Minnesota GM David Kahn said that there was an agreement in place to bring Ricky Rubio to the NBA this season, but in the end, the young Spaniard decided that he’d rather play in his home country for two more seasons.

Yet just as the team appeared to be putting the finishing touches on a deal to bring Rubio to the NBA, Rubio came to Kahn with second thoughts.

“This morning I met with Ricky and his parents and told them that I understood Ricky’s decision,” Kahn said in a statement. “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.”

Shortly after Rubio was drafted, there was talk that he and his agent preferred him to play in a larger market to better take advantage of endorsement opportunities that would help offset the costs of the buyout.

In a statement issued by the Timberwolves, Rubio said he has every intention of coming to Minnesota in two years. The Wolves retain Rubio’s draft rights for one year after his contractual obligation to Barcelona ends.

I don’t really blame Rubio here. Have you seen Barcelona? It’s far more beautiful and vibrant than the Twin Cities, especially from November to March, when the NBA season is in full swing. I’m sure that the option to stay close to home and play in a comfortable situation for two more seasons was an appealing choice, especially since Rubio is still only 18 years old.

As for the T-Wolves, they will still hold his NBA rights for a year after his contract with his Barcelona team is complete. There’s no huge rush to get him to the NBA, though I’m guessing that if David Kahn could do it all over again, he might take Stephen Curry instead.

According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minnesota GM David Kahn is intent on seeing Ricky Rubio in a T-Wolves uniform this season.

Timberwolves President David Kahn has made a second trip to Spain to try to learn more about what it will take to get Ricky Rubio, the team’s No. 1 draft pick, to Minnesota.

It’s still unclear whether the 18-year-old point guard could get out of his DKV Joventut Barcelona team’s contract, which includes a $6.6 million buyout, in time for Wolves training camp in October.

It’s expected to be several more weeks before the Wolves learn whether they will have Rubio for the coming season. But Rubio has indicated to Kahn that he’s willing to come to Minnesota if the buyout issue can be resolved.

Right now, the issue is money.

It’s believed the $6.6 million buyout has been negotiated down by some European teams to about $4 million.

If the buyout could be decreased to about $3 million, that probably would be enough for Rubio to get out of the his Spanish contract and get to Minnesota. Rubio could pay the $3 million or so over the next several years from his salary from the Wolves.

There was some speculation that the T-Wolves and the Knicks may be working on a deal that would send Rubio to New York, but nothing can happen until he is free from his DKV Joventut contract and is able to play in the NBA.

I wonder if Kahn has second guessed his decision to take Rubio and point guard Jonny Flynn back-to-back in this summer’s draft. The pick has certainly created a lot of headaches for Kahn and the organization, and right now he looks a little foolish.

Ricky Rubio may or may not want to play for the Minnesota Timberwolves this season, but one thing’s for sure — he doesn’t want to play for his old team, DKV Joventut.

He has an $8.2 million buyout with the club, and the T-Wolves can only contribute $500,000. Spanish clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid are interested in signing Rubio if he doesn’t come to the U.S.

The buyout is ridiculous considering that Rubio didn’t even make six figures playing for DKV Joventut last season. He has been trying to negotiate a smaller settlement, but thus far little progress has been made.

Drew Packham of NBA.com ranks how the rookies fared at summer league.

1. Blake Griffin
2. Jonny Flynn
3. Tyreke Evans
4. James Harden
5. Brandon Jennings
6. Ty Lawson
7. Dante Cunningham
8. DeJuan Blair
9. Austin Daye
10. Tyler Hansbrough

Packham provides a short writeup for each player and lists several notables.

Summer league isn’t a great indicator of future success (i.e. Jerryd Bayless had a great summer league last year), but you’d obviously rather see your guy play well than stink up the gym.

The NBA offseason is by no means over, but the lion’s share is behind us, so it’s a good time to take a look back at a few of the…um…let’s say “questionable” decisions of the summer. Here are my Top 10, in no particular order. Feel free to add to the list if I missed something.

1. Trevor Ariza plays spiteful hardball…and loses.
Let’s get this straight — the Lakers offered Ariza the same deal he was getting on the open market, and he refused since the Lakers could have offered more, but didn’t? Um, okay. David Lee (the agent, not the Knicks forward) says that Ariza wanted to go somewhere where he’d be “appreciated.” Lee overestimated the market for his client, and the Lakers quickly moved on to acquire Ron Artest. Now instead of playing for the world champs, Ariza is stuck in Houston on a team that faces a very uncertain future. Lee now says that Ariza turned down a deal worth $9 million more, but still picked Houston. It sounds to me like he’s just trying to save face.

2. Grizzlies acquire Zach Randolph.
Once the Clippers traded for Randolph (and his toxic contract) last season, I thought the bar for NBA general managers had hit a new low thanks to Mike Dunleavy and his wily ways. But Dunleavy proved that he wasn’t the dumbest GM in the league when he convinced the Memphis Grizzlies to take on the final two years Randolph’s contract at the tune of $33.3 million. Remember that $25 million or so of cap space that the Grizzlies were going to have next summer? Yeah, that’s down to about $8 million with this brilliant move. Just when it looked like Chris Wallace was going to rehab his image after the Pau Gasol trade — Marc Gasol panning out, trading for O.J. Mayo — he goes and does this. Sigh.

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The NBA offseason is about getting better. Players are (or should be) in the gym, working on their games, getting stronger, running faster, whatever. Meanwhile, general managers try to draft well and make some moves in free agency that will help their respective teams make that jump to the next level.

There’s an old Beatles song, “Getting Better,” that goes…

I’ve got to admit it’s getting better
A little better all the time (It can’t get no worse)
I have to admit it’s getting better
It’s getting better since you’ve been mine

Now Paul McCartney and John Lennon were talking about a girl, but those lyrics could easily be applied to an NBA team during the summer. With that in mind, here are three teams that are getting better and three that are getting worse. (And, by the way, just because a team is adding talent, it doesn’t mean that they’re making the right moves.)

GETTING BETTER

San Antonio Spurs
The Spurs’ willingness to take on salary to improve their roster resulted in the acquisition of All-Star-caliber forward Richard Jefferson from the Bucks, who were looking to dump salary. To add Jefferson, they only had to give up Kurt Thomas, Bruce Bowen and Fabricio Oberto. RJ is a good all-around wing that can score and defend. The Spurs also added Antonio McDyess with a three-year, mid-level deal. McDyess is 34, but his PER of 16.63 last season is still well above average. To top it all off, San Antonio benefited from DeJuan Blair’s free fall on draft night. Blair is arguably the best rebounder in this year’s draft class and he’ll provide immediate toughness on the inside. Really, at the cost of a second rounder, do the Spurs care if his knees break down in three or four years? If San Antonio has everyone healthy come playoff time, they have a great shot of upending the Lakers in the West.

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The short answer is “I don’t know.”

Not enough? I don’t blame you. I wrote the following during my running diary on draft day:

There’s a rumor that the Warriors might send Andris Biedrins, Marco Belinelli, Brandan Wright and the #7 pick to Phoenix for Amare Stoudemire. That seems like an awful lot to give up given the trades we’ve seen go down in recent days. But Stoudemire is a borderline franchise player, so a good center (Biedrins) and three prospects (Belinelli, Wright and the #7 pick) doesn’t seem crazy.

The Warriors drafted Stephen Curry when he fell to #7. At that point, it wasn’t clear whether or not he’d be headed to Phoenix as part of this trade. Paul Coro of AZCentral.com reported that he “likely” was headed to the Suns.

Golden State’s selection of Davidson point guard Stephen Curry at No. 7 was likely made for the Suns as part of an Amaré Stoudemire trade that can’t be completed until Wednesday. That is because Phoenix would be acquiring Warriors center Andris Biedrins, a base-year compensation player, as part of a Stoudemire deal that would include more Warriors players, possibly power forward Brandan Wright and/or shooting guard Marco Belinelli.

The Suns were hoping they could land Curry or Arizona power forward Jordan Hill with the Warriors’ seventh pick but had their choice after Minnesota took neither with its fifth and sixth picks.

The next day, Coro reported that the deal was all but done, but hinged on whether or not Curry was included…

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- DEADSPIN has pics of Wayne Ellington and his girlfriend (right) as they waited for his name to be called Thursday night. She looks different standing up than she does sitting down.

- THE SPORTZ ASSASSIN lists a few guys that made themselves available for the NBA Draft and probably shouldn’t have.

- SPORTSbyBROOKS has the details of an awesome prank sprung on some visiting Red Sox fans by a Nationals fan.

- US SOCCER previews tomorrow’s Confederations Cup final between the U.S. and Brazil.

- SLATE wonders why baseball uses an offset, misleading camera angle to show the pitcher and the batter.

- CHICAGO CUBS ONLINE details the story of catcher Geovanny Soto’s positive marijuana drug test at this year’s World Baseball Classic. (No wonder he can’t hit this year – he’s as high as a kite.)

- SPORTSbyBROOKS shares the story of Alabama’s decision to appeal the NCAA’s decision to strip the Tide of wins in various sporting events from 2005 through 2007.

- DEADSPIN asked a body language expert to analyze some of the awkward handshakes between David Stern and some of the basketball prospects in last night’s NBA draft.

- FANHOUSE writes that T.O. doesn’t think that Tony Romo is a leader.

- YARDBARKER has the top 10 most unseemly NBA draft moments.

Probably the most perplexing sequence of events occurred early last night when the Minnesota Timberwolves picked Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn — two pure point guards — with back-to-back picks. My first instinct was that GM David Kahn (Kaaaaaaaaaahn!) was working out a trade for one of the guards, possibly moving Rubio to the Warriors or Knicks or some other team for a pick and/or veteran help. But then Ric Bucher popped his head in to inform us that Kahn said that he plans to play Rubio and Flynn together. Later on, Kahn mentioned a few examples of point guard duos that have played well in the past, citing Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars, Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge, and…gulp…Michael Jordan and John Paxson.

Setting aside the Jordan/Paxson comparison for a moment, let’s look at the other two examples. DJ and Ainge were both 6′4″ combo guards and neither guy had to have the ball in his hands to be effective. I don’t think the same will be said about Rubio or Flynn (certainly not Rubio). Dumars was 6′3″ defensive stopper and deadeye shooter, while Zeke was a ball-dominant playmaker. In short, Thomas was a pure point guard, while Dumars, Ainge and DJ were combo guards. Those backcourts worked because the two players complemented each other.

But back to Jordan/Paxson — if I’m a Timberwolves fan and I hear that my general manager is referring to Michael Jordan as a point guard, I’m getting out on the ledge. MJ was a 6′6″ wing, who could do everything — handle, shoot, post up and play defense. He was more of a 2/3 who could run the point if necessary. If Kahn really thinks that he was a point guard, then that shows an alarming lack of basic knowledge about the game.

But that’s not the only reason the comparison is invalid. A general manager should not be invoking Jordan’s name when discussing his first few picks in the draft. He is arguably the greatest player ever to play the game, so it’s not fair to expect your rookies to do the same things he did. Any backcourt that featured Jordan would have worked. He was that good.

Once Hasheem Thabeet, James Harden and Tyreke Evans were off the board, I thought for sure the T-Wolves would take a point guard (Rubio or Flynn) and Stephen Curry, who is a smallish combo guard that can shoot the lights out. If you want to run him at off guard, you need to pair him with a pure point guard to set him up. A Flynn/Curry or Rubio/Curry backcourt would have had a real chance at working. Rubio/Flynn would serve as the playmaker, while Curry’s shooting would create space for Al Jefferson and Kevin Love to work in the post. Defensively, a backcourt like that would have its share of problems, but at least it would make sense on the other end of the court.

I just don’t think a Rubio/Flynn backcourt will work. Both players are ball-dominant and neither guy shoots the ball very well. Rubio isn’t strong enough to cover most opposing shooting guards and Flynn isn’t tall enough to cover big guards on the block. Throw in the fact that Rubio doesn’t sound too thrilled about the prospect of playing in Minnesota, and Kahn might have one big mess on his hands.

Here is some more commentary about Minnesota’s first two picks…

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