Did Failed Eric Bledsoe Bid Show Timberwolves Are Open to Trading Ricky Rubio?
Ricky Rubio's future is dependent on any number of things, not the least of which is the Minnesota Timberwolves' failed bid for Eric Bledsoe that, if successful, may or may not have come at the Spaniard's expense.
Yes, this is all just as puzzling as it sounds.
Months into a contractual deadlock that made it appear Bledsoe and the Phoenix Suns reached an insurmountable impasse, the point guard agreed to a fancy five-year, $70 million contract, according to Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski.
Not long after, The Associated Press' Jon Krawczynski put a Rubio-related spin on Bledsoe's new deal:
"You can be sure Rubio's agents watching Bledsoe deal. Will definitely be brought up in future negotiations
— Jon Krawczynski (@APkrawczynski) September 24, 2014"
Those in charge of Rubio's negotiations will look at Bledsoe's pact for one of three reasons.
First and foremost, it can be used as market measurement.
Bledsoe and Rubio play the same position; they're both high-profile point guards. If Bledsoe was able to sniff max money at a time when talented point men are being devalued—Isaiah Thomas and Kyle Lowry, for instance—because of how common they are, Rubio's agents can argue that he, too, deserves something comparable.
A similar argument can be made in a different way as well.
Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com previously brought word that the Timberwolves were prepared to offer Bledsoe max money. That they swung and missed allows Rubio's camp to drum up his worth. The Timberwolves don't have a second franchise point guard waiting off to the side. This is their chance to lock up the lone cornerstone-caliber floor general they employ.
Third and finally—and perhaps most likely—Rubio's representatives can sit down, adjust their executive swivel chairs and stare into the eyes of head coach and president Flip Saunders before asking, "What gives?"
Interest in Bledsoe was and remains weird. Sure, he joined LeBron James and Kevin Durant as the only players to average at least 17.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists while shooting 47 percent or better from the floor last season. And yes, Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine, Thaddeus Young and Bledsoe exhibition dunk contests make too much sense. But Minnesota's intent, per Windhorst, was to give him four years and $63 million.
Something only smells fishy there because that's exactly what this is. Like CBS Sports' Zach Harper wrote:
"There are a few complications here. First and foremost, the Wolves don't have the necessary cap space to give Bledsoe this offer. Assuming the contract is structured similarly to Gordon Hayward's deal he signed with Charlotte only to have Utah match it, the starting salary would be $14.7 million for 2014-15. The Wolves are way over the cap and used part of their mid-level exception on Mo Williams this summer. They can offer Bledsoe the max all they want but unless Phoenix wants to execute a sign-and-trade, it's the same as me offering Bledsoe a max offer.
"
Unless the Timberwolves had some miraculously unprecedented plan to create cap space, Bledsoe only became attainable via sign-and-trade.
Never mind that Wojnarowski rained on this hypothetical parade days before Bledsoe put pen to paper on his new pact by revealing the Suns had no interest in entertaining such ideas. Landing Bledsoe would mean forfeiting incumbent talent—significant talent at that, given the Timberwolves' inability to absorb additional salary.
Wiggins wasn't about to become collateral damage. He's the centerpiece of the Timberwolves' Kevin Love deal. They didn't trade a top-10 star for a prospect with superstar potential just to flip him.
LaVine may not have been untouchable, but given his inexperience and rookie-scale salary, he wouldn't be headlining any Bledsoe package. Same goes for Anthony Bennett.
Some combination of Young, Kevin Martin, Corey Brewer also wouldn't get it done. Young is the most intriguing possibility there—he fits Phoenix's fast-paced style almost perfectly—but he can hit free agency next summer.
Nikola Pekovic wouldn't cut the mustard either. He's owed $47.8 million over the next four years, doesn't fit Phoenix's brand of basketball and protects the rim like George Costanza's hair did his forehead.
So that means...Rubio.
When the Bledsoe-Minnesota connection first became a thing, Paul Coro, writing for USA Today, indicated the Timberwolves would "likely" be willing to part with Rubio in any deal. It makes sense, since the Suns—even with the addition of Isaiah Thomas—would need another floor general to keep their point guard-packed movement going. And as crazy as it sounds, Rubio would hold more trade value than J.J. Barea.
Now, the Timberwolves can deny this. That's the luxury of a rumor never gaining serious traction: involved parties can pretend it never existed or put their own spin on things.
Instead of acknowledging a possible willingness to move Rubio, the Timberwolves can sell him on a botched vision—one in which he and Bledsoe were supposed to play together, side by side, carving up opposing defenses with ease, tossing Wiggins alley-oops in volume.
Except that smells equally fishy. Months-old sour cream-y, even.
Pairing Rubio with Bledsoe doesn't offer the same upside as Phoenix's Goran Dragic-Bledsoe coupling. Most of what makes that dyad successful—the Suns outscored opponents by 11 points per 100 possessions with both in the game—is a mutual ability to attack, score and play without the ball.
Three seasons deep into his NBA career, Rubio has proved crafty enough to slice through the heart of defenses and create open looks for his teammates. But he's passive as a shot-taker and cannot play off the ball; he has no range on his jumper and put in just 33.6 percent of his spot-up attempts last year, per Synergy Sports (subscription required).
Not even hiring a shooting coach—as Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune says the Timberwolves have done—changes the outlook. Watching Rubio and Bledsoe take charge of Minnesota's Kiddy Corps would be entertaining. Long term, though, it would be a stretch to pay both.
Successfully slinging otherwise to Rubio would only impact one side of this debate anyway. The Timberwolves can say whatever they want, but if the Suns were to have even considered trading Bledsoe to them, it would cost Rubio.
Two plus two equals four. Bledsoe for some combination of Pekovic, Martin, Brewer and picks doesn't equal a done deal. Rubio would have likely been part of any agreement.
And before you dismiss the Timberwolves trading him—he who, unlike Love, doesn't loathe Minnesota—consider Rubio's reported contract extension demands, per 1500ESPN.com's Darren Wolfson:
Right now, at this very moment, knowing how deep the point guard position remains, Rubio isn't worth a max deal. For the same reasons he's not the ideal complement to Bledsoe—chief among them being his incompleteness—he cannot be paid like a superstar.
"Rubio is a fine point guard," NBC Sports' Dan Feldman explained. "He’s a nifty passer and effective defender at a position where defense is lacking, but his inability to shoot from outside really limits his impact. He’s just 23, so I expect him to improve, but you can’t pay him anywhere near the max until he shows much more progress."
If the Timberwolves were going to hand max or near-max money to one of these two point guards, it would, in theory, be Bledsoe. Forced to choose a side, then, there's no choice but to admit the Timberwolves are open to trading their prized point guard.
Unless something is missing here.
Oh, right. Bledsoe.
Minnesota's interest in Bledsoe surfaced less than a week before he re-signed with Phoenix. Convenient much?
Krawczynski won't sing that song:
There's something timely—too timely—about this now-defunct chatter. Negotiations between the Suns and Bledsoe had stalled. The relationship between player and team was being tested.
Silent treatment was deployed.
"We haven't heard from the guy in four months, so I couldn't tell you," Suns owner Robert Sarver said of Bledsoe in mid-August, per Coro.
From deafening silence to five-year contract in a matter of weeks? Weird.
Sudden turns of events like these beg the question of whether Bledsoe's people tried to instill some eleventh-hour fear in the Suns, prompting them to offer more money than they were originally dangling. That would make the Timberwolves—and Rubio—innocent, non-complicit victims of this whole thing.
To be absolutely sure, that's not necessarily what happened. Information like this isn't made public. But the timing is, without question, odd.
Especially since Rubio isn't a day-to-day rumor-mill member. Making him available without warning or traces of torched bridges, almost immediately after dealing Love, would be impulsive and ill-thought.
Amid the ever-churning mix of speculation, there was also this unequivocal rejection:
Back to our—er, Rubio's camp's—opening question: What gives?
Nothing.
Probably.
Any interest the Timberwolves had in Bledsoe couldn't have been more than preliminary. Serious intrigue would have been unearthed earlier. More consideration would have been given to the Bledsoe-for-Love package Windhorst and colleague Ramona Shelburne said Phoenix proposed.
None of what's known makes Rubio untouchable, but it's not proof of behind-the-scenes shopping either. If the perfect deal came along, maybe Saunders pulls the trigger.
This recent batch of rumors didn't qualify. It didn't mirror perfection for the Suns or Timberwolves.
Nor did it offer convincing evidence that suggests Rubio's future—both immediate and long term—lies anywhere outside Minnesota.
*Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference and NBA.com unless otherwise cited. Salary information via ShamSports.
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