The Knicks weren’t able to land Ricky Rubio on Draft Night but that hasn’t stopped GM Donnie Walsh from dreaming about acquiring the Spanish sensation via a trade.
Minnesota GM David Kahn, a Walsh protege, drafted four point guards in Thursday’s draft – Rubio, Jonny Flynn of Syracuse, Ty Lawson of North Carolina and Nick Calathes of Florida. He traded Lawson to Denver and Calathes to Dallas, but kept both Rubio and Flynn with hopes of playing Flynn now and Rubio later.
“‘There is such a thing as drafting assets. I don’t know if that is what he’s doing,’ Walsh said, according to ESPN.com.
“‘I haven’t spoken to Minnesota, I will,’ Walsh said. ‘I don’t know what’s going on there. He took a lot of point guards, and I want to ask him, ‘Why did you do that?’”
Kahn told Mike & Mike In the Morning that he had no intentions of trading Rubio, but it remains to be seen where Rubio ultimately winds up. He was not present for Minnesota’s introductory news conference Friday.
“In two years Ricky Rubio will be all of 20 years old and we are the rare team right now that can afford to wait,” Kahn said. “Our horizon is three, four years out. We know that. We’re not going to win an NBA championship in the next couple of years.”
Rubio’s father, Esteve, told a Spanish Website that his son could spend another year or two in Europe and may or may not play for Minnesota.
“Right now Ricky is likely staying in Europe one or two years,” the father said. He added: “We have to talk to the people in Minnesota and see what happens” and “we could be in Minnesota or somewhere else.”
If Rubio lands in Minnesota, Wolves forward Kevin Love, a Los Angeles native and the nephew of Beach Boy Mike Love, says he’ll have him singing surfer tunes in no time.
“I can have Rubio wanting to join our Olympic team,” Love tweeted…”Better yet I will have him singing ‘I wish they all could be californiaaaaa girrrrrlls.'”
FOR MORE ON THE KNICKS & THE DRAFT:
Read about the tough greeting Knicks fans gave first-round pick Jordan Hill here.
And read here about how the Knicks dealt for Darko Milicic.
The Big East had 9 players taken last night. Read the story here.
