David+Jonny+Ricky: The Story that writes itself
by Flagrant on Jan 23, 2012 11:54 AM CST
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I keep waiting for a sports writer to compose and article about the story of David Kahn, Jonny Flynn, and Ricky Rubio. The three are so foundational to Timberwolves history.
With malice towards no one, the 2009 NBA Draft became a critical event in measuring David Kahn's success. While every fan would like the PBOB to use to 5th and 6th pick to establish two future anchors for the franchise, for David, it has resulted in a 50/50 outcome.
First the good, in the person of Ricky Rubio. Ricky has captivated the Wolves fan base and many national sports reporters by being everything that he was advertised to be. During a recent NBA game telecast, one broadcaster stated he believed Ricky would actually attract top tier players to the Wolves by being such a selfless, team player. That Ricky gets the ball to the team mate for open shots, delivering the ball exactly where the player can readily put it in his shot pocket. As Ricky is known to say, he would rather make two people happy (with his passing) than one.
Reading Jerry Zgoda's article on Sunday about Jonny Flynn, it is clear that Jonny is number three on the PG pecking order. We all know the history here. Accordingly, Jonny is just waiting for his chance to show his talents. What Jonny says in the piece is most telling. That Minnesota (and Rambis) didn't allow him to showcase "his game." In fact the phrase "his game" (assuming that means pick and rolls) is all that is needed. (Note: I'm not defending Kurt Rambis here).
In essence, Ricky has thus far proven to be a pillar for the Wolves franchise. Jonny Flynn is the player just waiting to take off, when given his chance. My view, Jonny could learn a great deal by adjusting his perspective to be much more like Ricky's.
As for David Kahn, I've made my view known before. I think his draft history has more "misses" than "hits."
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Are you intentionally rearranging the POBO acronym?
My apologies if it’s just a persistent typo, but I want in on the joke if it’s intentional.
He's Ricky Rubio. He’s not like anyone else.
For as much as we all wanted Curry
would it be worth it if that meant more wins the last few years and Rambis sticking around?
I don't know what an art house is, I don't know what goes on in an art house, I have never been in an art house, and I can't imagine it's any place I ever want to be.
by VoodooMagic on Jan 23, 2012 2:05 PM CST reply actions 2 recs
Not sure your point
Are you suggesting that Rambis would have been sticking around if not for David Kahn? Seriously?
Seems your on a bit of a tangent relative to the Flynn v. Ricky comparison.
Where there is a D-Williams, there is a way
The article in today's Presspatch had the Jonny side of things,
replete with several whopping rationalizations. Start with the title:
Ex-Timberwolves PG Jonny Flynn: ’What did I do to deserve that (booing)?
Mr. Flynn, what you did to deserve boos was, you played terrible basketball, and you checked out on the team. Instead of addressing flaws in your game you became a loose cannon, and one who played terrible ball. This was after you undeservedly were gifted a starting role as a rookie. We gave you a big chance, man.
When he gets to blaming it on Rubio…. Sigh.
"First, I'd like to blame the Lord for causing us to lose today."
Didn't Realize Ray wrote about Jonny
The contrast in perspective between Jonny and Ricky is striking. One wants to make his team mates happy by putting them in a position to succeed. Jonny wants to make himself successful if only he was “given the opportunity.”
Where there is a D-Williams, there is a way
In all fainess
Flynn was put in a very tough spot, the roster was poor, Big Al was recovering from injury, and he sucked really bad at the beginning of the season, Love wasn’t on the floor as much as he should’ve been because of Rambis, who BTW was a terrible coach for that situation. He than battled injury, yes Rubio is much better, but he is also in a good situation.
He also was given a starting role from moment one as a rookie.
It’s sort of hard to forget that when the complaint is that he essentially didn’t get a chance, you know?
It comes down to play at some point. He was a point guard who couldn’t feed the post, on a team featuring Al Jefferson. If Jonny had busted his tail to add that aspect of his game, I’d respect that. He checked out on Rambis, okay, but we could live with it if it seemed like he’d laid himself out trying to get better. Instead he concentrated on adding a floater to his arsenal, to be a more consistent threat himself…. Which led to last year’s assortment of strange “Was he passing or shooting?” moments. Sure, those were partly injury too, but partly that’s what Jonny worked on. And yeah, at some point that’s a reflection of what he cared about.
I wish the kid well, but if he doesn’t have the Jonny Upstairs athleticism that let him make windmill dunks, I don’t know…. He looked like he could be Jameer Nelson, as a rookie.
"First, I'd like to blame the Lord for causing us to lose today."
A comparison to Rubio's last two years in Spain
may be instructive. Ricky wasn’t used the right way there, and his shooting numbers went in the tank. He kind of disappeared in that system, but people like Eric in Madison and vjl110 could still see (before he hit the court in the NBA) that there was still something there.
Contrast this with Flynn, who didn’t disappear when he was misused, but was instead a shining beacon of suck for all to see. His role and the team around him can only explain so much of what we saw.
by Madison Dan on Jan 24, 2012 10:43 AM CST up reply actions
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