Rubio signed!

[mrhockey89]

Not a slam dunk, but a good, necessary move. The alternative choice of letting him become an RFA could have been disastrous. He definitely would have been severely overpaid, and then I suspect we would have ended up letting him go.

You simply have to roll the dice with a player that can both lead the league in steals and assists, and is slowly showing signs of an improving jump shot. Also, knowing he will be around long term it should be easier for him to embrace a leadership role. Overall, this was the right move.

I'm feeling a big game for him tomorrow night!

I am glad we got him locked up, and it is unlikely the amount will matter, but I didn't see any chance of him getting anything more than we offered in RFA. Too many teams already have their PG position locked up.

I honestly think either the Lakers or Knicks would have made a run at Rubio had we not extended him when we did.

[mrhockey89]

Money aside, I love that Ricky genuinely wants to be in Minnesota. Said it's second home. He wants to be the leader here. He mentioned how a lot of the guys want to win badly. Keeping him in MN was huge for this team's future. If nothing else, he won't be a regretful signing. Examples include: Brandon Jennings, Eric Gordon, Josh Smith, etc. Even if Ricky doesn't reach his ceiling, he'll still be productive. Also, he's going to have a big impact on the development of our prized prospects. That's a positive thing.

Last point: Not only did the Wolves show that they believe in Rubio, Rubio showed that he believes in this team's future. He didn't have to sign back here.

Completely agree with you on this Camden, specifically on the point that at worst case he's not going to be a signing like Jennings where we're left holding the bag hoping he can become a smart basketball player. Ricky's always been very high basketball IQ, as I typed that, he just picked the Bulls pocket in help defense on a steal.

[TheGrey08]

Again, all of ur arguments for signing him regardless of his play on the court smells a lot like Joe Mauer. The twins aren't winning and attendance for the twins is going down . Rubio has to become more than a singles hitter and be the reason the team is winning games. He couldn't do that with a top 5 player on the team.

You can't simply compare the MLB and the NBA in that regard. Way different rosters sizes, no cap vs a soft cap, etc. Even if you try to compare, Rubio is already more than just a singles hitter. He facilitates, runs the offense, is a team leader and a good defender & rebounder at his position.

Mauer was more valuable as a catcher with his D and pitch calling. His salary was based a lot on what he had already done up to that point and what the market was going to be. Rubio is also much younger than Mauer was when he cashed in too. Rubio will never be anything, but a PG which is where his value is.

[Papalrep]

The Grey wrote-

Mauer was more valuable as a catcher with his D and pitch calling. --- man that's the truth

His salary was based a lot on what he had already done up to that point and what the market was going to be. --

This makes me think of Pek. If the Wolves have a big contract that becomes an albatross, like Mauer's has, it'll be Pek's, not Ricky's

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

The Grey wrote-

Mauer was more valuable as a catcher with his D and pitch calling. --- man that's the truth

His salary was based a lot on what he had already done up to that point and what the market was going to be. --

This makes me think of Pek. If the Wolves have a big contract that becomes an albatross, like Mauer's has, it'll be Pek's, not Ricky's

Both Pek and Rubio's contracts will only look better with time, as the cap escalates and their salaries as a % of the cap decreases.

[Lipoli390]

Money aside, I love that Ricky genuinely wants to be in Minnesota. Said it's second home. He wants to be the leader here. He mentioned how a lot of the guys want to win badly. Keeping him in MN was huge for this team's future. If nothing else, he won't be a regretful signing. Examples include: Brandon Jennings, Eric Gordon, Josh Smith, etc. Even if Ricky doesn't reach his ceiling, he'll still be productive. Also, he's going to have a big impact on the development of our prized prospects. That's a positive thing.

Last point: Not only did the Wolves show that they believe in Rubio, Rubio showed that he believes in this team's future. He didn't have to sign back here.

Excellent post, Cam! I agree completely.

[Monster]

The Grey wrote-

Mauer was more valuable as a catcher with his D and pitch calling. --- man that's the truth

His salary was based a lot on what he had already done up to that point and what the market was going to be. --

This makes me think of Pek. If the Wolves have a big contract that becomes an albatross, like Mauer's has, it'll be Pek's, not Ricky's

People do forget Mauer likely could have gotten more $$$ if he had left. When he signed his contract there was nowhere near the catching depth there has been in the league that started soon after which made him really valuable at the time and less so as that position became really amazing. The Twins have said they would have spent more the last 2 years if people would have taken the money so I'm not sure his contract as far as money is as big of a deal as people think it is. This isn't the penny pinching Twins we are used to.

Pek's deal will be a problem basically if he is one of those bigs that can't play anymore. That's a legit concern but you gotta take some risks.

I like the take on Rubio compared to Jennings. I actually thought Jennings deal with Detroit was kinda reasonable and I'll give him props for improving his passing but we saw in the Detrit game the dude is a knucklehead. He pushed 2 Wolves players on purpose in the back and DJ outplayed him. I'm just not a fan of the guy he can play but he is flawed and I'd way rather have Rubio's flaws and pay him more than have Jennings I've seen enough of him to make a judgement. SVG may have a chance of improving his game but not holding my breath. I'd rather see rubio brick 3-6 shots a game than Jennings 8-10 or whatever it is.

[Lipoli390]

http://www.awolfamongwolves.com/2014/10/ricky-rubio-gets-contract-extension-for-four-years-55-million-plus/

Fabulous article justifying the Rubio deal. The author takes a balanced view, documenting Rubio's shortcomings and acknowledging that he is probably not a top 15 PG right now. But at the end of the day he concludes what I conclude...that this was a necessary and fair deal.

While I believe the deal is justified by the numbers (or perhaps, the projected numbers) alone, you can't value Rubio without considering his enormous box office value. Unlike our recently departed former superstar, he never makes a PR mistake. Almost every time Love opened his mouth, he made me like him less. Ricky is just the opposite. His allegiance to the team and city we love sounds sincere, and makes him a very lovable face of the franchise. Just read his quotes about how he felt about his airport greeting over three years ago. Ricky will always play hard, be an extraordinary teammate, make the occasional jaw dropping play, continue to improve, and represent the team well publicly. He is the opposite of Love, and someone that we had to retain at any price. Fortunately, we have him now for 5 years at a price not much more than what Kemba Walker is getting, and at a price that will sound like grand theft larceny for the Wolves in two years. Bravo to Flip and Glen.

Good article. Thanks for posting. However, I will take issue with the author's doubt about whether Ricky is a top 15 NBA PG. I heard the same nonsense from Dan Barriero the other day. You mean to tell me that in a League of 30 teams, half of them have a better starting PG than Ricky!!?? That's ridiculous. 15 PGs better than the PG who was 2nd among his peers last season in steals, 5th in assists and 5th in rebounding? What are people smoking these days? The most important stat for a PG - the team's quarterback -- is assists and Ricky was 5th in that category.

I can think of 3 PGs immediately who everyone would quickly acknowledge are definitely better than Ricky -- Chris Paul, Stephen Curry, and Tony Parker. I could see possibly ranking as many as 7 others ahead of Ricky -- Mike Conley, John Wall, Kyle Lowry, Ty Lawson, Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard and Kemba Walker. You might add Dragic if you consider him a PG. But I'm not so sure more than a few of these clearly merit being ranked ahead of Ricky. Bottom line Is that even the most expansive view of PGs considered better than Ricky does not push Ricky out of the top 15. In fact, I'd put him in the top 10.

And I haven't even mentioned Ricky's potential or his leadership.

[kekgeek]

http://www.awolfamongwolves.com/2014/10/ricky-rubio-gets-contract-extension-for-four-years-55-million-plus/

Fabulous article justifying the Rubio deal. The author takes a balanced view, documenting Rubio's shortcomings and acknowledging that he is probably not a top 15 PG right now. But at the end of the day he concludes what I conclude...that this was a necessary and fair deal.

While I believe the deal is justified by the numbers (or perhaps, the projected numbers) alone, you can't value Rubio without considering his enormous box office value. Unlike our recently departed former superstar, he never makes a PR mistake. Almost every time Love opened his mouth, he made me like him less. Ricky is just the opposite. His allegiance to the team and city we love sounds sincere, and makes him a very lovable face of the franchise. Just read his quotes about how he felt about his airport greeting over three years ago. Ricky will always play hard, be an extraordinary teammate, make the occasional jaw dropping play, continue to improve, and represent the team well publicly. He is the opposite of Love, and someone that we had to retain at any price. Fortunately, we have him now for 5 years at a price not much more than what Kemba Walker is getting, and at a price that will sound like grand theft larceny for the Wolves in two years. Bravo to Flip and Glen.

Good article. Thanks for posting. However, I will take issue with the author's doubt about whether Ricky is a top 15 NBA PG. I heard the same nonsense from Dan Barriero the other day. You mean to tell me that in a League of 30 teams, half of them have a better starting PG than Ricky!!?? That's ridiculous. 15 PGs better than the PG who was 2nd among his peers last season in steals, 5th in assists and 5th in rebounding? What are people smoking these days? The most important stat for a PG - the team's quarterback -- is assists and Ricky was 5th in that category.

I can think of 3 PGs immediately who everyone would quickly acknowledge are definitely better than Ricky -- Chris Paul, Stephen Curry, and Tony Parker. I could see possibly ranking as many as 7 others ahead of Ricky -- Mike Conley, John Wall, Kyle Lowry, Ty Lawson, Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard and Kemba Walker. You might add Dragic if you consider him a PG. But I'm not so sure more than a few of these clearly merit being ranked ahead of Ricky. Bottom line Is that even the most expansive view of PGs considered better than Ricky does not push Ricky out of the top 15. In fact, I'd put him in the top 10.

And I haven't even mentioned Ricky's potential or his leadership.

IMO he is way better than Kemba look at Kemba stats he is almost as bad of a shooter as Rubio is, and Rubio is superior in every other aspect IMO. I think Dragic is better though you also forgot Rose and Westbrook, I think Rubio, Teague,Conley, Lawson and Holiday are all in the same class, so I would rank him somewhere between 10th-14th in the league, me personally would have him 12th

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Kek and lip, I tend to agree with you when it comes to valuing Rubio...I usually have him somewhere in the 10-12 range, with potential to be much higher. But there has to be a lot of homerism involved in our rankings, because they are at odds with almost any national ranking you can find. I just spent 15 minutes looking at various PG rankings, and couldn't find any that rank Ricky in the top 15. Here's just one example:

http://dimemag.com/2014/10/ranking-the-top-20-point-guards-in-the-nba/

I think our relatively higher valuation is due to two factors:

1)We aren't acknowledging that PG is the deepest position in the NBA. The 15th ranked PG is a very good player, while the 15th ranked SG is not.

2) We tend to overvalue peripheral stats like steals, and undervalue more core stats like scoring and shooting.

I am a huge Ricky fan and am glad we have him locked up for 5 more years, but he is not going to crack the top 15 until he improves his scoring and shooting. And I think that happens this year. Ricky will add 4-5 PPG to his scoring merely by getting to the line more frequently and continuing to show the improvement he has already shown in his jump shot (I'm not as optimistic about his ability to finish better around the rim). By the time he gets to the end of the contract he just signed, I expect him to be a top 5 PG, and if so, Flip and Glen will look like geniuses.