Did Rubio Con A Kahn Or Was Minnie Marburied Again? Part 2 of 3

TRICKY RICKY’S MATH MAGIC  MISCALCULATION

From a business standpoint, Rubio has brought nothing new to the world of sports. Like picky athlete’s before him – Eli Manning, Brian Bosworth, John Elway and Jay Cutler come to mind  (should Rubio be playing football instead? O.K. throw in Steve Francis.) – Rubio had big league, big market dreams shared by his parents and advisors. 

Rubio is an 18 year-old kid who thought the time was right to make a move to the bigger league.  He believed the hype and anticipated that he would go very, very high in the 2009 draft.  He had advised DKV Joventut, which launched his career at 14 with a onerous five-year contract, that he did not want to play for them anymore and that he planned to do a remake of “Coming To America,” Euroleague style.  Thus, after the draft, buyout negotiations began in earnest although Rubio always gave a sense (check his tweets) that he was outside the loop of such discussions and at the mercy of DKV Joventut. 

Now we know the buyout itself was never prohibitive, only challenging because DKV Joventut had intended to let Rubio go once he asked out.  It was just a matter of how they were getting most of their buyout figure in return for his release.

Rubio himself had stated that he would play in the NBA even if the buyout netted him $0 for a couple of years.  Sure he was just talking smack.  But it didn’t matter how disingenuous his bravado was because before the draft he and his advisors  thought he would make (or find) enough money for a buyout.

When Rubio entered the draft before the lottery selection, he thought he would go higher (2-4) than the 5th spot. His camp also indicated that it intended to exercise its leverage to urge certain small-market teams not to apply for Rubio’s services.  Rubio indicated that he did not intend to go to Memphis nor the Wizards who initially held the 5th spot.

Many of the reputable draftniks had suggested Rubio would go 2d instead of Thabeet. There were also rumors that the New York Knicks would maneuver into position to grab Rubio.  One such rumor had Wilson Chandler in a dog-sled and Rubio on top of the Empire State Building auditioning for “High School Musical 12” as Zach Effron’s understudy. It didn’t hurt that when the Wizards traded the 5th spot to Minnesota, Rubio did not embrace Minnie as a future home either.

Rubio was so confident about going in the top four that he initially refused to attend workouts with the other top guards, including his bud Brandon Jennings, who warned the world that Rubio was all-hype and no game, before he took back the honest slight.  Rubio’s refusals and his eventual workout, alone with the Kings, also heightened concern that he was not prepared for the rigors and competition of the NBA (a fact he seems to admit after the fact; some would call that a chump move. Score one for Jennings.).

After the draft, Rubio’s dad made it clear that his son was not going to play in Minnesota anytime soon. “Right now Ricky is likely staying in Europe one or two years,” the father said.  “We have to talk to the people in Minnesota and see what happens” and “we could be in Minnesota or somewhere else.”

Ricky and Team Rubio probably did not anticipate that Kahn and Minnesota would work so hard to get the fifth pick and that he would fall that far.  He also didn’t seem to believe that the Wolves would actually reach an agreement with DKV Joventut to accelerate Rubio’s transition to the NBA.  It was clearly a miscalculation on Team Rubio’s part because money was never the real problem after he bid DKV farewell.

As Chris Sheridan pointed out, even in Minnesota Rubio would be able to afford a mutually agreeable buyout: “The Timberwolves’ offer, which could include only $500,000 in cash under NBA rules, would presumably have revenue streams from Rubio’s endorsement deals and his four-year, $15.2 million NBA rookie-scale contract ($3.27 million salary in 09-10, $3.51 million in ’10-11, with team options for $3.76 million in ’11-12 and $4.76 million in ’12-13).”

Despite the financial limitations, Kahn spent the summer crafting a deal that was acceptable to all parties. Rubio agreed to the arrangement that would make him an NBA baller at 18, but then reneged on his agreement with Minnesota.  In a statement, the corporate board of DKV Joventut said,

Yesterday, after a big effort from the two parties, DKV Joventut and Minnesota Timberwolves reached an agreement which permitted to terminate the contractual relationship between the player and the Club and his integration in the NBA team.
In front of this situation and in contradiction with what he has been saying to us and to Timberwolves´ representatives from time to time, the player has announced the decision that he wants to be transferred to FC Barcelona.
From a very beginning, never at our own initiative, we have been receptive and we have negotiated with maximum respect and clarity with everybody, accepting that the player wants to leave and that we should find the best suitable solution.

Kahn knew his chances of getting Rubio this season were slim, but it was his job to make a serious effort since Rubio indicated he would be interested in joining the Wolves immediately.  In a teleconference after Rubio reneged Kahn revealed his plan and the process:

On the night of the draft, I explained that the decision to draft Ricky was not difficult – that he was 18, the youngest player in the draft, and we were a building team that could wait for him. Nothing has changed. When we received signals from Ricky this summer that he was considering accelerating his path to the NBA and joining us sooner, we threw ourselves into this process willingly and energetically, including meeting with Joventut on four separate occasions.

Kahn clearly felt emotionally burned after putting so much time and effort into bringing Rubio to the states.  Still, Kahn would not throw his asset under the front wheels of the bus. Based on Kahn’s statement alone it is difficult to tell whether he actually thought Rubio was just a kid under pressure, a business Decepticon using the Wolves or just an outright liar:

"On Saturday night, an agreement was reached between Dan Fegan, the agent for Ricky Rubio, Jordi Villacampa, the president of Joventut Badalona, and myself on behalf of the Minnesota Timberwolves to buy out the last two years of Ricky´s contract with Joventut so that he could play in the NBA next season.

While the term sheet was being finalized Monday night, Ricky informed me that, despite considering us his first option the previous weekend – and, admittedly, after some back and forth throughout the summer — he preferred to stay at home to play for FC Barcelona, which earlier this summer had made a buyout offer to Joventut. He also reaffirmed that it was his intention to join us in Minnesota two years from now when he will be 20.

Statements attributed to Rubio don’t help clarify whether his true position is to avoid the Timberwolves and the Minnesota cold at all costs or to really play for Rambis as Jonny Flynn’s and Ramon Session’s back-up in two years.  He seems to talk out of both sides of his mouth, in two languages to two different audiences.

Immediately after his change of heart, Rubio released the following statement:

"The reason leading me to take this next step is to have a period of preparation to better take the challenge of the NBA in better conditions as a player. The Minnesota Timberwolves continue to be my first option and I wish to play with them in the near future."

Later, when speaking to the spanish press, Rubio indicated that he had several reasons for not joining the Wolves, at least one of which contradicted Kahn’s and DKV Joventut’s statements:

"Going to Minnesota would have just complicated my life a lot. It was a risk and I didn’t see it so clearly," Rubio said. "My priority was the NBA and it was impossible for the Minnesota Timberwolves to pay my buyout clause, so I wanted to stay home."

Marca.com reported that Rubio really wanted to stay connected to home at this point and that he wanted to develop as a player and win trophies, which was less likely in Minnesota.  But, the American press quoted him as saying “I won’t lie, My objective has always been the NBA.”

A wise old Latina woman once said, if you must start the sentence off with “’I won’t lie,’ you’re probably hiding something.” For Knicks fans, it is easy to imagine, with the help of those who need camouflage for poor planning (i.e., the Knicks), that Rubio will find a way not to play in Minnesota in two years.  The NBA is clearly not his objective this year, nor is Minnesota.  So wisely, Walsh has immediately placed his marketing chips back on the Rubio table.

While he knows that a lot can happen in two years – like the Knicks could have a settled backcourt, Sessions could get traded to make room for Rubio, or Kahn could trade Rubio’s rights for a 2010 first rounder –  Walsh can make sure the Knicks are in a position to help Rubio help him, if that becomes an option.  For now, Walsh will have two years to monitor the situation and to constantly call his protégé with new trade proposals.

But one must remember that this is not football or futbol.  The business-game is NBA basketball shortly before an anticipated Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) fight. NBA history suggests that Kahn is in a superior position to Rubio and Walsh and that he may have played this situation perfectly. 

  

Next: Kahn’s Move For Rubio – A Classic Gambit

Previous Related Posts:

Did Rubio Con A Kahn or Was Minnie Marburied Again? Part 1 of 3

Chapter One Of Rubio Buyout Story Coming To A Close

Timberwolves GM Refutes Story Of Rubio Contract: “No Team in any league has reached a deal.”

Rubio Reportedly Will Sign Six-Year Contract With Regal Barcelona

Fanatics Pre-Draft Scouting Report: Ricky Rubio

IS BRANDON JENNINGS PLAYING THE MEDIA (AND US) WITH RUBIO DISS?

Brandon Jennings says F*ck the Knicks and Chris Duhon Ain’t Gettin it Done

Did Rubio Con A Kahn or Was Minnie Marburied Again? Part 1 of 3

In the immortal words of that famous redhead, Lucille Ball: "Ahhhhh Ricky."

Has the latest episode in the Ricky Rubio Show earned the child-star the nickname of "Tricky Ricky” for not being completely honest?  Or for Minnesota fans is he just the 2.0 European version of a young Stephon Marbury?

Shortly before the ides of March in 1999, the Minnesota Timberwolves traded a discontent Stephon Marbury to the New Jersey Nets in an eight player deal.  A few weeks earlier Marbury turned 22. The previous two years, the Wolves, with a young Marbury and a rising star in Kevin Garnett, had become a formidable and promising one-two punch.  In 96-97, Garnett, Marbury and co-star Tom Gugliotta led the Timberwolves to the playoffs for the franchise’s first post-season appearance ever.  In 97-98, with “Googs” lost for much of the season, the Wolves made the playoffs again with an even better regular season record. 

The Wolves thought their future was set until after they gave Garnett a whooping $126 million deal which peeved league owners and Commissioner Stern, helped precipitate the lockout of 1998-99 and angered star Gugliotta, who signed a six-year deal with the Suns at the end of the lock-out.  The shortened season had just started when the Wolves traded Marbury,  who rejected a $70.8 million maximum contract extension, to the Nets. At the time, Marbury refused to extend his contract with Minnesota , in significant part, because the New York City kid did not care for what he perceived as lily-mid-western-white, boring Minnesota and he preferred to be closer to home and friends. Marbury was roundly criticized for being selfish, egocentric and childish for breaking up a winning combination so he could be home with mommy.

Here we are ten years later and Minnesota gets rejected again by another young point guard who claims he would rather be around family and friends than bundled up in a mink coat battling the climate of the North Star State.  In fact, Rubio had intended to move to the U.S. with his mom, dad and sister until he found out he was bound for Minnie.  On draft night, he could not be found for the Timberwolves’ post-draft press conference and when the press caught up with him one of the first things he said was that his mom may not care much for living near Brett Favre and the Vikings, and “It’s too cold,” in Minnesota.

Unlike the maligned young Marbury, outside of Minnie, Rubio is being hailed by some as a patient young kid who knows how to wield power to get what he wants. And according to some opinion-pushers and pimps, Rubio’s sidekick, Timberwolves new President of Basketball Operations David Kahn, who he kicked to the curb in this drama, was duped and embarrassed by the man-child looking for the promised land. (See stories 1. Scores Report; 2. Fanhouse (Kahn/Failure); 3. Dime (A Summer of Discombobulation); and 4. CBS Sports (Kahn/Clown, Rubio/Good)). 

But as usual, when examined closely, little seems to match up with conventional wisdom and blogosphere opinionating.

Next: Part 2 – Tricky Ricky’s Math Magic Miscalculation

Previous Related Posts:

Chapter One Of Rubio Buyout Story Coming To A Close

Timberwolves GM Refutes Story Of Rubio Contract: “No Team in any league has reached a deal.”

Rubio Reportedly Will Sign Six-Year Contract With Regal Barcelona

Fanatics Pre-Draft Scouting Report: Ricky Rubio

IS BRANDON JENNINGS PLAYING THE MEDIA (AND US) WITH RUBIO DISS?

Brandon Jennings says F*ck the Knicks and Chris Duhon Ain’t Gettin it Done