Minnesota Misses Out on Ricky Rubio
August 31, 2009 by Stephen Kersey
Filed under Basketball
The Minnesota Timberwolves received bad news on Monday when they officially lost the hope of Ricky Rubio coming to the NBA this season. In fact, Rubio won’t land in Minnesota until 2011 at the soonest.
The Timberwolves drafted Rubio as the fifth overall pick of the 2009 NBA Draft. Many NBA experts thought that Rubio would play in the leauge this coming season. Instead, his Spanish club DKV Joventut has traded him to another Spanish club — FC Barcelona.
The 18-year-old playmaker extraordinaire has been on the basketball scene for a while and is regarded as one of the most exciting players in the world. With the Timberwolves, he likely would have started at point guard — even as a rookie.
Minnesota will likely turn to Jonny Flynn as their starting point guard. Flynn, who was drafted sixth in the 2009 NBA Draft, played well in summer league and is expected to make a relatively smooth transition to the NBA. That said, the loss of Rubio is a major blow to the Timberwolves and their rebuilding hopes.
Ricky Rubio stays in Spain (Image: Zuma Press)
