FanHouse RickyRubio

The NBA isn't just made at Staples on Sunday afternoons under the lights, or in a Friday night showdown at the Garden. It's every night, players stepping up and making plays.

It's guys that will eventually be answers to trivia questions making huge shots that endear them and their teams to the hearts of young fans who first make a connection with this crazy, random, beautiful game.

The heroes aren't just the guys on posters and All-Star ballots, sometimes they are journeymen who show up every day, don't shoot a great percentage and get the job done.

Wednesday was Damien Wilkins' day.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Al Jefferson wasn't even born when the incident happened in 1984. But he's seen the old footage.

"The only thing I knew about Kurt (Rambis) from him playing is the highlight of Kevin McHale knocking him out,'' said the Minnesota forward.

Jonny Flynn wasn't born when Rambis won the last his four titles with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1988. But Flynn has seen the highlights as well.

"I remember he had the high socks, the thick glasses and the short shorts,'' said the Timberwolves point guard. "That was my first impressions about him. I said that when we first talked on the phone, and we got a good laugh about it.''

When new Minnesota GM David Kahn made a play for free agent point guard Ramon Sessions, there were two ways to look at it. On the surface, the Sessions deal (four years, $16 million) is a fair price for a solid young playmaker. Given how bad Minnesota's backcourt has been, Sessions can't hurt, right?

But Kahn famously selected two high-profile point guards within the top six picks of the June draft, Spaniard Ricky Rubio and Syracuse's Jonny Flynn. Rubio stayed in Barcelona, all while Kahn insisted the plan was for the pair to play together in Minnesota. When Kahn signed Sessions, the plan was to play him and Flynn together. The problem, which I noted at the time of the signing, is that neither Sessions nor Flynn has any business playing off-guard.

It seems Wolves coach Kurt Rambis has now arrived at the same conclusion.

It's official: Ramon Sessions is heading to Minnesota.

Bucks general manager John Hammond confirmed to the Journal Sentinel earlier that he will not match the Minnesota Timberwolves' four-year, $16.4 million offer sheet for Sessions.

The Timberwolves signed Sessions to an offer sheet after they failed to lure point guard Ricky Rubio, whom they selected with the No. 5 pick in the June draft, over to the NBA from Europe.

Come 2011 or 2012, the Minnesota Timberwolves are going to have a hell of a rotation at point guard.

Everybody's favorite new maverick GM, David Kahn, got over Ricky Rubio's rebuff in a hurry and went out and signed restricted free agent Ramon Sessions to a four-year, $16 million offer sheet, according to the Journal Sentinel.

Sessions, who played in Milwaukee last season, has been hanging out there all summer, drawing interest from a number of teams but never quite receiving that elusive offer. Until, that is, Rubio did his number on the Timberwolves.

At what point does Jonny Flynn become insulted?

Sure, Timberwolves capo David Kahn made fierce Flynn the No. 6 pick in the NBA draft, higher than Brandon Jennings, Jrue Holiday or Ty Lawson. But that pick came after Kahn already took a point guard, Mr. Ricky Rubio. Kahn proceeded to spend all summer trying to get Ricky to actually come play for the Wolves. (It didn't work.)

Now, as Rubio's rejection has seemingly made Flynn's path to the starting lineup clear, there's one more potential roadblock. Gerry Woelfel of the Racine Journal-Times reports that Kahn may soon be presenting restricted free agent point guard Ramon Sessions with an offer sheet.

Largely, Timberwolves general manager David Kahn's final statement on L'Affair Ricky Rubio is concillatory. Kahn echoes the assertion that Rubio will actually become a better basketball player by competing in the world's No. 2 league for the next two years instead of getting 25 minutes a night in the NBA. He says he understands and even endorses Rubio's decision.

But before he gets to all that Kumbaya, he lets the world know that Rubio, DKV Joventut and the Wolves had a handshake deal Saturday night to bring Ricky to the NBA immediately ... and that Rubio backed out on Monday.

It's July 1, 2011. The Timberwolves have added only a second-round pick in the June draft ... but hope to get much better by adding the 21-year-old Euroleague MVP, Ricky Rubio, to the team. Corey Brewer is a restricted free agent, and Kevin Love is eligible for an extension. But the real focus is on Rubio, a gifted passer who has blossomed into an uncanny playmaker while developing in Barcelona.

There's just one problem: the league's owners have locked out the players. The union and ownership couldn't hash out a new collective bargaining agreement over the previous two summers, and the 2011-12 season is in jeopardy. The Wolves are not allowed to ink Rubio to his rookie deal, because there's no guarantee he'll have a team to play for if he ditches Barcelona.

With all the uncertainty swirling around the NBA, Rubio declines his Barcelona buyout option before the August deadline, and stays in Spain another year. Or longer. This, surely, wasn't what David Kahn had in mind.

UPDATE: Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! and Chris Mannix of SI both tweet that a deal is not in place. I recommend Ben Golliver's reaction.

Spanish newspaper Marca is reporting (via RealGM/Skeets) that Ricky Rubio has sorted out his plans for next season. The paper reports that Regal FC Barcelona has worked out a deal with Rubio and his former team, DKV Joventut.

Joventut will receive more than $5 million (or 3.7 million Euros) for the rights to Ricky. There's no word on how much Barcelona will pay Rubio, though I imagine it will be more than the rookie scale contract La Pistola would have earned with Minnesota ($5.6 million over two years). For reference, Juan Carlos Navarro became the richest player in FC Barcelona history last summer when he inked a five-year, $23 million deal. I would hazard a guess Rubio's pay will be even more.

He may not be willing to lace up his sneakers for the Minnesota Timberwolves, but Spanish point guard prodigy Ricky Rubio won't hesistate to become an American pitchman. Via Canis Hoopus, the young Mr. Rubio appears in what would appear to be his first stateside ad campaign, joining the likes of Derek Jeter, Tiger Woods and Roger Federer in a spot for Gillette.