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Wolves Updates 9/1 Part 3 E-mail
Written by SG   
Tuesday, 01 September 2009 23:32
Ed Pinckney has joined the 76ers’ broadcast team as color analyst. Pinckney will work alongside play-by-play announcer Marc Zumoff for all Sixers broadcasts on Comcast SportsNet and the Comcast Network.




Ricky Rubio: "Going to Minnesota this season was a risky move. I didn't see it. I would get my life all complicated."




UPDATE: Rubio was introduced by his new team in Barcelona today and said going to Minnesota would have “complicated” his life significantly and called it a “risky” move. He also said he didn’t see the Timberwolves as a team where he could grow as a player and win championships.

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: For those concerned about how I translated a Rubio quote from his Regal introduction, let me re-paraphrase the above item to say he considered Regal Barcelona, one of the best teams in Europe, a better and less risky environment to develop as a player and win titles than with the Timberwolves. I think that more accurately captures the essence of what Marca quotes him as saying.




Kahn said Rubio and his family were receiving pressure from his Spanish national team teammates, members of the Spanish media and other people in their hometown to stay in Spain.

"It's just been a tough summer," Kahn said. "From an 18-year-old's perspective and his family's perspective, it was very nerve-racking."

The decision saves Rubio money in the short term, but could bring long-term consequences, both on and off the court.

The Timberwolves will hold Rubio's NBA rights as long as he is playing professionally. They also have rookie point guard Jonny Flynn, who was drafted No. 6 overall right behind Rubio, to take over while Rubio is in Spain.

Flynn impressed at the Las Vegas summer league, and Kahn said he will likely be named the starter going into training camp.

"I explained to (Rubio) that I can't predict the future," Kahn said. "I did specifically mention that Jonny would be two years ahead of him. He understood that."




From Ken Berger/CBSSports.com: Too early to howl 'mistake' over drafting teen Wolf
Now, if Flynn flourishes and the Rubio hype subsides, the Knicks will see what it would take to relieve Kahn of his headache. But a trade to any team this far from the 2011 buyout makes zero sense; the Knicks or anybody else would have to wait for Rubio just like the Timberwolves have to. What assets are you giving up now to get a player who won't walk through the door for two more years? (If you must know, Danilo Gallinari is the only Knick the Timberwolves would want. The Knicks -- who don't have a first-round pick to offer next year, either -- aren't trading him.)

So that's that. Rubio stays in Barcelona, and Kahn flies home to Minnesota on Wednesday fully prepared to face two years of questions about whether this was a mess he could've -- and should've -- avoided. He wouldn't touch the issue of whether the NBA should address the $500,000 cap on buyouts to free overseas players from their contracts, given that the topic is part of the ongoing collective bargaining talks. But he didn't dodge a more important question: Any regrets?

"No, not at all," Kahn said. "He's 18. And again, depending on what our circumstances are two years from now, I continue to believe that was the highest-value pick we could have made. ...


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