Newsletter Sunday: Wolves open camp and preseason, podcast appearance and retire Ricky Rubio's number?
Derek is back with a new pre-preseason edition of the newsletter on a variety of Timberwolves topics.
By Derek James is a weekly newsletter about all things professional basketball— from the NBA, WNBA and everything in between. Each week, Derek James will provide you analysis and commentary on the league through nearly decade of covering the leagues. Please subscribe for regular updates.
Can you believe that the NBA season is officially here? The Timberwolves will tip-off their preseason on October 4 against Miami and turn around to play Los Angeles (L) on October 6.
Two games in three days in the preseason? Yeah, I don’t know about that either. Zooming a little further out, the Wolves will play five games in 10 days, which also feels unnecessary. Whatever, they’ll have five days off between their final preseason game and the season opener against the Thunder.
I can’t imagine the team will be practicing often between those games. This seems mostly fine as Rudy Gobert has been present in training camp, so the games should serve as extra reps for both Gobert and his new teammates to get more familiar. What will be interesting is Gobert’s front court mate, Karl-Anthony Towns missed the start of training camp with illness. Listening to the Hoop Collective podcast, it sounds like Gobert and Towns have not had much contact yet with Gobert being traded for in the offseason and then playing for France up until media day.
Despite the bad timing, Towns and Gobert should eventually get on the same page. Gobert reiterated his excitement for playing with another dominant big at media day and it’s likely Towns has the same appetite. Having all these games in a short amount of time could really force them to get familiar fast before the regular season opener.
Hopefully Towns can be good-to-go for the first preseason game so he and Gobert can catch up. This is just the beginning of one of the most anticipated seasons in Timberwolves history.
More Season Preview Content
For the fourth-consecutive season, I was fortunate enough to join Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale on the Hardwood Knocks podcast. We discussed all things Timberwolves from the summer and our look ahead to the season. Give it a watch below or listen on your favorite podcast streaming service.
Should the Timberwolves retire Ricky Rubio’s number?
This was brought on by absolutely nothing, but was an interesting random thought that popped into my head. Let’s dig in.
Minnesota drafted Rubio with the fifth-overall pick in 2009 and played two more seasons in Spain before arriving in the NBA. His arrival was so electric and the team was vying for a playoff spot in late March before a knee injury ended his season. Despite the disappointing ending to his rookie season, the passing and defensive skills were apparent.
Health
The first argument against Rubio could be his health. Rubio missed 25 games in each of his first two NBA seasons, but would play all 82 in Year 3. Unfortunately, Rubio would play just 22 games the next season. After four seasons, Rubio had played 202 out of 312 possible games. To put it another way, he missed one-third of his first four seasons.
I don’t believe Rubio was injury prone. It’s not like he kept hurting the same body part. First it was a knee, I believe, but then early in one of those seasons, he landed on his arm and missed time with the subsequent injury. The counter here could be that he was just unfortunate and that he missed only 13 games combined in the following two seasons before his trade to Utah. Even when Rubio returned, he remained mostly healthy.
Team Success
As beloved as Rubio was, that fan adoration was not derived from thrilling playoff moments. In fact, the Timberwolves never had a winning record with Rubio on the team. The team won 40 games with Rubio in 2014, Kevin Love’s final Minnesota season, which is the most wins the team saw with him at the helm.
There were certainly challenges of having a point guard who struggled to score from nearly everywhere. Rubio struggled at the rim and teams gleefully let him hoist 3-pointers. Every year, Rubio would get a hot hand for a couple weeks before regressing back to his usual progression.
The effects of his offensive deficiencies were noticeable, particular in late-game situations. Teams would double the Wolves’ best scoring option and dare Rubio to beat him. While Rubio would still have a moment or two, the crunch time offense often sputtered.
Putting this squarely on Rubio’s shoulders is difficult. Rubio worked consistently during and after seasons to improve his shot. What was always weird to me was how the Timberwolves drafted Rubio so high but never treated him like it by building around him. Finding shooters isn’t easy, but the team never consistently surrounded Rubio with the players to make them pay for helping off him.
Instead, Rubio spent years on the trade block as the subject of constant trade rumors. No matter who ran the front office, it felt like Rubio was seen as a stop gap point guard instead of a part of the core. But when you have a stop gap, you usually wind up with some sort of player of the future at the position.
The Timberwolves transitioned to late-career Jeff Teague — whom I will argue had a strong first season in Minnesota — and Derrick Rose (couldn’t play more than 25 minutes per game for extended stretches) before landing D’Angelo Russell. It’s not like they kept Rubio around until the point guard they drafted was ready for the job. Rubio was the point guard of the future…until he wasn’t.
(You could argue the mistakes the Timberwolves made across multiple front offices are a convincing argument for why Steph Curry would not have been the same in Minnesota.)
Player Success
Rubio has had a great career even if it’s not what we may have envisioned when he was drafted. No one has an 11-year career or persisted through as many setbacks as Rubio has on accident.
Currently, Rubio has made no award teams (All-NBA or All-Defensive) or even at all-star team. You also have to remember this was a fantastic era for point guards in the NBA, even Mike Conley struggled to make an all-star team. The Timberwolves’ lack of success certainly didn’t enhance Rubio’s status in the league.
As for what he did for the team, Rubio did leave a mark. He currently ranks among all-time Timberwolves:
Eighth in games played with 421
Seventh in minutes played even after missing all those games early
Ninth in 3-point makes
Seventh in free throws made and attempted
Ninth in defensive rebounds
Second to Kevin Garnett in assists, nearly 1,500 up on third place Pooh Richardson
Second to Garnett in steals
Second in triple doubles
Rubio may not have the accolades and awards, but he is an all-time player in team history. It is amusing his 4,235 points are 80 shy of J.R. Rider for 10th all-time in team history despite ranking top 10 for things like 3-point makes. Otherwise, you have a good overview of Rubio as a player: not a big scorer but a good rebounder for his position and an offensive/defensive playmaker.
Fan Favorite
Whether you were a fan of Rubio or not, Timberwolves fans have loved few players more. Teague faced intense scrutiny for having to replace him and were upset when he was traded away the second time. The 2021 Timberwolves were so terrible, it should have been seen as an act of mercy instead of an offense.
If you’ve ever spoken to a Timberwolves fan, you know I don’t need to say more here.
So, should they?
If Rubio retires before the team can get Garnett’s jersey in the rafters, they should consider it. Personally, I wouldn’t be upset either way but think Rubio was a fine player for the team. I might have wanted to see a little more from the team with Rubio on the team, but it wouldn’t be outrageous either if they retired it. No.9 is generally not a very popular number and Rubio is far and away the best player to don it in team history.