Ricky Rubio

[RiRuHoops]

Is this OUR version of Lebron going back to Cleveland?

More like Nash coming back to Phoenix to lead Amare.

[KGdaBom]

Is this OUR version of Lebron going back to Cleveland?

More like Nash coming back to Phoenix to lead Amare.

I like it.

[shangrila]

Theoretically trading for Rubio wouldn't cost us Johnson.

If we renounce everyone, according to TradeNBA, we'd have just under 13mil of capspace. Toss Spellman, Evans and Nowell in and that would get us to 18.3, enough to take in Rubio's contract. And while I might need to verify with shrink I think we'd get some kind of exception even after using capspace, which might be enough to re-sign Juancho.

This is assuming we don't want or don't care about the rest, which would mean Beasley's legal issues are serious and that we don't want to spend on McLaughlin to be essentially a 3rd string PG. It probably won't happen, as trading JJ is far simpler, but it's an interesting option. JJ+Rubio as veteran leaders could go a long way for us.

[shrink]

Are KG and Rubio the two most beloved Wolves?

Is anyone else in the conversation?

Zach, maybe? KAT is a beast and so was Love, Idk if they are loved like Ricky and KG were or even close to it.

Psychologists years ago to try to find the #1 characteristic that led to attraction. Was it beauty? Brains? Strength? Sexuality? Morals? Shared interest? A sense of humor?

They discovered that the #1 characteristic was ... they liked you back.

I never had any doubts Garnett and Rubio loved Minnesota, and that’s probably why I put those two on a completely different tier.

[Domejandro]

Theoretically trading for Rubio wouldn't cost us Johnson.

If we renounce everyone, according to TradeNBA, we'd have just under 13mil of capspace. Toss Spellman, Evans and Nowell in and that would get us to 18.3, enough to take in Rubio's contract. And while I might need to verify with shrink I think we'd get some kind of exception even after using capspace, which might be enough to re-sign Juancho.

This is assuming we don't want or don't care about the rest, which would mean Beasley's legal issues are serious and that we don't want to spend on McLaughlin to be essentially a 3rd string PG. It probably won't happen, as trading JJ is far simpler, but it's an interesting option. JJ+Rubio as veteran leaders could go a long way for us.

That is actually intriguing, is renouncing all of our RFA’s and losing our MLE + BAE worth retaining the flexibility (and on the court impact) of James Johnson? Honestly, given the amount of teams that have the MLE this year, maybe.

I will check the numbers later, but it seems possible. Losing Beasley really blows, but that may happen regardless.

[shangrila]

Theoretically trading for Rubio wouldn't cost us Johnson.

If we renounce everyone, according to TradeNBA, we'd have just under 13mil of capspace. Toss Spellman, Evans and Nowell in and that would get us to 18.3, enough to take in Rubio's contract. And while I might need to verify with shrink I think we'd get some kind of exception even after using capspace, which might be enough to re-sign Juancho.

This is assuming we don't want or don't care about the rest, which would mean Beasley's legal issues are serious and that we don't want to spend on McLaughlin to be essentially a 3rd string PG. It probably won't happen, as trading JJ is far simpler, but it's an interesting option. JJ+Rubio as veteran leaders could go a long way for us.

That is actually intriguing, is renouncing all of our RFA’s and losing our MLE + BAE worth retaining the flexibility (and on the court impact) of James Johnson? Honestly, given the amount of teams that have the MLE this year, maybe.

I will check the numbers later, but it seems possible. Losing Beasley really blows, but that may happen regardless.

I had two thoughts after this post;

1. Do picks have cap holds? That could be a wrench in the works.
2. Is a Gallinari (or other) S&T then possible? EDIT- Or Wood

[shrink]

You could ask for a better guy to run the second unit we have. Edwards will learn so much from him and get so many easy buckets.

This is a really good point. I had only thought about how Rubio compliments DLo, but the truth is, he is one of the NBA’s best complimentary players, regardless of who you pair him with, and the numbers bear that out. He’ll play defense for DLo and Beasley, and his passing will make the game easier for Edwards. We took the least-skilled of the top three prospects, and Rubio could help him maximize those jaw-dropping physical skills faster.

[Domejandro]

Theoretically trading for Rubio wouldn't cost us Johnson.

If we renounce everyone, according to TradeNBA, we'd have just under 13mil of capspace. Toss Spellman, Evans and Nowell in and that would get us to 18.3, enough to take in Rubio's contract. And while I might need to verify with shrink I think we'd get some kind of exception even after using capspace, which might be enough to re-sign Juancho.

This is assuming we don't want or don't care about the rest, which would mean Beasley's legal issues are serious and that we don't want to spend on McLaughlin to be essentially a 3rd string PG. It probably won't happen, as trading JJ is far simpler, but it's an interesting option. JJ+Rubio as veteran leaders could go a long way for us.

That is actually intriguing, is renouncing all of our RFA’s and losing our MLE + BAE worth retaining the flexibility (and on the court impact) of James Johnson? Honestly, given the amount of teams that have the MLE this year, maybe.

I will check the numbers later, but it seems possible. Losing Beasley really blows, but that may happen regardless.

I had two thoughts after this post;

1. Do picks have cap holds? That could be a wrench in the works.
2. Is a Gallinari (or other) S&T then possible?

1. Picks do not have cap-holds, they are salary neutral until you sign them.
2. Players would have to agree to sign here, but technically yes, as long as we stay below the hard cap (which we almost certainly would).

[shrink]

[EDIT: my next two posts are pretty boring stuff about the CBA, but I‘LAL leave them here because I think a few people might find them interesting. Feel free to skip them if you just want to revel in the return of Rubio!]

Theoretically trading for Rubio wouldn't cost us Johnson.

If we renounce everyone, according to TradeNBA, we'd have just under 13mil of capspace. Toss Spellman, Evans and Nowell in and that would get us to 18.3, enough to take in Rubio's contract. And while I might need to verify with shrink I think we'd get some kind of exception even after using capspace, which might be enough to re-sign Juancho.

This is assuming we don't want or don't care about the rest, which would mean Beasley's legal issues are serious and that we don't want to spend on McLaughlin to be essentially a 3rd string PG. It probably won't happen, as trading JJ is far simpler, but it's an interesting option. JJ+Rubio as veteran leaders could go a long way for us.

This seems reasonable, and I have seen other websites that have us making free agent plays using out cap space. I haven’t done the math - I will say many places forget that your team will carry roster holds at the minimum salary to get your team to 13 players.

Realistically though, we will want to act as an over-the-cap team. The CBA is designed to give teams two separate choices - either dive far under the salary cap and improve your team with cap space, or spend so you have a higher team payroll, closer to the lux (or over it, if you don’t care about the taxes). To make this an either/or choice, if you go under the lux, the CBA is designed to delay the time it takes for your team to add additional salary. For example, if you look at the way teams add salary:

1. Exceptions: If you create cap space under the cap to sign free agents, you may have to waive your exceptions (to the cap)
2. Trades: salary matching restrict to 125%, or $5 mil more, depending on the size of the deal.
3. Free Agents: you used up your cap space and exceptions, so the only exception you have left are vet mins.

Most teams, including MIN, will try to keep a total payroll just under the lux to maximize the money for talent.

[shrink]

I should add that as I see MIN, it seems to me that finding matching salary to trade is a bigger issue cutting salary to get under the lux. MIN is very constrained right now, with two max deals we won’t trade, $16 for Johnson, $7 for Culver, and then $3.5 for Layman. Once Johnson is gone (as he probably is here for a Rubio), we don’t have the matching salary if a good player becomes available in trade.

I see two consequences to this:

1. Part of the reason we gave up #24 for Beasley and Hermangomez is that we can add whatever salary we want to them since they are our RFA’s. I expect we will offer Beasley a $5 mil qualifying offer, and perhaps one for Hermangomez as well.

2. We owe Jacob Evans $2 mil, and we have a roster crunch to get down to 15 players, especially after last night. Ordinarily you’d just waive Evans, but that’s $2 mil in dead money. I proposed a trade on the Trade Board last month that went like this:

Spellman ($2) + Evans ($2) for Mike Scott ($5) and a future 2nd.

For PHI, it saved them $1 mil in the tax, and they might want to keep a cheap Spellman in the future. For us, we pay $1 mil for a future 2nd, cut our roster down a spot without waiving, but more importantly, we have a $5 mil piece of salary to use, in case a trade comes along. Scott could actually play a little here too.

3. Combining those two, $5 mil for each of three expirings (Scott, Hermangomez QO, Beasley QO, even if he is in jail), could be appealing to a team with a two year deal and free agent dreams next summer. We won’t be a FA destination, so we can add an asset by taking on a salary for next year.

Overall, I think we will see this Rubio trade eventually use Johnson. However, an aggressive trader like Rosas will need to develop other salary matching pieces if that salary is locked into Rubio, and Rubio is staying.

[Klomp]

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[Klomp]

Something worth considering.....has Rubio ever played with this type of floor spacing? DeAndre Ayton doesn't space the floor. Rudy Gobert doesn't space the floor. Gorgui Dieng didn't space the floor when he started next to Towns or when he split time at center with Pekovic. In Spain, he's usually playing with the Gasol brothers.

[shrink]

Something worth considering.....has Rubio ever played with this type of floor spacing? DeAndre Ayton doesn't space the floor. Rudy Gobert doesn't space the floor. Gorgui Dieng didn't space the floor when he started next to Towns or when he split time at center with Pekovic. In Spain, he's usually playing with the Gasol brothers.

Good point. I generally think of three point shooting widening lanes to drive, but they also widen lanes to pass, and leaving fewer defenders underneath once that pass is completed.

Expect lots of Edwards dunks.

[Klomp]

Something worth considering.....has Rubio ever played with this type of floor spacing? DeAndre Ayton doesn't space the floor. Rudy Gobert doesn't space the floor. Gorgui Dieng didn't space the floor when he started next to Towns or when he split time at center with Pekovic. In Spain, he's usually playing with the Gasol brothers.

As an addendum....

Ricky has been on two teams to finish top-10 in 3-point attempts per game:

2011-12: 6th (21.6)
2018-19: 9th (34.0)

[Baseline81]

Theoretically trading for Rubio wouldn't cost us Johnson.

If we renounce everyone, according to TradeNBA, we'd have just under 13mil of capspace. Toss Spellman, Evans and Nowell in and that would get us to 18.3, enough to take in Rubio's contract. And while I might need to verify with shrink I think we'd get some kind of exception even after using capspace, which might be enough to re-sign Juancho.

This is assuming we don't want or don't care about the rest, which would mean Beasley's legal issues are serious and that we don't want to spend on McLaughlin to be essentially a 3rd string PG. It probably won't happen, as trading JJ is far simpler, but it's an interesting option. JJ+Rubio as veteran leaders could go a long way for us.

According to ESPN, Johnson was included in the trade for Rubio.

[thinktank]

Something worth considering.....has Rubio ever played with this type of floor spacing? DeAndre Ayton doesn't space the floor. Rudy Gobert doesn't space the floor. Gorgui Dieng didn't space the floor when he started next to Towns or when he split time at center with Pekovic. In Spain, he's usually playing with the Gasol brothers.

Hi Klomp. What exactly do you mean by "this type of floor spacing"?

When I look at our roster I see KAT, Beasley, and Jauncho, but I don't see too much other spacing (Dlo at ~35% 3FG%).

[Klomp]

Something worth considering.....has Rubio ever played with this type of floor spacing? DeAndre Ayton doesn't space the floor. Rudy Gobert doesn't space the floor. Gorgui Dieng didn't space the floor when he started next to Towns or when he split time at center with Pekovic. In Spain, he's usually playing with the Gasol brothers.

Hi Klomp. What exactly do you mean by "this type of floor spacing"?

When I look at our roster I see KAT, Beasley, and Jauncho, but I don't see too much other spacing (Dlo at ~35% 3FG%).

No bigs clogging the lane

[younggunsmn]

1. Picks do not have cap-holds, they are salary neutral until you sign them.
2. Players would have to agree to sign here, but technically yes, as long as we stay below the hard cap (which we almost certainly would).

Unsigned 1st round picks do indeed have cap holds.
They count against your cap @ 100% of the rookie scale (nearly all sign for the max 120%), but count as zero for salary matching in trades until they sign their contract. I think edwards number is somewhere around 9.7 million.

There is an option for "stashed" players under contract overseas where they can sign an affidavit that they are not going to come over that year, and then you maintain their rights but you lose their cap hold for that league year.

[younggunsmn]

Something worth considering.....has Rubio ever played with this type of floor spacing? DeAndre Ayton doesn't space the floor. Rudy Gobert doesn't space the floor. Gorgui Dieng didn't space the floor when he started next to Towns or when he split time at center with Pekovic. In Spain, he's usually playing with the Gasol brothers.

Good point. I generally think of three point shooting widening lanes to drive, but they also widen lanes to pass, and leaving fewer defenders underneath once that pass is completed.

Expect lots of Edwards dunks.

Ideally you want one guy with the ball, 3 spacing, and 1 pick partner lob/finishing threat.
The pick game with the finishing threat collapses the defense to create shots for the spacers,
and the pick game with a pop/spacing threat can create easy shots for a finishing threat.

Rubio excels at this game, and the better he can shoot the harder it will be to defend.
Part of what made Utah so successful was that ingles and rubio were both so good at running it,
and if we can get rubio, russell, and Edwards all adept at it, we will be very hard to defend.

[younggunsmn]

I should add that as I see MIN, it seems to me that finding matching salary to trade is a bigger issue cutting salary to get under the lux. MIN is very constrained right now, with two max deals we won’t trade, $16 for Johnson, $7 for Culver, and then $3.5 for Layman. Once Johnson is gone (as he probably is here for a Rubio), we don’t have the matching salary if a good player becomes available in trade.

We have the opportunity to create a big TPE with a Beasley or Juancho sign and trade (although prospect of that looking less and less likely).
Not as good as a salary match, but could be useful to generate an asset for taking salary, or to add a player.

We do keep Johnson's large salary slot open by taking on Rubio's 2 year deal, but shame on us if we trade him away yet again.