Sam Amick tweeports that Ricky Rubio will be staying in Sacramento the entire day in order to get those drills in this afternoon and to further meet and greet the Kings personnel this evening. Rubio watched the (predominantly not star-studded) work-out this morning.
Since this all bolsters the surrealness of Rubio's interest in the Kings, it's a good spot to discuss one more theory as to why Rubio's camp has made Sacramento a priority.
We know the hard Rubio math by now. That buy-out will hurt, and NBA rookies make relatively little for four years. Perhaps in our quest to wish Rubio down to No. 4 we are forgetting a beat: the No. 2 pick will make $3.6 million next year. The No. 4 pick will make $2.9 million. In 2010-11, the numbers are $3.9 million and $3.1 million. Over just the first two years of the rookie contract, that's $1.5 million. When Rubio stands to lose a remarkable chunk of change in the buy-out (wherever it ends up), that $1.5 million -- more than $3 million over the four years of the rookie scale contract -- makes a huge difference.
Sacramento's a good fit for Rubio The Player. But there's no doubt Dan Fegan would like to make Sacramento such a good fit the Kings trade with Memphis to get Ricky. Among all teams, it would seem on the surface that Sacramento has the clearest path to the No. 2 pick, what with a high lottery pick of their own, young big men, other picks and a decent expiring contract (Kenny Thomas). Fegan's smart. He knows the situation fully. He knows the best way to get Ricky No. 2 pick money without going to the team picking No. 2 is to make Sacramento -- Petrie, the Maloofs, even Kevin Martin and the fans -- fall head over feet in love with La Pistola.
Maybe this is cynical, or maybe my previous post was too starry-eyed. You decide.