With Ricky Rubio set to become an unrestricted free agent on June 30, the Jazz could be in the market for a new starting point guard moving forward, Kincade Upstill of the Deseret News writes.
Rubio made a rather interesting comment this weekend, sharing that Utah won’t be aggressively trying to re-sign him when he reaches the open market. “Utah has already let me know I’m not a priority for them,” he said, according to Ernest Macia of Catalunya Radio.
The Jazz could pursue other available point guards in free agency such as Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker, Malcolm Brogdon, D’Angelo Russell or Derrick Rose if the franchise mutually agrees to part ways with Rubio, who has served as the team’s starting point guard over the last two seasons. However, Jazz vice president of basketball operations Dennis Lindsey went on the record to state that Ricky could still re-sign on a new contract.
“He’s got a decision to make on his end and we’ve got a decision to make on our end, but there’s a lot of scenarios I can see Ricky back. … We really appreciate who he is and we think we can get him better from a health perspective and skill standpoint,” Lindsey said, according to Upstill. “We know who he is — he has Jazz DNA. So he’ll have options, we’ll have options and we’ll talk to him and his agent.”
Rubio’s name surfaced in rumors around this season’s February 7 trade deadline, likely causing some trust issues between him and the organization. He holds career-averages of 11.1 points, 7.7 assists and 30.9 minutes across his eight NBA seasons.
There’s more out of the Northwest Division tonight:
- The Timberwolves recently held a free-agent workout that included the likes of Semaj Christon and Milton Doyle, forwards Jamel Artis and Jarrod Uthoff, and center Amida Brimah, as reported by Nicola Lupo of Sportando. Other participants included Keenan Evans, Briante Weber, Mychal Mulder, Rayvonte Rice, Wade Baldwin, Xavier Munford, and Matt Costello, according to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link).
- Grizzlies assistant Chad Forcier and Trail Blazers assistant David Vanterpool are two candidates to join the Timberwolves‘ coaching staff under Ryan Saunders, Wolfson notes in a separate tweet. Vanterpool interviewed for Minnesota’s head coaching job in mid-May.
- Multiple former Thunder coaches and executives are making an impact around the NBA today, Erik Horne of The Oklahoman writes. Among the successful league officials who spent some time in Oklahoma City are Vanterpool, Adrian Griffin (Raptors assistant coach) and Monty Williams (Suns head coach).
rubio consider returning to europe? 4 yr deal with starter minutes/money shouldn’t be hard to get
Kind of a repeat of the lead article, 3 hours apart!
Ricky Rubio is way too good to go back to Europe, I mean a 9APG per 36 min, is an absolute legend of a passer, should be many teams interested in a great passer, hustler, stealer & elite defender, I mean who wouldn’t want a guy like that. Also doesn’t need to dominate the ball.
Seriously anyone think D-Rose could go back to Utah, after the way they just cut him straight after trading for him… I don’t think so, not a good fit on or off the court, a real joke to include the name in the list.
Having said that, can’t see any of those guys going to Utah, best bet for them is to pay whatever it takes to keep Rubio or downgrade big time by trading for Conley.
I want to disagree with you. I watched a lot of Jazz games and I cringe watching Rubio play. He’ll make amazing plays a few times a game but he’s too careless with the ball. He’ll get caught in the air throw a bad pass turnover.
Rubio thinks he’s Michael Jordan sometimes the way he flies toward the basket recklessly, but it usually doesn’t end well.
On top of that he insists on shooting 3-pointers. Not sure what his percentage is but that flat shot that he aims before he flicks it just is not good.
I say let him walk.
Jazz must trade to get stars. No free agent going there unless they are BYU grads. It is not fun being an “outsider” in Utah. Rubio to Europe might be best for him.
He might need to depart Utah but there’s no conceivable way that him going to Europe when he’s playing at his current level is a good move or the best fit. He’s played in several other markets with no issue. If he’s not appreciated in SLC then I’m sure other teams would love to have him.