After being drafted fifth overall in 2009, Ricky Rubio was anointed as a savior for the Minnesota Timberwolves. He didn’t come stateside until the 2011-12 season, adding to the mystery. But his six seasons in Minnesota were marked by some missed time to injury, failure to develop an outside shot and unmet expectations.
But this is 2020, and Rubio is coming back. On draft night, the Timberwolves acquired Rubio and the No. 25 and No. 28 picks from the Oklahoma City Thunder for the No. 17 pick. On a night the Timberwolves had the No. 1 overall pick and took Anthony Edwards, the re-acquisition of Rubio was at least an equal headline locally.
Rubio spent last season with the Phoenix Suns, and he was included in the deal that sent Chris Paul from Oklahoma City to Phoenix. But a 30-year old point guard with two years and nearly $35 million left on his contract doesn’t have much place in the Thunder’s rebuild.
How Does Ricky Rubio Fit This Time Around?
The Timberwolves added a co-star for Karl-Anthony Towns when they acquired D’Angelo Russell last season. The idea of adding a third star has seemed possible, but many of those ships seem to have sailed.
To go with his lack of 3-point shooting prowess (31.5 percent), Rubio was notably lackluster (weak) finishing around the basket in his first go-around with the Timberwolves. He’s simply not an explosive athlete, but a litany of blown layups was frustrating to go with his brick-laying from outside the arc. There’s only so much elite instincts and great passing ability can cover up on the offensive end.
Rubio Has Changed His Game
In Rubio’s first season with the Utah Jazz (2017-18), he improved to over 35 percent from 3-point range with an uptick in volume (3.5 attempts per game). He dipped again in 2018-19 with the Jazz (31.1 percent; on a career-high 3.7 3-point attempts per game).
Then, something re-clicked last season in Phoenix. Rubio made a career-best 36.1 percent from beyond the arc, with a small pull-back in volume (3.3 attempts per game). His overall field goal percentage (41.5 percent) was the second best of his career, as he averaged 13.0 points per game (second-best of his career) and 8.8 assists per game (tied for third in the league).
Last season with the Suns, 25.8 percent of Rubio’s field goal attempts were catch-and-shoot attempts (per NBA.com). Most of those (23.3 percent of his overall shot attempts) were from 3-point range (2.4 attempts per game) and he made 41 percent of them. #knockdownshooter
As evidenced by everything above, Rubio is a different and better player than he was 4-5 years ago. Maybe he got better coaching on his outside shot. He has probably been happier too, as he and former Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau seemed to have a hate-hate relationship.
Purely with his passing and good defense, Rubio delivered positive value during his first stint with the Timberwolves. He doesn’t dominate the ball the way someone like James Harden does, which makes him a fit alongside Russell. Russell could shift off the ball more alongside Rubio too, which would make the Timberwolves’ offense all the more dangerous.
Visions of Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, Jrue Holiday and the like have been dancing in the heads of Timberwolves’ fans. But the re-acquisition of Ricky Rubio has brought plenty of buzz, and he might be a better fit than those bigger names.
