21-year old rookie point guard Ricky Rubio is proving to be worth the wait for the Timberwolves. He has played in 8 games (0 starts) for the T-Wolves so far this year and he is averaging 28.1 minutes, 9.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 7.6 assists and 1.1 steals per game. He is shooting 48.3% from the floor and 50% (7 of 14) from three point range so far this year. Rubio is proving to be a big time clutch player too as he has been making big shots late in games. The T-Wolves are very excited about Ricky Rubio’s play right now and his potential for the future.

The Timberwolves bought 27-year old shooting guard Tanguy Ngombo from the Trailblazers last night. The Blazers used the 57th overall pick on Ngombo last night. Ngombo is a 6′6″, 204 pound shooting guard out of Qatar, Africa. Ngombo played in 7 games in the Asian Club Championship last year and he averaged 32.9 minutes, 16.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. With the revelation earlier today that Ngombo is really 27 years old instead of 21 years old, it’s not looking like the T-Wolves did good background work on him.

The Minnesota Timberwolves acquired 21-year old, 6′5″, 200 pound shooting guard Malcolm Lee from the Bulls as part of a draft day deal with them. Lee was picked 43rd overall last night. Lee played in 33 games for UCLA last night and he averaged 33.1 minutes, 13.1 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. Lee played in 94 games in his three years in college and he averaged 26.7 minutes, 9.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. Lee will try to fight for playing time at shooting guard, where the Timberwolves are pretty deep.

UPDATE: (12/30/2011) - The Timberwolves will be without Malcolm Lee for about the next six weeks as he had surgery today to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee.

The Minnesota Timberwolves took 20-year old forward Derrick Williams out of Arizona with the 2nd overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft last night. Williams is 6′8″, 241 pounds and he can handle playing either forward slot. Williams played in 38 games at Arizona last year and he averaged 30.0 minutes, 19.5 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.0 steal per game. He also hit 42 of 74 three point shots last year (56.8%) which lends creedence to playing Williams at small forward. Williams played in 69 games in his two years in college and he averaged 29.2 minutes, 17.8 points, 7.7 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. This was a great pick for the T-Wolves as Williams should make a nice tandem at forward for the T-Wolves with Kevin Love. I look for the Timberwolves to deal last year’s starting small forward Michael Beasley before the 2011-12 starts.

The Minnesota Timberwolves dealt 22-year old point guard Jonny Flynn along with power forward Donatas Motiejunas (#20 pick overall last night) out of Lithuania to the Houston Rockets for 35-year old center Brad Miller, forward Nikola Mirotic (#23 overall pick who was later dealt to the Bulls), #38 overall pick (power forward Chandler Parsons) and a future first round pick. Flynn played in 53 games (8 starts) for the T-Wolves last year and he averaged 18.5 minutes, 5.3 points, 1.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. Flynn played in 134 games (89 starts) in his two years with Minnesota and he averaged 24.8 minutes, 10.2 points, 2.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. Flynn became expendable after Ricky Rubio decided to come to the States.

35-year old center Brad Miller had microfracture surgery recently so he probably won’t be ready to start the 2011-12 season on time. Miller played in 60 games (5 starts) for the Rockets and he averaged 16.9 minutes, 6.4 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. He has now played in 853 games (597 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 28.6 minutes, 11.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. The T-Wolves needed a veteran big man, even if they have to wait a little bit for them.

UPDATE: (6/27/2011) - After getting a good look at Jonny Flynn’s hip, the Rockets wanted another second round pick from the T-Wolves to accept this deal. So the Timberwolves sent the Rockets an additional future second round pick to make the deal go through.