million buyout. Thus ends the up-and-down, will-he-or-won't-he saga between Rubio and the Minnesota Timberwolves, who drafted his rights back in June. Minnesota knew at the time that getting him to America would be tricky because of said buyout, which may (partially) explain why they used the very next pick in the draft on another point guard, Jonny Flynn.

If you ask me, Rubio simply has no desire to go to Minnesota. Timberwolves GM David Kahn had traveled to Spain three times in the past few weeks to get a deal done with Joventut, and apparently had a sponsorship/endorsement deal lined up to actually get things done, but Rubio declined to take him up on it (note: per league rules, NBA teams are only allowed to pay up to $500,000 toward a player's buyout, which is why Minnesota couldn't simply pay for it themselves). Rubio mentioned that he didn't feel like Minnesota was the right fit, and that the deal was complicated, which wasn't the best thing for his career right now. Oh, and he mentioned how the NBA was still his goal and he plans to come over in 2011 when his deal with Barcelona is able to be bought out.

So, let me get this straight. Your goal is to play in the NBA; an NBA team drafted you and diligently worked on navigating through a tricky buyout; but you don't want to play for that team because it's "complicated". Hmmm, so you're telling me that you have no desire to Minnesota. Notice I didn't use a question mark at the end of that sentence, because I'm not confused. Before the draft, there were rumors that Rubio's mom doesn't like cold weather and wouldn't see him play as often if he were in a cold-weather city not named New York. Rubio is only 19 years old, so it's understandable that he'd want his family around as much as possible to help with is adjustment to living, and playing, in a new country. Also, Minnesota didn't have a coach until recently, when they hired Kurt Rambis away from the Lakers, so Rubio may have also had concerns about the present state of the team.

All of those excuses sound more like an explanation for the recent developments than a "complicated" or "risky" deal with Minnesota. If Rubio really wanted to play in the NBA, he would have played for the Timberwolves, showed his ability, and then moved along in a few seasons when his rookie contract ran out if he were unhappy. Instead, Rubio is staying in his homeland, forcing the Timberwolves to contemplate trading his rights, and setting up the move to a better team in a bigger market. If he does come to the NBA in 2011, he'll only be 21 with plenty of great years ahead of him, so it's not like he's wasting his prime in Spain. Ricky Rubio said "ole'" to the Timberwolves because he has no desire to play in Minnesota, not because staying in Europe is a safer option for him at this point in his career that, supposedly, has an ultimate goal of playing in the NBA; something that playing for the Timberwolves would have given him the opportunity to do.

Sometimes, these things aren't so hard to figure out.

~~ Lank