Timberwolves point guard and adorable Spanish cherub Ricky Rubio was supposed to be ahead of schedule in his recovery from a “significant” ankle sprain. Yet the Associated Press is reporting he “also damaged some muscles and ligaments that lead from his ankle to his toes,” and now the timetable for his return is more obfuscated than previously thought.
The AP’s always informative Jon Krawczynski has the news:
It has been almost 11 weeks since he went down with a severely sprained left ankle, and the length of his recovery has drawn impatience from a fan base desperate to see Rubio throw lob passes to Andrew Wiggins.
But on a night when the Wolves finally got center Nikola Pekovic back from a 31-game absence, coach Flip Saunders shed some light on the nature of Rubio’s injury. Saunders said Rubio not only suffered a high ankle sprain against Orlando on Nov. 7, but also damaged some muscles and ligaments that lead from his ankle to his toes, prolonging the recovery process.
“It’s not him not wanting to play or not working,” Saunders said before Wednesday night’s game against Dallas. “He’s doing everything he can. We as an organization and the doctors who are involved have been the ones who have tried to hold him back.”
[…]
Saunders said Rubio, who signed a four-year, $55 million contract extension in October that will kick in next season, visited two specialists recently and both cautioned that a return too soon could cause a stress fracture in his leg that would only compound his problems.
“It’s a very unique ankle sprain,” Saunders said. “They said at the time it’s going to be worse than a high ankle sprain, and everyone knows those go eight to 12 weeks. So it has nothing to do with him not wanting to play.”
It’s probably best if Ricky sits the remainder of the season out, or at least until sometime in March. But we can understand fans wanting to see their point guard of the future playing with their team of the future — specifically Wiggins, as Krawczynski notes.
Minnesota currently has just as many wins (7) as the Knicks — the team with the worst record in the NBA. They’re in the bottom five for offensive and defensive rating and only they things they do even moderately well (they’re ranked 10th in assists) appear to be solved by Rubio’s re-introduction. They’re just a bad basketball team right now and Rubio’s presence won’t solve any of that.
The T-Wolves are cleaning the bilge of the Western Conference ship and if by returning too soon he could exacerbate the injury and lead to a stress fracture, then it’s idiotic to even think about rushing him. Rational Timberwolves fans understand this. Let Rubio come back at his own pace, just like Bulls fans allowed* Derrick Rose.
*HAH!
What do you think?
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