The Minnesota Timberwolves have acquired a lot of new players this off-season but they sent away better players. Gone are Mike Miller, Randy Foye, Sebastian Telfair, Craig Smith, Etan Thomas, Quentin Richardson, Kevin Ollie, Shelden Williams and Mark Madsen. One might say that the Timberwolves’ front office wasn’t exactly breaking up the 1980’s Boston Celtics but they just didn’t get much talent in return for those guys. The five players the T-Wolves got back in trades are nothing more than a collection of decent bench players (Darius Songaila, Oleksiy Pecherov, Chucky Atkins, Damien Wilkins and Mark Blount). The Wolves also sign F/C Ryan Hollins in free agency and they have re-signed guard Bobby Brown. In the NBA Draft the T-Wolves made a huge mistake in selecting Ricky Rubio. After all, Rubio sucked in the Olympics so what made the Wolves think he could compete in the NBA? They did add Jonny Flynn (PG) and Wayne Ellington (SG) who could be solid players for the Timberwolves. The Wolves also selected PF Henk Norel.

OFF-SEASON GRADE FOR THE FRONT OFFICE SO FAR: D-

Ricky Rubio, the Minnesota Timberwolves 5^th pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, has decided to continue his basketball career in Spain for at least the next two years.  The 19-year-old Spaniard who has been compared to great guards such as “Pistol” Pete Maravich and Steve Nash, agreed to a six year deal with Regal FC Barcelona after the club paid a $5 million buyout to Rubio’s former team DKV Joventut.  The deal with Barcelona also includes a buyout clause; however Rubio cannot exercise that clause for two years.  Rubio has stated he wants to be in the NBA and intends to head there as soon as his buyout clause is available. 

This news came as a surprise to many, but it probably came as a bigger surprise to Minnesota Timberwolves President David Kahn who had been traveling back and forth to Spain and seemingly rapped up a deal with Rubio to become the point guard for the Timberwolves.  This agreement happened only two days before the point guard changed his mind and decided to stay in Spain.

 Kahn tried his best to attract the phenom to Minnesota, yet the NBA limited what the Timberwolves could do financially.  NBA rules prevented the Timberwolves from being able to pay Rubio’s buyout clause from DKV Joventut as the highest offer they could make was $500,000.  What Kahn did have to offer was a number of endorsements, sponsorships, and the fame that comes with being an NBA attraction but it was not enough to keep the talented young point guard from leaving his home country.  This will most likely hurt the Timberwolves’ win column as well as their ticket sales this year, yet they do have another young talented point guard in former Syracuse Orange guard Jonny Flynn, whom they selected right behind Rubio at the 6^th spot in the 2009 NBA draft.