The Impact of Ricky Rubio

Timberwolves’ fans you are not dreaming, our Timberpups are actually making headlines and drawing in the publics attention for the right reasons. That is correct, for a couple days now the Timberpups have created a genuine interest in the franchise. And can you believe it is not because of some joke the President of Operations said that pissed off a bunch of humorless ‘so called’ journalists that are complete idiots?!

As I speak we are already seeing the impact of Ricky Rubio. His signing single handedly put the Timberwolves ahead of the Twins and the Minnesota Vikings in the local and national media. Locally speaking: yesterday it wasn’t the news that Joe Mauer was playing in a rehab game in the minors, or the news that some big named Vikings veterans no showed Ponder’s mini-camp that were atop Star Tribune Sports Online, rather it was the Timberwolves that were the first story on the page. Can someone even name the last time the Timberwolves drew more attention than the Vikings and Twins when the T-Pups weren’t even playing. In the past right now the Strib would be reporting on the Vikings offseason and Sid Hartman would be talking about how God like Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer are. The last thing they would ever report on is the T-Pups. But thanks to Rubio and the interest and curiosity he manufactures, they are on the front page for everyone to see. Meanwhile, nationally, the T-Wolves were on the front page of ESPN for the first time since K-Love had that 30-30 game - which I am convinced ESPN only decided to put on the front page because they knew they could make some puny headline to advertise there 30 for 30 series.

As it has been shown in just two short days, Rubio’s impact off the court has been significant. But what kind of impact will he have on the court?

The only reason why people compare him to Pistol Pete is because of his hair. Pistol was known for being an outstanding scorer. And Rubio is everything but a scorer. Attention everyone: Rubio won’t be like Pistol Pete, in the best case scenario I see him being more like Jason Kidd in the early stages of his career minus the rebounding ability and bleached blonde hair. Like Kidd early on his career, Rubio can’t shoot and isn’t an athletic freak -both have above average speed and athletic ability. However, Rubio makes up for those lost abilities with a plethora of other talents such as outstanding court vision, an insane amount of basketball awareness both on the defensive and offensive ends of the floor and perfect height for an NBA point guard (Rubio is 6-4, the same height as Kidd).

Meanwhile the worst case scenario is that Rubio is a bust. But let’s not think about that scenario. In the meantime let’s think about this: We draft Derrick Williams and play Michael Beasley off the bench - in doing so we have one of the most talented players coming off the bench and an instant offensive boost if we need one. (I talked about this earlier). In having Williams we have one of the premier swing man in the game- think a less quicker but stronger Rudy Gay that plays defense and drives to the hoop with authority. We have a deadly three point shooter in Martel Webster, or as I like to think an ‘extremely poor man’s recently released from rehab but still messed up Ray Allen’. Wes Johnson who is just a flat out good player you want on your team, as he can play the two guard well and the three spot very well. Kevin Love to play the four spot is awesome. And Anthony Randolph who has so much potential to be great you don’t even know what to compare him to for a best case scenario. (Worst case scenario I see him being like Jonathan Bender.) Meanwhile at the center position it would be awesome if we had a Javalee McGee type center - someone who runs the floor really well for a big man. Nonetheless, we can worry about that later. In the meantime I am going to be thinking about Rubio running the fast break with Johnson to his right, Williams to his left, and K-Love trailing behind.