http://www.nba.com/timberwolves/news/The_Latest_On_Rubio-090626.html Patience is a virtue. The Ricky Rubio situation will take time due to the extraordinary circumstances surrounding his buyout with DKV Joventut. "It’s been a very hard period for he and his family because of the buyout situation; at least that’s my sense," president of basketball operations David Kahn said. "I want to be very respectful of that. Also, I know his parents don’t speak very much English. I’m sure it’s been a very difficult time in certain ways. I want to provide space and make certain that we are not being perceived as aggressive. We’ll let it be.” And the Timberwolves franchise is prepared for all the possibilities. "I don’t feel any pressure on behalf of the organization and we don’t feel any need to put pressure on anybody. What we did was the right thing to do, I truly believe that. And I believe it was the right thing for the entire organization," Kahn added. Wolves' fans would like to see the super-skilled point guard in a uniform this upcoming season. Unfortunately, Rubio and his family are working to settle the financial particulars overseas. As the No. 6 pick Jonny Flynn and No. 28 pick Wayne Ellington took the podium on Friday afternoon to greet the local media, Rubio did not join the group for various reasons. Certainly, Kahn was sensitive to the whirlwind media attention around the Rubio camp, "As I shared with you very candidly today, I told the agent we would be willing to wait if it made it easier for them. We want to be supportive and helpful on that front because I do believe the contractual issue is a little thorny. To the extent that if it means we have to wait a year, we wait a year. If it means two years, two years. He’s 18. If we had to wait god forbid two years, he’d be 20 when he got here. That’s pretty young. The last thing we need to do is become overwrought today. The way I look at it, this was a gift. I didn’t see any plausible scenario this occur. When you also want to examine it from the standpoint of the Foye/Miller trade, we trade Randy and Mike in the last year of their contract for Ricky Rubio.” Kahn made it abundantly clear that the team is prepared to play the waiting game for a player who just turned 18. "My sense tells me that there has been an up-tick in enthusiasm and excitement this week on what the future may hold," Kahn said. "I’ve said this analogy, I think personally when the train is going down the tracks in the wrong direction, the first thing you have to do is stop the train. And then you start moving back in the opposite direction. I don’t know where we are. I’ll let you decide where we are in that train movement. But I believe that we may have stopped the train and we’re starting to push it back a bit. It takes time. I’m sorry. I’ll be asking for patience a lot. We’ll have to have a lot of patience from our supporters and our fan base. We are a work in progress. It is far from complete. I get that. I recognize that. We have a lot of work to do to make this a championship caliber.” The Wolves have received phone calls from teams inquiring about the possibility of a deal for Rubio. At this time, Minnesota holds a variety of options after using the No. 5 overall pick on Thursday night. The Wolves can place Flynn at the point guard spot for the 2009-10 season while Rubio plays one or two more years for DKV Joventut. “Let me start by saying this. I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t pick up the phone and listen. But that goes for all our players. There’s no one special player. Al knows that and Kevin knows that. As much as I think I hope everyone would like to be here, I would say this: Shaquille O’Neal, who I think may be one of the five best centers of all time, just last season third team all-NBA, will be playing on his fifth team next year. That’s incredible when you think about it. May I add also traded, as the esteemed Bill Simmons would say, for a bag of donuts this week. My point is I think as much as I would like to portray for all of our guys we’re here forever, we all know, myself included, maybe we’re not. You have to answer the phone, you have to listen. But we’re in no mode right now to make any trade,” Kahn said. There is no denying the extreme talent that Rubio possesses, which may force Minnesota to remain on standby until he can solve the issue with his team. Rubio averaged 6.1 assists for DKV Joventut while posting 10.0 points per game. The highlight of Rubio's career in the mind of most Americans was the impressive performance against the US team in the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Rubio went head-to-head against the Redeem Team point guards, including Deron Williams and Chris Paul. National pundits have compared Rubio to Pete Maravich and Jason Kidd with his overwhelming passing skills. Youtube is the home to several of the highlight reel no-look passes for a player that resembles the fifth member of the Beatles. If the hype matches the end product, Rubio will be a transcendent player for the Wolves and worth the wait. --

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