Westbrook Welcomes Rubio to the NBA

We've been doing more than a little bit of coverage of Thursday's NBA draft on The Baseline (click here for all the posts associated with the draft) but one guy that seems to be making his way from just hardcore hoops heads into the mainstream is Ricky Rubio. While Blake Griffin is the No. 1 pick, he's such a sure thing that all the intrigue seems to surround the international man of mystery with the seven-figure buyout.

It's possible that, with last night's deal to acquire the No. 5 pick, the Timberwolves might move up to No. 2 in order to snatch Ricky Rubio, but what happens if he slips to No. 3? ESPN reports the Thunder could snatch up Rubio with the No. 3 pick. But wait, the Thunder already took a point guard -- Russell Westbrook -- who wound up being a great pick last season. Mr. Westbrook, after a good first season at point guard, how would you feel about sliding over to shooting guard so Rubio can take your old job? His retort in ESPN the Magazine:

"You trippin'."

And you know what? You are indeed trippin' if you bring in Ricky Rubio and try to move Russell Westbrook off the ball. A point guard averaging 15.3 points, 5.3 assists and 4.9 rebounds probably shouldn't be moved. And more to the point, why upset one of the best young groups of talent in the NBA with an unwanted influence?

Here's why it won't happen: Sam Presti is smart. I mean really smart. Think I'm kidding? The search "Sam Presti Genius" returns 5,930 results on Google! The guy has a long-standing history of quite literally turning nothing into something -- most famously making two first round picks appear out of thin air in the Kurt Thomas deal. In other words, Presti knows better than to screw this up.

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