Ricky Rubio Finally Decides to Play for the Timberwolves

It's official, the Spaniard point guard from Catalonia will finally be playing basketball in the NBA next season. Rubio was picked 5th overall in the 2009 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves after he was expected to be picked 2nd or 3rd by the Memphis Grizzlies or Sacramento Kings, respectively.

Memphis' pick, Hasheem Thabeet, has proven to be a big-time draft bust, being sent to the D-League in his first year, and being traded to the Houston Rockets, then sent to the D-League again, although he was later recalled. Sacramento's pick, Tyreke Evans, won Rookie of the Year and has proven to be a great addition for the Kings, despite their drama in where they may or may not be playing in the future.

Rubio chose to stay in the Liga ACB after he was traded by his at-the-time team, DKV Joventut, to FC Barcelona Basquét, former team of the Gasol brothers. The same day, he signed a 6-year contract with Barcelona, causing many in Minneapolis to feel that the day Rubio would come to the NBA was going to be later, rather than sooner. The worries were well-founded, since the Timberwolves have gone on to consistently be the worst team in the NBA while failing to capture the #1 pick 2 years in a row. Many felt that Rubio would not want to join the Timberwolves, being that they are such an awful team, not in a large big-name metropolitan city, and their coach, Kurt Rambis, was not reciprocating results that he had as a player and assistant coach for the Lakers.

Nevertheless, Rubio has chosen to play for the Timberwolves for reasons known only to him right now. The Timberwolves have the 2nd overall pick for the 2011 NBA Draft and prior to this announcement, it was speculated that the Timberwolves were going to trade away their draft pick to Cleveland in exchange for the #4 pick. With today's news, that move seems a lot more likely since the Wolves will have less reason to use that #2 pick in the draft.