Ricky Rubio must consider himself an optimist.
Few things call for more glass-half-empty takes than the relationship between Kevin Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves. It’s awful. If it wasn’t bad before this season, it’s in shambles now, with Love 13 months from free agency and the Timberwolves 10 years removed from their last playoff berth.
After failing to make the postseason yet again, it’s become clear Love wants out. Not next summer either. Now.
Rubio isn’t ready to write Love’s Minnesota-based obituary, though. While speaking with NBC Sports’ Brett Pollakoff, the Timberwolves’ starting point man wouldn’t rule out a complete misunderstanding. And if by some chance reports are true—spoiler: they are—he most definitely didn’t rule out appealing to the romantic in Love:
That brings us back to Love. Rubio hasn’t spoken to his teammate about his reported trade request or his upcoming free agent decision, but plans to do so soon. If the reports are true, however, and that’s the way Love is leaning, then Rubio would try to convince him to stay — even though he knows that could be a very difficult process.
“It’s hard to convince someone who wants to leave,” Rubio said. “But I don’t know if he wants to leave or not; that’s the media. So I want to know his opinion. And it’s something that I don’t know yet, so I don’t know what to say to him. But of course, if I talked to him I’d say that I love to play with him and we can do great things tougher.”
Not to diminish Rubio’s charm, but no conversation is going to work. If Love was a single lady looking for, well, love, then maybe Rubio’s practiced school-boy smile is enough to make Love swoon and melt and bend to the Spaniard’s will.
But Love isn’t a woman. He’s a bearded All-Star that has yet to make the playoffs. Six years of lottery appearances and losing records has been gnawing at him. His ties to the Timberwolves are irreparable.
Convincing Love to stay was always going to be a challenge. Making the playoffs this past season would be the jumping point, the foundation on which the Timberwolves could build their sales pitch. Failure wasn’t an option.
They failed anyway.
Holding onto to Love, or trying to sell him on a future in Minnesota, makes no difference now. There is nothing the Timberwolves can realistically do or say. Even if they kept him and made the playoffs next year, it wouldn’t be enough. One postseason appearance isn’t enough. Love needed to see sustained success, a sign that the Timberwolves were going to stay in the playoff picture as they toed the line of contention.
There is nothing the Timberwolves can show him now. Nothing they can do or sling.
Nothing Rubio can say.
Next summer, if Love is still in Minnesota, he’s going to walk. It’s on the Timberwolves to trade him first, before he leaves them with a vat of broken dreams and bungled expectations, and nothing—no draft picks, no prospects—to show for their six-plus wasted years.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com.
