Kahn, who is either very smart or very stupid, made three trips to Spain and now claims he had a deal with Rubio that the 18-year-old backed out of Monday night. That seems a little unlikely, given Kahn's failed efforts to persuade Rubio's previous team, DKV Joventut, to lower its $8 million buyout price, toward which the Timberwolves could contribute only $500,000. (Had he signed with the Timberwolves, Rubio, the fifth pick in this year's draft, would've spent his first two seasons in the NBA as an outrageously talented volunteer point guard.) In any case, Rubio now has a six-year deal with FC Barcelona that will allow him to leave for the NBA in two seasons, and Kahn will continue to look like a man operating from whatever manual Kevin McHale used to drive the franchise into a ditch. Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski called the move "devastating for the franchise's new regime."

But maybe it won't be. Basketball Prospectus' Kevin Pelton points out that the Rubio who washes up on the shores of Lake Minnetonka in two years will be a more polished product — one with no time elapsed on his NBA service clock.

Given all the hand-wringing we usually hear about young players entering the NBA unprepared, how can it be considered a bad thing that Rubio will spend the next two years developing and maturing physically in Spain on Barca's dime? When he does come over, Rubio will be better prepared to contribute immediately. He'll also be (essentially) the same price. By waiting two years to bring Rubio over, the Timberwolves will get his age-21 through age-24 seasons on his rookie contract, as opposed to having to begin paying him market value at the age of 23. In the long term, this is a financial boon for Minnesota.

Part of Rubio's appeal right now is that he remains largely unformed, a vague collection of floppy hair and YouTube clips — a player to build a dream on. I saw comparisons to Pistol Pete. I saw comparisons to Charlie Ward. There was something sort of exciting about a player entering the NBA as a total mystery, which never happens anymore. It made him valuable both as a marketing phenomenon and, after the draft, even with all the buyout complications, as a trading chip. In two years, Minnesota will have a much better idea of what it's getting in Rubio, and if what it's getting turns out to be Charlie Ward, he will be neither marketable nor tradable, and the only question remaining about Kahn will be if Timberwolves fans want to run him out of town on a pole or a rail.

Rubio to stay in Spain for two more seasons [Yahoo!]
No Rubio, No Problem for Timberwolves [Basketball Prospectus]
Kahn: Rubio Backed Out Of Coming To MN This Year [AP]

Wayne Ellington was drafted late in the first round by the Timberwolves — along with every other player in the NBA Draft — but most will remember his historic night for the time they met his girlfriend. She goes to Drexel and wanted him to stay local, but he's blessed to be going to Minnesota. Tell that to Ricky Rubio.

Joe Morgan decides to tell a story on Sunday Night Baseball. (Stop me if you've heard this before. OK, I'll continue anyway.) It was an utterly harmless story, until it proved to be an "utter crock." (Stop me if you've heard this before. OK, I'll stop.)

Take it away, Dash: "Let's say you love the Chicago Bears. (Relax....it's just an example.) And let's say you don't mind having a few dozen tattoos on your body. That doesn't logically follow that you need 92 Bears autographs permanently inked in your skin."

Simona Halep decides to get a breast reduction — but that was before Alena Schurkova, a professional volleyball player with 32Es, weighed in. "If she does this it sends out the message that girls with big boobs can't play sports and that is just wrong," Schurkova said. Halep hasn't yet reconsidered.

Fact: Chris Forcier is leaving UCLA. Fact: He needs a better press team than his family. Fact: Writing "fact" lots of times in a press release does not strengthen your argument.

Tucker Max and an unnamed ESPN columnist walk into a bar... no, there's no punch line.

Artie Lange was who we thought he was! A much more thoughtful, rational expression of the same sentiment, at least.

"YouTube is filled with grainy cellphone videos of drunken bleacher brawls, but few capture the drama, action, suspense, and heartbreaking childhood trauma of this donnybrook from the Yankees-Marlins series. It's like the Citizen Kane of stadium fan fight clips." Getcher popcorn ready.

What do you do when you win the Stanley Cup and your team's owner is Mario Lemieux? You go to Sewickley and swim with the Cup, natch.

You already know what happened, but it's worth another watch, if only to make Lucky Pierre a permanent phrase in the cultural zeitgeist.

Blake Griffin, No. 1

Patti says: "He's not even really wanting to shake hands with the commissioner. He's not turning his body or extending his arm out. The commissioner has to do all the work. It ends up looking like Blake Griffin is holding a baseball bat rather than shaking a hand."

Hasheem Thabeet, No. 2

Patti says: "Hasheem looks like a parent looking at a child. His facial expression, his smile is not, 'Ooh, this is an honor.' It's, 'Oh, you're a little boy, commissioner.' His outer hand is on the commissioner's arm. That's a power handshake. That shows he feels powerful, in control. He's literally making him move the way he wants him to move."

Tyreke Evans, No. 4

Patti says: "Tyreke has his shoulders back and away, but his head is down. This is a conflicted movement. He's not comfortable and happy and in the moment. He's just kind of awkward. The commissioner looks much more confident, sure of himself. But Tyreke looks like he doesn't know what he's supposed to do. That index finger is really significant. You put out that finger when you're a little bit fearful."

Ricky Rubio, No. 5

Patti says: "He's shy. Even though he has a nice smile on his face, there's some stiffness to it. He's happy, but there's tension in this moment for him. The one thing that he is doing: He's giving a really nice, full handshake. He's connected to the commissioner. The other guys, it was more for show."

Jonny Flynn, No. 6

Patti says: "This is my favorite. He's not only joyful, but his whole body is leaning in toward the commissioner. He's actually putting weight on the commissioner, letting go of some of his power with that huge slant. He's lifting the commissioner's hand up a little bit as he's doing this. This is a totally different level of warmth."

Stephen Curry, No. 7

Patti says: "He's totally off-balance in this moment, and you see that throughout the whole body. His left arm is out to his side, reaching in the other direction — it's like he wants to be someplace else. There's a lot of tension around the head. He's not happy. He's feeling very awkward and doesn't want to be in this place."

Tyler Hansbrough, No. 13

Patti says: "This is the first one where we've seen a lot of stiffness around the commissioner's mouth. He's forcing a smile. Maybe he's been doing handshakes for awhile and has to fake it. And Tyler is just kind of, 'Uhhhh, God.'"

Jrue Holiday, No. 17

Patti says: "Wow. His posture is so different. That's the posture of somebody who was in the ROTC or the church, or who was raised by someone religious. Very erect, very proud bearing. His clasp on the commissioner is very warm. It surrounds the hand. He's not mad. He's not upset. He's not super-happy. He's just more self-contained and just very respectful."

Esteve Rubio's son Ricky, the basketball Jonas, was drafted fifth last night by the Timberwolves, who took another point guard, Jonny Flynn, with their very next pick. Esteve didn't waste any time declaring the Rubio camp dissatisfied with the night's events. Here's The New York Times' rendering of his comments:

Rubio's father, Esteve, cast serious doubt about Rubio's future with the Timberwolves, telling the Spanish Web site Marca.com, "Right now, Ricky is likely staying in Europe one or two years." He added, "We have to talk to the people in Minnesota and see what happens" and "we could be in Minnesota or somewhere else."

All the knowing coves think this could be prelude to a trade with the Knicks. The Timberwolves aren't budging, and already new president of basketball operations David Kahn is confusing the hell out of everyone, just like the last guy.

Esteve Rubio: "Ahora mismo, es muy probable que Ricky se quede uno o dos años en Europa" [MARCA.com]
Draft buzz: Trading game [Yahoo!]

And Jay Bilas steps up with his first backhanded compliment of the evening, saying that Rubio, "looks like a tennis player." That's his pleasant way of saying he's going to get his ass kicked on a regular basis. We're told his jump shot needs work. If he can display an adequate mid-range game he should be fine.

Getty Image via Yahoo!

The Sacramento Bee's Sam Amick reports:

Rubio, who had planned on working out for the Kings last week before he became sick on the trip, took part in an individual workout that included Petrie and coach Paul Westphal and lasted approximately an hour. While the session remained secret at the request of his representatives, he told The Bee it was a necessary exercise that hardly showcased his game.

"It's difficult to show them what I have to do on the court, because there are no teammates and nobody there," Rubio said at the Sacramento airport just before leaving town. "I can't show them what I do on the court. This workout is not my style. I need my teammates around me to play basketball. I was alone."

Meanwhile, DraftExpress' Jonathan Givony believes the Kings, drafting fourth, were cooling on Rubio before the workout:

It's looking more and more clear that the Kings are not nearly as enamored with Ricky Rubio as they once were, for a number of reasons. The official party line is that Sacramento is concerned that Rubio will struggle to assert his leadership ability on the group of players they currently have in place, due to the fact that he's only 18 years old and not a native English speaker. One of the biggest issues Sacramento had last year was with the culture of their team lockerroom. On top of that, the Kings are worried that will Rubio will have a huge target on his chest coming into the NBA, and that other players will "try to go at him every single night."

Just days before the draft, Rubio remains its most fascinating story, if only for the various psychodramas that seem to spring up all around him. Consider this blog entry, from the Bee's Sam Amick, who marvels at the lengths to which grown men go to get a glimpse of the kid (and who, not incidentally, chased down Rubio at the airport to record three minutes of Spanish-accented mumbling). Amick uses the word "shame" four times.

Between this and Brandon Jennings' lame shit-talk and the Kings' assorted phantom concerns, I'd say Rubio has already had a substantial impact on the NBA. He hasn't played a minute yet and he's turned the whole damn league into a bunch of neurotics.

Kings finally get to see Rubio play [Sacramento Bee]

Jennings isn't sold on the Rubio hype, so he blabbed to SI.com that Rubio isn't all that. NBA executives love his trashtalking upside:

"Well, put it like this: If he was in a workout with me [and fellow point-guard prospects] Jonny Flynn, Jrue Holiday, Tywon Lawson, Stephen Curry, he wouldn't probably be at the top," Jennings said Friday.

When asked if he thought Rubio, who has received great attention but has not worked out for NBA teams, is all hype, he said without hesitation, "Yes. Because he played in the Olympics, he's been playing pro ball since he was like 14. So there it is right there. ... I can't wait to play him, though, in summer league. I'm just letting you know that now. I can't wait.

"Yeah, I think I'm a better player than he is. I just shoot the ball better than he can. The only thing I've seen him do sometimes is when he has a home-run pass or something like that. I think the dude is just all hype. I can't even front. I'm just going to be real with you guys."

So there you have it. Jennings goes to Europe and comes back for the NBA Draft when all along, the trick was to actually be from Europe and bigwig the most interested NBA teams. Oh, and Jennings might have a point: When the two squared off on 11 December (Euro!), Rubio went scoreless with three turnovers in eight-plus minutes.

UPDATE: All that stuff Jennings said about Rubio? He didn't mean any of it, he informed the world on Twitter. He would never disrespect Rubio.

Jennings calls Rubio overhyped [Sports Illustrated]

The lad is nothing if not precocious. According to DraftExpress' Jonathan Givony, Rubio's camp, led by agent Dan Fegan, has given off signs that "he's not interested in the least bit in playing in Memphis." A source tells Givony:

"Rubio doesn't want to go to Memphis, and he especially does not want to pay money out of his own pocket with that huge buyout for the honor of doing so. Fegan [Rubio's agent] wants him in L.A., and if he can't have him there, he wants him in Sacramento. Definitely not Oklahoma City. "

Fegan, you might remember, was the guy who in 2007 tried to leverage age-fudger Yi Jianlian into a major market, a plan that went down in flames but allowed Yi the luxury of quietly disappointing people in Milwaukee instead of loudly busting elsewhere. Rubio, as Givony notes, has the option of staying in Spain. This is a perfectly acceptable alternative these days — it'll be interesting to see if the growing viability of the international game loosens up something as flagrantly labor-unfriendly as the NBA draft — but it'd be a huge disappointment to those of us tired of watching low-res YouTube clips in which Rubio appears to be playing basketball in an airport smoking lounge.

NBA Draft Roundup, May 20 [DraftExpress]