Rubio may stay in Spain according to his father

[Bankshot]

It's not fair for the top prospects to refuse to play for bad teams or bad franchises.  The whole point of the draft is for teams that have a losing history or are in a bad place at the time to try to improve themselves outside of trading away their current assets.

I posted my feelings on this in another thread:

"Honestly it makes me kind of angry that these players "refuse" to play in certain places.  I understand that for Rubio it's partially motivated by money - he really needed to be picked top 3 to get the kind of money he needs to pay off his buyout.  But besides that, I don't know who these NBA prospects think they are, acting like they have the right to pick and choose where they do and do not want to play.

I think it was Hasheem Thabeet who was saying during an interview that he's just thankful to be blessed enough to get to play in the NBA, regardless of where he's playing.  That's the attitude that these kids should have.  They are blessed.  They should play whereever they have a chance to play.  It's not their right to complain about whether they like the place they are going to or not and then threaten to refuse.

"Oh the weather is cold." "It's not a big market."  "The franchise has a losing history."

Get over it.  In ten years when you're rolling in mountains of cash and you have your face on posters in the bedrooms of children all over America you can turn up the heat all you want."

I'm with you on this one. I'm sick and tired of these kids refusing to play for certain teams after being drafted.  They lucky to be in the NBA in the first place.  Play your 3 years and if you still don't want to play for that team, then leave.

[Vermont Green]

an extended dispute with a high profile player with a no-nonsense agent is only going to go from bad to worse.

so IMO it depends on what Rubio is really wanting to do. If it's about the buyout, then Minnesota could definitely wait a year or two. If it's about not wanting to play for them, then they're going to have to trade him...

Ricky has two choices right now and no agent can change that.  He can play for Minni, or go back and play in Europe.  OK, maybe he has others like not playing at all but realistically, those are his choices.

If he goes back to Europe to play for 1 year, whether it is because of geography or buyouts, how does that make it any different for Minni?  If he plays one year in Europe and actually plays, gets better as would be expected, and grows up a year, wouldn't he be an even more valuable trade commodity?  How about after 2 years in Europe when he is now a sage old 20?  If he develops as expected, at that point he would be more valuable in terms of talent than the #1 pick in the regular draft and scaled to get paid less.

If I am Minni, I say fine, go play in Europe for 2 years and then we will trade you to NY or come play for us if by then you have gotten over yourself enough.  No way I trade him now unless someone blows me away.

[winsomme]

an extended dispute with a high profile player with a no-nonsense agent is only going to go from bad to worse.

so IMO it depends on what Rubio is really wanting to do. If it's about the buyout, then Minnesota could definitely wait a year or two. If it's about not wanting to play for them, then they're going to have to trade him...

Ricky has two choices right now and no agent can change that.  He can play for Minni, or go back and play in Europe.  OK, maybe he has others like not playing at all but realistically, those are his choices.

If he goes back to Europe to play for 1 year, whether it is because of geography or buyouts, how does that make it any different for Minni?  If he plays one year in Europe and actually plays, gets better as would be expected, and grows up a year, wouldn't he be an even more valuable trade commodity?  How about after 2 years in Europe when he is now a sage old 20?  If he develops as expected, at that point he would be more valuable in terms of talent than the #1 pick in the regular draft and scaled to get paid less.

If I am Minni, I say fine, go play in Europe for 2 years and then we will trade you to NY or come play for us if by then you have gotten over yourself enough.  No way I trade him now unless someone blows me away.

I think you are underestimating Dan Fegan. IMO if Rubio wants out of Minny, he'll get traded...

[Vermont Green]

I think you are underestimating Dan Fegan. IMO if Rubio wants out of Minny, he'll get traded...
[/quote]

With what bargaining leverage will Fegan get him out of Minni.  All he can do is threaten to go back to Europe and in my opinion and based on the quotes by the GM, that does not hurt Minni in any way or force their hand in any way.

The worst he could do is say OK, fine, I am going to come and play so you have to pay me to sit on the bench and pout until you trade me.

[BrickJames]

I'm convinced Minny drafted Rubio with the sole intention of trading him anyway, but we'll see.

[Vermont Green]

I'm convinced Minny drafted Rubio with the sole intention of trading him anyway, but we'll see.

I for one don't disagree but I just think it will be later rather than sooner.  I think they will get more for him if he plays for a year in Europe and actually improves.  Of course if you think he is over hyped then maybe you do trade him sooner.

Another bad scenario for Minni is he plays in Europe and has a career threatening injury.

Short of a career threatening injury or total talent bust showing up in the next year or 2 while playing in Europe, I don't see how waiting and trading is bad for Minni.  I just get the sense that Minni is going to let this play out for 1 or 2 years just as the GM said.  You do that if you feel he is going to get better and his value is going up.

[winsomme]

I think you are underestimating Dan Fegan. IMO if Rubio wants out of Minny, he'll get traded...

With what bargaining leverage will Fegan get him out of Minni.  All he can do is threaten to go back to Europe and in my opinion and based on the quotes by the GM, that does not hurt Minni in any way or force their hand in any way.

The worst he could do is say OK, fine, I am going to come and play so you have to pay me to sit on the bench and pout until you trade me.

how did Eli Manning find his way to the New York Giants.....you raise hell and say you will never play for the team that picked you.

It only works with high profile players who have power player agents, but it usually works if the will is there.

question: does Minny lose his draft rights after a certain amount of years if he doesn't come over?

[Vermont Green]

how did Eli Manning find his way to the New York Giants.....you raise hell and say you will never play for the team that picked you.

It only works with high profile players who have power player agents, but it usually works if the will is there.

question: does Minny lose his draft rights after a certain amount of years if he doesn't come over?

I don't believe playing chicken with Kahn will provide any benefit to Rubio.  Minni is happy to let him play for 2 years in Europe and get better and grow up.  He'll only be worth more in a trade at that time.  You have a point that it worked for Manning and also for John Elway but I don't see that working here.

If this does result in a near term trade, and maybe it will, it will be on the Wolves terms.  They are not going to be pushed into a bad trade.  They appear to have every intention of letting him stay in Europe if that is what he wants (and may even prefer it to having him on the roster right away).  Really, the best thing for everyone is for Rubio to play a couple more years in Europe.  It is best for him and will probably be the best for the Wolves unless he suffers a career threatening injury.

[timepiece33]

I think you are underestimating Dan Fegan. IMO if Rubio wants out of Minny, he'll get traded...

With what bargaining leverage will Fegan get him out of Minni.  All he can do is threaten to go back to Europe and in my opinion and based on the quotes by the GM, that does not hurt Minni in any way or force their hand in any way.

The worst he could do is say OK, fine, I am going to come and play so you have to pay me to sit on the bench and pout until you trade me.

how did Eli Manning find his way to the New York Giants.....you raise hell and say you will never play for the team that picked you.

It only works with high profile players who have power player agents, but it usually works if the will is there.

question: does Minny lose his draft rights after a certain amount of years if he doesn't come over?

Unlike the NFL, I don't believe that the T-Wolves lose his rights if he goes Fran Vasquez on them.   The interesting thing is Vasquez wants to play in Orlando this year, but is having trouble negotiating a buyout.