On Tuesday, Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio finally had his introductory press conference as a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Rubio’s arrival to Minnesota has been much discussed and long awaited, and the scrutiny and interest in the former 2009 first round draft pick will only escalate from here.
Following the presser, Rubio spent a few minutes talking with Dan Barreiro of KFAN in Minneapolis (interview begins at 30:30 mark) to talk about his experience playing against the United States in the Olympics, what he feels he needs to work on in order to have success against much tougher NBA competition, how he plans to go about making those improvements to his game, not being bothered by the Timberwolves head coach situation, not being one who thinks much about the size of the market he’s playing in, and why he thinks the Wolves are in a great position to make substantial improvements in upcoming seasons.
If he thinks he needs to improve his ability to shoot and score:
“Yeah I have to improve that. That’s why I like Steve Nash because he can control everything. He can control the way to score, the way to pass, and I would like to be close like him some day. I have to improve and one of the things is scoring and I’m going to try hard next year.”
If he is willing to improve his game and add to that:
“Yeah I’m prepared about that. I’ve improved as a player the last three years in Barcelona and when I was in Juventus too and I’m going to improve here too. I’m here to practice every day and be ready to help the team.”
How much tougher he thinks the NBA will be compared to playing overseas:
“Yeah. I think I’m prepared. I have to improve but the two games I played against the U.S. I felt comfortable playing against them because physically we can run the court too.”
Whether or not he would rather be playing in a bigger market:
“No I think the Timberwolves are the right team because they are young, they are going up, and they can make mistakes, but everybody is on the same page in here to build a good team, to grow as a team, and I can help them do that. I feel so comfortable since I came here, they showed me how they won, and I’m so happy with that.”