RUBIO THE SAVIOR IS BACK HOME

Well, well, well.  The 2020 NBA draft has concluded, and the Timberwolves have some new faces and possibly a very, very familiar one too.

Let me start by saying……RICKYYYYYYYY RUBIOOOOOOOO.  Damn, that felt good to say again.  So, as you all may have heard, our favorite Spanish Adonis/ Point Guard is back in town.  We traded the 17th pick to the Thunder for Ricky, the 25th and 28th pick, which is a great fucking deal! 

Now, some people (fake Wolves fans) are saying, “how exactly does this help us, why are we trading for a backup PG getting 16 mil a year, blah blah blah”.  First off, shut up.  If you are a true, diehard Wolves fan you know how much this means to us FANS. Ricky Rubio was the light at the end of the tunnel, the Spanish Savior, or whatever you may have called him at one point.  As a Wolves fan that got into the team heavily during the start of the Kevin Love era, Ricky was one of the first guys who was supposed to be Minnesota’s “savior”.  

Now that didn’t necessarily happen, but that doesn’t mean Ricky didn’t excel in his time here.  The second he stepped foot in MN he was adored by fans. He just had that razzle-dazzle that, frankly, Wolves fans haven’t seen in quite some time.  

Something about him was so entertaining.  Whether that be his charming, model-like looks, his always happy personality, or his wizard-like dimes, he was just flat out fun to watch and cheer for.  We all know it didn’t end up working out in the long run (fuck you Thibs) but it’s looking like things are coming full circle and Ricky is back where he is loved and belongs.  

Now if that didn’t make draft night for you and you are still mad at decisions the team made…I don’t know what to tell you.  You have to be a sad, sad soul with negativity filling your heart at all times because this was HAPPY/GOOD NEWS! At this moment I don’t even care about the fit, the money, or frankly anything.  All I know is Ricky is back and I’m going to enjoy it until he proves me otherwise. As Ricky once said, “Change this face, be happy, enjoy it!”

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THE NUMBER 1 PICK

Sadly overshadowed by Ricky Rubio coming home, we selected Anthony Edwards number 1.  This isn’t really shocking at the end of the day, but with all the uncertainty that swirled around the top pick, I can’t say this was a guarantee. We didn’t end up making that big trade and I think it was because we flat out didn’t have the assets. It also could have been the fact that there wasn’t really a ton of realistic options out there for us to pursue during the draft. Could something still happen down the line?  Of course, but for now it looks like Edwards will be on this team going forward.

Was Edwards a Good Pick?

What do I truly think about this pick? I can live with it, if we were going to pick at 1 I was pretty split between him and Ball. Either way, I would have been fine with it. He’s a 19-year-old who has a lot of room to grow, but the potential is sky high. He will need to mature some, engage more, and continue to learn if he wants to reach that potential but I have faith he can get there if he truly wants it.

What I wasn’t a fan of was the article (that literally came out the day before the draft) about Edwards. He did a sit down interview and as most interviewers do, they ask questions and try to get you to bite on something and twist your words.

They were talking to him about football and basketball because Edwards’s first true love was football. He thought that’s the sport he would play and he said he enjoyed watching football more than basketball. They made it seem he doesn’t enjoy watching basketball at all and that he doesn’t even like basketball. Sure, I guess it could be true, but I absolutely do not believe he would say that the night before the draft.

The day after the draft he was on the “Jump” on ESPN and clarified what he meant. He went on saying something along the lines that he enjoys watching football more as a fan because it was his first love and that he still loves watching basketball too. He also said he loves the game and will put in the work it takes at the next level. We will have many years to see what version of Edwards we get.

He has gotten so much unwarranted slander too just because of that and the fact that he has been compared to……. Andrew Wiggins, a face we know all too well. As a Wolves fan, that is about 100 times more sickening to hear than just about any other name because we had to deal with his shit for years. I just don’t think it’s fair at all to be saying he will be a bust and to call him Wiggins 2.0 already. It has only been a few fucking days since the draft!!!!! Take a damn chill pill people. The kid hasn’t even been on the team for more than a few days and he’s already getting trashed, that’s just not fair. If he ends up like Wiggins come tell me I’m dumb, I can live with being wrong.

Personally I prefer Edwards to Wiggins and the reasoning is simple. Andrew Wiggins grew up with wealthy parents who were former athletes. He had a silver spoon in his mouth since day 1 and was maybe the softest, most weak minded player I’ve watched. Anthony Edwards grew up with his dad leaving, his mom and grandma dying early on in his life in a relatively short span of time from one another. He has had to work his ass off from an early age just to survive, on top of working hard in the court and field. He didn’t even start playing basketball until he was a sophomore and he accomplished being the number one pick in a handful of years after taking basketball seriously. To me that’s the guy you bet on, the dog, the guy that has had to grind his ass off to get to where he is. I just like his odds to succeed more than the type of guy that Wiggins was.

We most likely have years to find out what Edwards truly will be, so it might take some time to see how this all panned out, but I think it will be a super interesting journey along the way.

Overall these were the two main highlights of draft night. We also selected Jaden McDaniels and Leandro Bolmaro late in. the first round. I won’t talk too much about them right now, but maybe in the future.

We have about a month until the season starts and the excitement is picking up. For now, it will be speculation of what this lineup may look like until free agency concludes and we have our squad for the upcoming year. Until then, sit back, relax, and just be excited that once again the Timberwolves will at least be a fun team this year.

I’ll talk to you guys again soon maybe when we start filling out the roster more and have an idea about what the roster looks like. For now, Go Wolves and WELCOME HOME RICKY RUBIO. BREAK THOSE NUMBER 9 JERSEYS OUT.