Timberwolves could change Flynn’s role
NEW YORK — It was like a mini-reunion for Niagara Falls during Thursday’s NBA draft. Jonny Flynn was preparing for his professional basketball career and his closest friends from the city were invited.
There to soak it all in were former high school teammates Rob Garrison, Tyrell Lynch and Dennis Crittenden. Garrison, the Niagara University guard who transferred from Connecticut, celebrated with another former teammate as UConn center Hasheem Thabeet, picked second by the Memphis Grizzlies, greeted him with a big hug.
But Garrison and the others were there for Flynn, the Cataract City’s shining star, who was grabbed with the sixth pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“This is crazy,” said Garrison, beaming. “I’m not leaving here until Jonny tells me.”
Flynn has always been a leader, having guided teams at the Falls and Syracuse at point guard for his entire career but as he joins the NBA will Flynn — at 6-foot — now become a shooting guard? Minnesota used its fifth pick to grab point guard Ricky Rubio then surprisingly selected Flynn one pick later. David Kahn, the Timberwolves’ president of basket-
ball operations, seemed to indicate that Flynn’s future will be off the ball.
“Jonny has a lot of scoring attributes,” Kahn said. “He averaged almost 18 points last year for Syracuse and that’s kind of what a two guard averages, not a point guard. . . . Jonny’s shot looks great and I think he will be a fine shooter at this level.”
During his news conference in Minneapolis on Friday, Flynn indicated he was prepared to make the adjustment.
“I think when you come into any NBA team, not just this one, they’re not going to change what they’re doing just for you,” he said. “They already have established players on their team so going into any situation you’re going to have to play off the ball a lot. At Syracuse, I dominated the ball a lot because coach [Jim] Boeheim wanted me to dominate the ball. Coming into any situation, you have to be open-minded about it and I think whatever the coach or the organization wants me to do, I’m going to be happy to do it.”
The selling point on Rubio came a few days ago when Kahn watched video tape of the Olympic gold medal game between the U. S. and Spain and Rubio, only 17, “looked like he belonged.”
“It’s weird,” Kahn said. “This kid was 17 years old playing against our very best professionals and you never looked up to say, ‘Who’s that young man or that young kid out there with those guys?’ I can’t describe it, I’ve never seen such a thing.”
Kahn sounds as if he is ready to turn the team over to Rubio, the Spanish guard who some have compared to the legendary Pete Maravich.
“Ricky Rubio is simply special,” Kahn said. “He has a feel to run and has a rhythm and the tempo for the game. He really is like an orchestra conductor. For a kid to be doing this at this age, I can’t tell you how remarkable that is.”
Kahn envisions a two point guard backcourt similar to when the Boston Celtics played with Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge and the Detroit Pistons with Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars in the ’80s.
“I’m not saying Jonny Flynn is Isiah,” Kahn said. “The point that I’m making is that people sometimes fall into a trap that things have to fit ever so neatly. I think the two kids we drafted are phenomenal basketball players and they are guards.”
Kahn figures defensively Flynn and Rubio will make their mark early. He said Flynn should develop into one of the league’s best on-the-ball defenders and Rubio, the youngest player in the draft, could grow an inch or two and undoubtedly become stronger.
“I think sometimes people look at things very formulaic and that’s OK because sometimes I do,” Kahn said. “But the way our game is being played these days it’s very guard-oriented because of the rules.”
Playing the two together is one school of thought. The other is to let them compete against each other and then package one in a trade for some help elsewhere. The Toronto Raptors did that when the traded point guard T. J. Ford after backup Jose Calderon developed to the point where the organization felt he could run the team.
Also, Rubio may not be available to the franchise immediately. He has a $6.6 million buyout of his contract with his Spanish League team which jumps up to $8 million if a deal can’t be reached by next Wednesday. Under NBA rules, the Wolves are allowed to pay only $500,000 toward Rubio’s buyout with the rest coming from Rubio’s NBA contract.
“If anybody is willing to wait a year or two for someone this talented, we’re the team,” Kahn said. “We understand how special he is and how unique because frankly, there hasn’t been anything like this. No one has ever played in the gold medal game against team USA at the age of 17.”
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