[CarolinaCy]

Originally Posted by TommyTalknSport

He only wanted to play for the Kings or Knicks. He wants to play in a big market so he doesn't have to play for free cause NBA team can only play 500,000 of his buyout. The Kukoc thing happens all the time, players play their contract out overseas then come to NBA to team that has their draft rights.

A big market like....... Sacramento?

[BryceC]

I just don't get why teams would want to draft a guy that doesn't want to play there... at all. Especially when they have other options. It's just silly.

[tim_redd]

Originally Posted by BryceC

I just don't get why teams would want to draft a guy that doesn't want to play there... at all. Especially when they have other options. It's just silly.

It's called that's how the league and the draft work. If you want to play in NY, go to Minnesota for 3 years, play awesome, and then NY will want to sign you for a bunch of money.

[TommyTalknSport]

Originally Posted by CarolinaCy

A big market like....... Sacramento?

Thats one of the few teams he worked out for. I'm sure he figures he can make tons of AD money in Cali.

[hurdleisu24]

Yes if he doesn't play basketball for a year then the Wolves lose his rights otherwise they control his rights. With a 6 million buyout that won't happen. Apparently when word spread that he may not got in the top 3 the Wolves called him and brought him in. He wasn't thrilled but was ok with that and then Kahn took Flynn and that started the whole I don't want to go to the Wolves. Flynn im sure doesn't like it either but you hear nothing from him because he doesn't have to stay anything as Rubio's camp is making the noise. After 2 years he's only going to be 20 and then he won't have to pay a buyout and will make about 3 million a year

[CycloneErik]

Originally Posted by JD720

Now that you mention it, didn't the Bulls draft Toni Kukoc a year or two before he ended up in Chicago?

Good point. Yes, they did. I'd forgotten about that.

[mtowncyclone]

if the t-wolves wouldnt've f'd the draft up by drafting all guards. and they thought getting rid of mchale would solve all their problems.

[CyclonesRule]

Well it's a good thing the Timberwoves drafted 3 point guards in this years draft. Traded Lawson, Rubio is staying in Spain, I guess that leaves Flynn. for now.

I heard something about Rubio not wanting to be in Minnesota because his mother didn't like cold weather. Maybe his mom was going to come to US to stay with him like some of the other kids who skipped college before the rule change that they had to go to college for one year. The kid is still only 18.

[06Panther]

I love it when players from other countries come into our draft and then ***** about where they get signed and then try to get themselves to a "big market team". If your too good to play for certain team in the NBA, go back to your crap country and play there, see how much money you get paid playing in Europe.

[JonDMiller]

From an SI Article: Minnesota will hold his NBA rights indefinitely. The only exception would be if Rubio were to sit out a full year from basketball -- professional or otherwise -- and resubmit his name for the draft (at which point the Wolves might select him again anyway). When he does come over, he will be paid the mandated salary for the No. 5 pick on the rookie scale in effect at that time.

[hurdleisu24]

Guard Ricky Rubio is leaving DKV Joventut in Badalona, Spain, but he might not be coming to the NBA. Real Madrid director general Jorge Valdano is considering making an offer to Joventut, which is experiencing economic problems and needs more than the $500,000 NBA teams are willing to pay for a buyout of Rubio’s contract. European clubs have no such spending limits or salary caps.

Rubio’s buyout increased from 4.75 million euros to 5.75 million euros last week - small change for Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, who in recent days has spent nearly 200 million euros on
Cristiano Ronaldo (80 million), Kaká (66 million), Karim Benzema (31 million) and others, and is considering Bayern Munich’s request of 100 million euros for French midfielder Franck Ribery. But revenue streams for are far greater than basketball at Real Madrid; after Kaka’s signing was announced, the club added 75 million euros worth of sponsorship, covering the cost of the transfer and his first season’s salary. Real Madrid cannot similarly justify shelling out Rubio’s price. But Unicaja (Malaga, Spain) and Greek and Turkish clubs might.

“The buyout clause makes going to the NBA unfeasible,’’ Rubio’s father, Esteve, said in a Madrid radio interview last week.

[hurdleisu24]

Here is some of what Kahn had to say in a phone conversation Tuesday morning:
One of the things that I found surprising was that the day before the draft, Ricky Rubio told us that he was coming to the NBA no matter what happened with his buyout. The first person I heard suggesting that his buyout could be a big obstacle was you, on TV on draft night.
His agent had informed us that day that he might have to play overseas because of the buyout. I just wanted to be clear that we are the kind of team that can afford to wait.

Shortly after you made the picks, I talked to people in front offices for a lot of other teams, and none of them could fathom that your plan would really be to play Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn together.
I'm not a person who believes that every player is neatly packaged and fits with other players only in certain ways. I'm not hard-headed. I think there are lots of different ways players can fit together. ... And this notion that we have to play them together for 48 minutes, I don't expect that's what we'd do. Ultimately, we will have a coach here who will figure out how to best play our players together.
And as for people from other teams telling you this, isn't that a little like me telling you what I think the Toronto Raptors are going to do?
What about the state of relations between the Rubios and the Timberwolves?
The buyout comes first, right? Not too much can happen until that's taken care of.
Have you been getting a lot of offers for Ricky Rubio?
A lot the week of the draft, yes. But we have stated our position that we are not interested in trading him, and the offers have slowed right down.
From reading online, it seems like there has been a lot of excitement among Timberwolves fans. People want to see Ricky Rubio in a Timberwolves uniform. To the extent you do consider trade offers, does this fan reaction drive the price up? If maybe on draft night you would have considered taking player X, do you now want players X and Y?
The politicians always say that you shouldn't answer hypotheticals. I'm going to be like Barack Obama on this one. ... The likeliest scenario by far is that Ricky Rubio will be in a Timberwolves uniform. Now, I have always couched my comments on that topic just in case someone floors us with some offer. But I'm highly skeptical that someone will floor us.

Is it just me or does it seem that he knew Rubio would be playing in Europe next year when he made the pick and now instead of trying to defend himself he's trying to put the blame a little on Rubio?

[hurdleisu24]

Found this on HoopsWorld. anyone just wish this would be decided already?

The Rubio Update: Ricky Rubio's ultimate destination is still up in the air as sources close to the situation told HOOPSWORLD this week in Las Vegas that things are still very fluid.
The source said that Wolves' GM David Kahn has been exceptional in his "wooing" of Ricky and his family and has really gone over and above to try and convince Ricky that he'd get tons of minutes and be the focal point of the team. With fellow rookie Jonny Flynn looking very small against NBA caliber guards in Las Vegas – he's played well but is giving up a lot of size to other guards - the belief is the Wolves could be viewing Flynn as the project guy not Rubio
According to the source, Ricky's major roadblock to playing in the NBA next year is the amount of debt Rubio would incur to buy out his contract, and the sources said buyout discussions have really gone nowhere. Several top-tier Euroleague teams are talking about multi-year deals and more buyout assistance than the NBA allows; there is an emerging threat that Ricky's best decision may be signing in Europe. Ricky's camp has been adamant that no firm decisions have been reached, saying they were evaluating situations and offers.
The one aspect of the situation that was made very clear is that neither the Wolves not Rubio's camp view each other in an adversarial way, in fact it seems that Rubio's camp has really been swayed by David Kahn and the end results may be decided in much the way it started – how to pull off the contract buyout with DKV Joventut.
The one aspect of the situation that was made very clear is that neither the Wolves not Rubio's camp view each other in an adversarial way, in fact it seems that Rubio's camp has really been swayed by David Kahn and the end results may be decided in much the way it started – how to pull off the contract buyout with DKV Joventut.

[Clonegrad07]

what a F-up by the Wolves... who cares if they have his rights... they need the help now.

[TxCycloneFan]

Originally Posted by TommyTalknSport

He only wanted to play for the Kings or Knicks. He wants to play in a big market so he doesn't have to play for free cause NBA team can only play 500,000 of his buyout. The Kukoc thing happens all the time, players play their contract out overseas then come to NBA to team that has their draft rights.

The Kings = big market? Maybe Ricky should have studied a little US geography.

I usually think of Sacramento on the same lines as MPLS, KC, and Portland.