NBA Rumors: Minnesota Timberwolves Trading Ricky Rubio Elsewhere

NBA rumors have been swirling around Ricky Rubio. The Minnesota Timberwolves have just hired Tom Thibodeau to be their new head coach and president of basketball operations. According to SB Nation, the former Chicago Bulls head coach will now have to decide if he believes Rubio is part of the future. The Timberwolves almost shipped him off to the Milwaukee Bucks in February. Thibodeau has a very young and promising roster.

Many people believe Tom Thibodeau will be making some big changes to the roster this summer. Ricky Rubio is one of the biggest question mark for the team. His biggest strength is that he is a pass-first point guard that is also a good defender. Since Rubio came into the NBA, he was never a consistent shooter. That is his biggest weakness. This season, he averaged 10.1 points, 8.6 assists, and 4.3 rebounds per game. Even though he averaged 10 points, he was shooting 37 percent from the field and 32 percent from the three point line.

Tom Thibodeau has coached many different point guards in his career. Ricky Rubio is not like the point guards he has coached. Rubio can potentially be a triple double player. He should remind you of a player who Thibodeau coached with the Boston Celtics. Rajon Rondo wasn’t a great shooter by any means. That didn’t stop the Celtics from winning an NBA Championship. Thibodeau can do the same with Rubio running the point.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have good defensive talents on their roster. What the team is lacking is three point shooting. The team as a whole were shooting 33.8 percent from beyond the arc. The Timberwolves’ best three-point shooters were Zach LaVine and Nemanja Bjelica. LaVine shot 38.9 percent and Bjelica shot 38.4 percent from the three point line. Minnesota does most of their damage inside the arc. The team made almost 50 percent from inside the three point line.

Two years ago, the Cleveland Cavaliers selected Andrew Wiggins with the first overall pick in the NBA Draft. After the draft, there was a three team trade that sent Wiggins to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Timberwolves traded Kevin Love for Wiggins, Anthony Bennett, and Thaddeus Young. His first season with Minnesota he averaged 16.9 points, 2.1 assists, and 4.6 rebounds per game. Wiggins has shown he can be a star in the National Basketball Association.

Last summer, the Minnesota Timberwolves selected Karl Anthony Towns with the first overall pick in the NBA Draft. He is the ideal modern National Basketball Association big man. Towns has the size, athleticism, shooting, and is a rim protector. Towns showed that he is a versatile big man who can handle the ball. He won the NBA Skills Challenge during the All Star weekend. This season, Towns averaged 18.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game. He is projected to win the Rookie of the Year award this year.

There will be several teams that might be interested in trading for Ricky Rubio. One team that have been interested in him is the New York Knicks. Earlier this season, they tried to acquire Rubio to run their offense. Unfortunately for the Knicks, they didn’t have enough assets to get the interest of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Another team that has been linked is the Chicago Bulls. After the season ended, the Bulls GM said that anything could happen, including trading away superstar Jimmy Butler. When Tom Thibodeau signed on to coach the team, many believe he would go after Butler.

Tom Thibodeau will have a tough decision to make this upcoming summer. Ricky Rubio has shown flashes of his potential. Thibodeau could be the coach that could get the best out of him. He did it when he was coaching the Chicago Bulls.