But as this mysterious serial now stretches into its third full month, a question still remains:
Is this really, truly it?
Timberwolves basketball boss David Kahn — in Spain since late last week working to obtain Rubio’s release from his DKV Joventut team — remained mum on the subject Monday night.
A league source tells me there’s plenty of talk floating that the Knicks again are pushing hard to deal for Rubio — probably with an assist from agent Dan Fegan — and there’s word of a Rubio for restricted free agent David Lee, Nate Robinson and a No. 1 pick deal.
That’d give the Wolves three power forward types, wouldn’t it? But with David Kahn, anything could be possible.
Of course, the Wolves would have to give back some sizable salaries to make the deal work (with the Knicks signing and then trading Lee), but they do have Brian Cardinal and Mark Blount, to name two contracts that total $14 million plus.
Three very trustworthy sources, however, shot down the rumor, which involved unsigned restricted free agents David Lee and Nate Robinson going to Minnesota along with a future first-rounder in a package for Rubio’s rights.
Despite some obvious last-minute desperation by Rubio’s camp to make something happen that would free Rubio to make the jump to the NBA this season, one source said the Knicks rumor was “way off” and indicated that Timberwolves GM David Kahn would be inclined to wait at least a season before he felt he had to make a decision on what to do with Rubio (this also gives him a year to watch Jonny Flynn and see what he has in him).
Kahn is quickly becoming the most mysterious executive in the NBA, tearing a page straight from the book written by his mentor, Donnie Walsh. He is humorless and needs to brush up on his people skills — despite the fact that he’s a former member of the media. (Maybe this explains why he is a former member.) But I’ll give him credit for this much: It took a certain amount of gumption to welcome a controversy like this with the very first and most important decision of his regime. Whether it ultimately works out or not is very much an unknown. Say Kahn is in over his head if you want; you might ultimately be correct. But I have no problem giving Kahn credit for being unafraid of Fegan and all the contractual entanglements that came with Rubio. Enjoy Barcelona, Ricky. See you in 2011.
Either way, the Timberwolves have ample time to figure out how to best manage their assets as opposed to trying to juggle the development of both players this year. It may not be the outcome that impatient fans in Minnesota were hoping for, but in the long run, Monday’s news is probably for the best.
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