Wolves Updates 9/1 Part 3

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.”

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. …