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Frustrated Ricky Rubio says Timberwolves ‘playing the wrong way’

The Timberwolves are young, but young teams should be the ones that show some of the most progress throughout the season.

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Minnesota Timberwolves guard Ricky Rubio (9) dribbles as Washington Wizards center Moritz Wagner (21) defends during a Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021, game at Capital One Arena. Rubio said the 7-28 TImberwolves are not making needed changes. Brad Mills / USA TODAY Sports

Since he was hired to run the Timberwolves’ basketball operations almost two years ago, Gersson Rosas has spoken of building a winning culture, one the franchise can harness on its path to reaching championship contention.

Yet midway through the 2020-21 season, it’s hard to see any evidence of such. The Timberwolves are 7-28, the worst record in the NBA. They’re consistently blown out by upper-tier competition, and signs of improvement are sporadic.

“I don’t feel like this is building something,” veteran point guard Ricky Rubio said. “It’s hard. You always have to take positive things and of course we want to get better, but at one point we got to start wanting to change something, and it’s not happening.”

There are a lot of things, Rubio noted, that need to be corrected and improve upon. He’s hopeful the couple days off between Sunday’s loss to Phoenix and Wednesday’s game against Charlotte can help.

“We can lose in overtime like we did in Chicago, but can’t lose the way we did in Washington (on Saturday) and (Sunday),” Rubio said of weekend blowouts. “It’s more on us to compete, be in every game, start with everybody. Kat, Ant, me, got to lead out there. Everybody got to do a better job.”

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Rubio always points the finger at himself first. He’s been better of late, last two games withstanding, but said he can always up his communication and leadership.

“And with the roster, fix things here and there,” Rubio said.

The Timberwolves are young. Really young. Never more so than when they’re missing multiple “veterans” such as Malik Beasley and D’Angelo Russell. But that can only be an excuse for so long. Young teams should be the ones that show some of the most progress throughout the season.

“When you’re young and you gotta play through the mistakes, I understand,” Rubio said. “But at one point, if you do the same mistake over and over again, it means you’re not learning. Learning through mistakes as a young team can happen, but then make different mistakes. I think we’re doing the same mistakes over and over. On offense, bad shot selection. On defense, communication.”

That’s been this team’s story all season. Those mistakes are compounding at the most inopportune times. Rubio pointed out a period Sunday in which Phoenix ran the same action with slight variations maybe 10 different times, scoring in multiple different ways. It didn’t matter that Minnesota knew the play and was literally calling it out in real time.

“We couldn’t stop it, and it’s because we’re not ready to take it to the next level,” Rubio said. “Basketball, it’s easy and hard at the same time. It’s easy if it’s played the right way. It’s so hard to play when you’re playing the wrong way. It’s five guys who have to be connected. Half a second late here and there, it changes everything. We don’t realize how important it is to be ready.”

It’s OK to be a young team that loses games, but there have to be signs of improvement. Rubio noted it’s especially difficult for a young team that is trying to develop to also experience a midseason coaching change like the one the Wolves just endured.

“Sometimes, as players, we always want to win now, but I guess we’ve got to be patient,” Rubio said.

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But how patient? You can’t wait forever for wins and improvement. Sure, Philadelphia did. The 76ers won a combined 47 games over three seasons from 2013-16, then made the playoffs in the 2017-18 season. But is that the path forward this franchise wants to chart?

“I kind of don’t believe in that kind of system,” Rubio said. “We have to build good habits from day one, and I don’t think we are in the right way, to be honest.”

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