David Kahn “live” on Rubio
Posted on September 1st, 2009 – 2:42 PMBy Jerry Zgoda
David Kahn just spoke to reporters from Spain on a teleconference call.
Here are some of the highlights:
* He called the multi-faceted offer — a complex combination of Rubio’s future endorsement money, future earnings and the offer of Wolves exhibition games in Spain among other items — that he presented to DKV Joventut smalller than the $5.3 Regal Barcelona paid for Rubio’s right.
But he termed it “competitive enough” and said Joventut preferred it over the Regal Barcelona offer because that team is its cross-town rival and because of the prestige Rubio’s departure to the NBA would have brought the club.
He said the decision was strictly Rubio’s preference and said he sensed Rubio felt mounting pressure from friends, family and countrymen to stay in Spain and maybe he and his family were anxious about him leaving home at age 18 for the United States and the NBA.
* He said Rubio’s new buyout clause starting in 2011 is 1 million euros (currently about $1.4 million US dollars) as opposed to the $8.1 million written in Rubio’s last contract. He said this time it’s small enough where it won’t be obstacle.
“I have nothing but his word that he wants to come,” Kahn said when about Rubio ever playing for the Wolves. “He doesn’t have to.”
* He said he was obviously “disappointment” by Rubio’s change of heart and said he knew the matter wasn’t resolved even after he struck a deal with Joventut Saturday night. “Even Saturday night, it wasn’t a feeling of celebration where we believed it was all done,” he said. “I felt even after we finished the term sheets (on Monday) there were still some needs to resolve.”
* He said he could not foresee the future when asked if Rubio will ever play in Minnesota and said, “We still own the rights to Ricky and that’s still a significant thing to have.”
And he said he does not regret drafting Rubio fifth overall in June.
“Not at all,” Kahn said. “He’s 18. No matter what our circumstances are two years from now, I believe that was the highest and best value pick we could have made the way things developed that night.”
* He said he told Rubio Tuesday morning that he will now be two years behind Jonny Flynn in his development after Kahn had predicted Rubio would likely be considered the team’s starting point guard entering training camp if he had signed now. “There are so many things that could happen in the next two years that you couldn’t even pretend to predict,” Kahn said. “I don’t want to start hypothesizing.”
* He said he will return to Minnesota Wednesday and immediately turn his attention to the team’s roster, which now needs at least one more point guard. He called Flynn the team’s projected starter entering camp and said he wasn’t sure if Bobby Brown would be on the roster.
“We do need to address that situation and find a quality backup to Jonny,” he said. “There could be a lot of changes at that position still to come between now and training camp.”
UPDATE: Rubio was introduced by his new team in Barcelona today and said going to Minnesota would have “complicated” his life significantly and called it a “risky” move. He also said he didn’t see the Timberwolves as a team where he could grow as a player and win championships.
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.



