In the summer of 2019, Rubio was a free agent and Rosas was just getting settled in as the new basketball boss in Minnesota. He has Ryan Saunders as his coach, and the Wolves reached out to see if Rubio would consider a return to Minnesota after spending the previous two seasons in Utah. Rubio and Saunders had grown close when Saunders was an assistant with the Wolves while each mourned the loss of a parent. Saunders needed a point guard with Jeff Teague not working out, but Rubio was not yet ready to come back.
Rubio said he had always wanted to play for Saunders when Saunders got the chance to be a head coach. But it felt too soon in 2019. Things with the Timberwolves ended poorly when Rubio and Tom Thibodeau did not see eye to eye. Thibodeau shipped him to Utah for a first-round pick and signed Teague as the kind of scoring point guard he believed was needed to succeed. So when Rosas came knocking last year, Rubio politely declined. He signed a three-year, $51 million deal with Phoenix instead, but always left the door open for a return one day.
“The way I left, it’s not how I wanted,” he said. “I understand it was business and how it works. I wasn’t ready (to come back last year). I think I’m more ready now, more mature.”
Part of what makes the timing right is how things ended with the Suns. Rubio had built a strong relationship last year with coach Monty Williams, who like Saunders was the kind of open, communicative coach that Rubio appreciates. The Suns were the darlings of the Orlando bubble, going 8-0 and missing out on the playoffs by a whisker. Rubio was told in the offseason that he was part of the Suns’ plans moving forward as they built around Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton.
But he was on the treadmill at his gym on Nov. 16 when he saw a tweet come across his feed.
“It’s not the way you want to know, especially my agent was talking with the team and they said my name was off the table when all the rumors and all the stuff happened,” Rubio said. “You feel like everything that they have said to you all year and buying into a new project and a young team and they need you, blah, blah, blah. It seems like nothing’s true.”
Rubio said he had no hard feelings about the move itself. He did not blame the Suns for wanting Chris Paul, whom he called a Hall of Fame point guard. But the way he found out stung him, and in some ways may have helped pave his way back to Minnesota.
虎扑这文章有点去头去尾的，了解了解你就不会说这话了
In the summer of 2019, Rubio was a free agent and Rosas was just getting settled in as the new basketball boss in Minnesota. He has Ryan Saunders as his coach, and the Wolves reached out to see if Rubio would consider a return to Minnesota after spending the previous two seasons in Utah. Rubio and Saunders had grown close when Saunders was an assistant with the Wolves while each mourned the loss of a parent. Saunders needed a point guard with Jeff Teague not working out, but Rubio was not yet ready to come back.
Rubio said he had always wanted to play for Saunders when Saunders got the chance to be a head coach. But it felt too soon in 2019. Things with the Timberwolves ended poorly when Rubio and Tom Thibodeau did not see eye to eye. Thibodeau shipped him to Utah for a first-round pick and signed Teague as the kind of scoring point guard he believed was needed to succeed. So when Rosas came knocking last year, Rubio politely declined. He signed a three-year, $51 million deal with Phoenix instead, but always left the door open for a return one day.
“The way I left, it’s not how I wanted,” he said. “I understand it was business and how it works. I wasn’t ready (to come back last year). I think I’m more ready now, more mature.”
Part of what makes the timing right is how things ended with the Suns. Rubio had built a strong relationship last year with coach Monty Williams, who like Saunders was the kind of open, communicative coach that Rubio appreciates. The Suns were the darlings of the Orlando bubble, going 8-0 and missing out on the playoffs by a whisker. Rubio was told in the offseason that he was part of the Suns’ plans moving forward as they built around Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton.
But he was on the treadmill at his gym on Nov. 16 when he saw a tweet come across his feed.
“It’s not the way you want to know, especially my agent was talking with the team and they said my name was off the table when all the rumors and all the stuff happened,” Rubio said. “You feel like everything that they have said to you all year and buying into a new project and a young team and they need you, blah, blah, blah. It seems like nothing’s true.”
Rubio said he had no hard feelings about the move itself. He did not blame the Suns for wanting Chris Paul, whom he called a Hall of Fame point guard. But the way he found out stung him, and in some ways may have helped pave his way back to Minnesota.
虎扑这文章有点去头去尾的，了解了解你就不会说这话了
