“…Kahn has remained coy with his strategy if he does wind up with that pick. Rubio, who played wonderfully for FC Barcelona in the European championship, still has another year in his contract before he can leave for the NBA  and, though Kahn believes Rubio will one day play for Minnesota, there is great speculation that he will be eventually traded and one likely destination is New York. If the Wolves can get Wall, Kahn will have good reason to move Rubio and, according to multiple sources, the Knicks will make every effort to work out a deal.

Another intriguing situation would be if the New Orleans Hornets, who are in the 11th spot in the lottery, somehow come up with a stunning win. They already have Chris Paul and rookie Darren Collison. Would they choose Evan Turner instead? Would they consider dealing Paul and select Wall, whose salary will be far more affordable over the first five years of his contract? If it’s the latter, you can expect the Knicks to jump all over the chance to talk to the Hornets about a deal for Paul…”

I’ve obviously always been of the notion that the team would end up with Rubio. I’m starting to believe, based on the more people with ties to the organization I talk to, that they didn’t move up in the draft for Rubio or Steph Curry because of cap space. And that they knew there was a chance they were going to have to deal that 3 million for cap space. Sure, that’s kind of a conspiracy theory, but think about it every single move Walsh has made has been about cap space. Sure, they brought in Toney Douglas, but that’s only 1 million on the cap for next year. And he’s good.

We’ll see if the Knicks have what it takes to land Rubio, who has stated his intentions of staying overseas having just won a championship…with Walsh in attendence…but it could go a long way in having him be available if the Wolves were to win the lottery.

“…As they did when shopping Stoudemire last season, the Suns want a combination of young talent, salary-cap relief and draft picks for him. Some teams are hesitant to trade for Stoudemire for fear he won’t want to re-sign with them this summer. The Minnesota Timberwolves lead that group of teams, sources say. The Wolves are mostly eyeing small forwards, including the Memphis Grizzlies’ Rudy Gay(notes), the Bulls’ Luol Deng(notes) and the Washington Wizards’ Caron Butler(notes). No one is untouchable on the Wolves roster, sources say…

…The New York Knicks will lose point guards Chris Duhon(notes) and Nate Robinson(notes) this summer to free agency and there are plenty of the team’s fans that are happy about that. But it leaves the team with a major hole. The word is that the team still covets Ricky Rubio(notes), the 19-year-old Spanish guard who stiffed the Minnesota Timberwolves last year by not coming to the States after the team drafted him sixth overall…”

Via NY Post-

“…Ricky Rubio, whom the Wolves drafted sixth, is playing in Spain this season, switching teams to FC Barcelona. That actually turned out well for the Knicks, who are still marking his progress.

Knicks international scout Kevin Wilson, who’s responsible for their pick of Danilo Gallinari, lives in Barcelona and the Regal Barcelona team is his hometown club. It has been well-documented Wilson is friends with the Rubio family and Ricky’s parents would love to see the Timberwolves deal him to New York.

Wilson is in town this week as the Knicks have their scouting meetings as a prelude to the Feb. 19 trading deadline and discussing available point guards will be a priority.

Knicks president Donnie Walsh told The Post the last time he spoke to Wolves president David Kahn, his former assistant in Indiana, he was told Minnesota wasn’t accepting trade offers now. Rubio is averaging 5.6 assists for Barcelona and showing marked improvement, but he’s still leery about spending his career in Minnesota.

“David has told me he wants to bring Ricky over for next season,” Walsh told The Post.

But to whom, is the question. Rubio, by the way if you haven’t noticed, has been playing very well for Real Madrid. Of course, it brings up the same question as this past draft, what do the Wolves want?

“…We know we have a young team with a new coaching staff and a new culture, but we don’t want to overly rely on those things as crutches,” he said. “At some point, we need to stop talking about those things. We’re all accountable, myself especially.”

Kahn made numerous moves in the offseason, sparing only five players from last season’s roster. Before the season, he consistently maintained that the team would struggle. He asked for patience from fans and projected a “two- to three-year plan” for turning the team around.

Monday’s performance, however, challenged Kahn to remain positive.

“It’s much too early to paint everything with a bad brush,” he said. “When things clicked, we’ve had some very bright moments. There have also been some moments that were abysmal, but that’s part of who we are as a team…”

I could see something brewing here, and I’m not just talking about Rubio. Cardinal is a valuable expiring, maybe if Walsh added Chandler with Jeffries, we can get Cardinal, Oleksiy Pecherov and Minnesota’s lottery protected 1st rounder from the Ty Lawson deal? Minnesota also has Utah’s top 17 protected…

Hmmm…

“…”Curry,” Walsh answered when asked whether he would have taken Stephen Curry or Ricky Rubio. “Not only is he a great shooter but he can get his shot on anyone. Opponents look at his baby face and figure they can manhandle him. Meanwhile he tore up every top-rated guard he went up against at our workout, including Tyreke Evans, who might be the best player in the draft next to Blake Griffin…”

Interesting that Curry would be the pick over Rubio in my opinion based on the fact that Rubio seems to fit D’Antoni’s style a little better. Granted, I liked Curry as a facilitator and shot maker given space, but I thought Walsh for sure was targeting Rubio and heard several things of the like.

That being said, Walsh didn’t aggressively move in on Curry or move up one spot to take him at #7, which makes me wonder just how much in love they were with him. And judging from what’s coming out of Golden State, Curry isn’t a great fit with teammate Monta Ellis.

“…The Knicks lost out on Bucks point guard Ramon Sessions yesterday, re-igniting Donnie Walsh‘s interest in the Timberwolves’ Ricky Rubio and increasing Walsh’s urgency sign restricted free agents David Lee and Nate Robinson…

“Obviously it went through my mind,” Walsh said. “Rubio committed to Spain. Right away David signs Sessions. That might mean Rubio is in play. I’ll find that out.”

Sessions signed a four-year, $16 million pact that the Bucks likely won’t match. According to Sessions’ agent, Walsh was on the verge of signing Sessions to a four-year pact in late July but backed off when he learned the 2010 salary cap likely is dropping to the worst-case scenario of $50 million. Walsh’s goal this summer was saving cap room for a run at LeBron James.

“I thought it really was going to happen,” said Chubby Wells, Sessions’ agent. “I really thought we had a deal. Then Donnie finds out the cap will be smaller than anticipated and he pumped the brakes on it and slowed down.”

Yes, we are all sick of posts like this, but I have to post quotes. That said, blame the economy instead of Walsh. Granted, the 2010 salary cap is far from etched in stone, but remember that $4 million dollars could make a huge difference next summer.

You trade two starters to move up to the 5th pick in the draft.

You draft Rubio with the 5th pick, a player who you know is temperamental about where he sees himself playing, along with the notion that he has to earn enough money to buy himself out of his Euro deal.

You get him excited about the prospects of being a lead and starting NBA guard for about, oh, 4 minutes, then pick the next best point guard, immediately infuriating Rubio’s camp instead of filling a need with another position player (Stephen Curry) who can get your fanbase excited for years to come.

Then you tell the media the two point guards can play in the same backcourt together and you expect them to.

Like a new car that is about to be driven home Rubio’s trade value, which was a major reason to draft the kid, isn’t any higher than it is now, yet you don’t pull the trigger on a deal and Rubio stays home to live in his parent’s basement.

Then you sign ANOTHER point guard to compete with Flynn for the next four years?

Wolves fans, you better hope that Mr. Kahn gets proper value when he ultimately trades Rubio.

At the end of the day, if the Wolves were hoping that Kahn would come in and bring solace to a rocky organization, then you can’t be overly comfortable after his first off season.

“…Despite Lee’s disappointment in failing to sign a long-term contract, he has been working out at the team’s training facility on and off for the past two months. It’s a sign that Lee knows he will be back. Robinson is also working out regularly at the facility.

Lee’s name has been mentioned in several sign-and-trade scenarios, but Walsh seems reluctant to move the young forward. Walsh denied a report that the Knicks would consider trading Lee to Minnesota for unsigned rookie Ricky Rubio.

“We haven’t spoken to them about Rubio since the day after the draft,” Walsh said.

Rubio, who has expressed interest in playing for the Knicks, informed the T-Wolves that he intends to play for FC Barcelona for at least the next two seasons…”

Also, Walsh had this to say about the Lee and Nate situations:

“…“Things are moving along,” Walsh said Tuesday. “Nothing is imminent, but the talks have been good…”

“On Saturday night, an agreement was reached between Dan Fegan, the agent for Ricky Rubio, Jordi Villacampa, the president of Joventut Badalona, and myself on behalf of the Minnesota Timberwolves to buy out the last two years of Ricky´s contract with Joventut so that he could play in the NBA next season.

While the term sheet was being finalized Monday night, Ricky informed me that, despite considering us his first option the previous weekend – and, admittedly, after some back and forth throughout the summer — he preferred to stay at home to play for FC Barcelona, which earlier this summer had made a buyout offer to Joventut. He also reaffirmed that it was his intention to join us in Minnesota two years from now when he will be 20.

This morning I met with Ricky and his parents and told them that I understood Ricky´s decision. It was clear to me yesterday and in this morning´s meeting that the pressure surrounding Ricky and his family to remain in Spain for at least two more years had only intensified as the summer wore on and was weighing heavily on them.

The NBA is the best basketball league in the world, by far. As an 18-year-old man, Ricky would have been challenged on a nightly basis to a degree he has never experienced. In order for Ricky to meet this challenge fully, I believe it is important that his family and other people important to him were comfortable with the move to the NBA and fully supportive.

I also agreed with Ricky´s position that two more years of competition in Spain and the Euroleague will only aid his development and that he will be much more ready for the NBA when he joins us.

On the night of the draft, I explained that the decision to draft Ricky was not difficult – that he was 18, the youngest player in the draft, and we were a building team that could wait for him. Nothing has changed. When we received signals from Ricky this summer that he was considering accelerating his path to the NBA and joining us sooner, we threw ourselves into this process willingly and energetically, including meeting with Joventut on four separate occasions.

I explained to Ricky this morning that, starting today, I would now focus all my attention on the coming season for the Timberwolves and our current roster. We have begun the process to build a championship-contending team and this coming season will be an exciting one. I wished Ricky well and told him that, while I could not predict the future, I expected to see him in Minnesota soon.

I want to thank everybody who worked so hard on this process this summer, including Jonathan Blue and Dan Fegan of BEST and everybody associated with the Timberwolves family…”

Click here for Ricky Rubio’s statement

What I don’t get is the Timberwolves’ willingness to be patient. They gave up two starters for the chance to draft Rubio. But I guess whatever offers Kahn was hearing, which we can confirm did not include David Lee, weren’t enticing enough to make a deal.

If the Knicks are going to make any moves at the 11th hour, the clock is ticking, but it would appear that Rubio will be playing overseas for the next two years, much to the chagrin of David Stern and for those Knick fans who think Rubio is the perfect quarterback for Mike D’Antoni’s system.

But there are several key factors in play here.

First, David Kahn worked for Donnie Walsh, so you figure some of the patience that fans in NY have become accustomed to has rubbed off on the Wolves GM. He can field plenty of offers while his property is playing overseas. But, can he allow for the bad PR?

Secondly, don’t expect the Knicks to overpay. Walsh likes Toney Douglas and any deal, to me, would have to include Wilson Chandler, who the team is extremely high on. He can be had in the right deal, but the team is in no rush to deal him. Nate Robinson would also be a huge draw in Minnesota, who can leverage his Krypto-Nate image. He’s popular here, but I’d think that the fans in Minnesota would have an exteme soft-spot for the 5’8 underdog.

But it depends on how much Walsh sees the need for Rubio. I’ve recently heard that the team was higher on Stephen Curry than Rubio during the draft, which contradicts a source who told me that Rubio was the target. I believe they would have been happy with both, but judging on how they have chased point guards this summer, you’d have to think they would lean towards Rubio over Curry, as he has more experience at quarterback. Plus, D’Antoni himself admitted that Deron Williams, Chris Paul and Jason Kidd all noted that Rubio was “the real deal” at the Olympic games.

Without question, Rubio would be a fit under the right circumstances, and the two sides have reportedly talked plenty, but it would seem tonight’s rumors are coming more from Rubio’s camp than anything in a last ditch effort to have his client where he should be.

Stay tuned.