According to a report from ESPN’s Marc Stein Monday morning, despite having dealt Kris Dunn and recently acquiring Jimmy Butler from the Chicago Bulls, the T’Wolves are still trying to trade Ricky Rubio to acquire more shooting power.
League sources say Minnesota, in the wake of the Jimmy Butler deal, remains intent on trading Ricky Rubio as it searches for more shooting.
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 26, 2017
While in some ways Rubio seems like the perfect point guard to feed and put the T’Wolves trio of potential 20 point per game scorers in positions to score on the offensive end and be the defensive point guard, the team needs to be better than they were last season on the defensive end. Combining Rubio’s inability to shoot with Butler’s average at best three-point shooting and Andrew Wiggins below average three-point shooting could lead to some spacing issues for the new and improved Wolves.
Shooting has always been the Achilles heel for Rubio and what has prevented him from being able to become the elite point guard he has the potential to be with his passing ability and quality defensive effort and instincts.
His $29 million in salary over the next two seasons is definitely reasonable and manageable for a team that is in the market for a starting-caliber point guard to direct their offense.
Possibly a Rubio for Danny Green swap could make some sense if the Spurs are unable to acquire Chris Paul or George Hill.
Rubio has been on and off the block for a while now, we’ll see if he is still in a T’Wolves uniform come October.
