Ricky Rubio’s Timberwolves Teammates Excited About His ‘Crazy’ Passes

Excitement is building among Rubio’s new teammates in Minny, as they seem to enjoy the way he delivers the basketball to them. From the Star Tribune: “Just one single day spent playing with newly arrived Ricky Rubio and already his new Wolves teammates have caught something other than what instant believer Anthony Tolliver admiringly calls his ‘crazy’ passes. More than one of those teammates described Rubio as a contagion, and that’s a good thing on a team that often struggled to move the ball last season. ‘First time I’ve ever seen him play period, on film, anything,’ Tolliver said. ‘He’s actually better than I expected.’ To be sure, Thursday’s action at Target Center was only a pickup game among teammates who haven’t played a real game since springtime. But it did bring Rubio, Kevin Love, Anthony Randolph, Michael Beasley, Derrick Williams, Devean George and others together for some competition that featured more than anything the team’s new pass-first point guard. So how many ‘crazy’ passes did Rubio deliver on Thursday? ‘Every one,’ Tolliver said. ‘Every one he passes. It’s crazy. His regular passes are like, ‘Wow.’ He can see the floor about as good as anyone I’ve seen. Everyone has to have their hands up because otherwise the ball is going to hit you in the face.’ Randolph walked off the court afterward with no signs of ‘Spalding’ tattooed across his forehead. ‘Not yet,’ he said, ‘but he made some pretty spectacular passes. So I’m very excited to play with him. It’s very contagious the way he passes the ball. It kind of makes everyone want to make the extra pass. I love playing with Ricky. Great passer.’ Tolliver played with Tony Parker at San Antonio and Steph Curry at Golden State. After just one day with Rubio, he already made comparisons, and conclusions. ‘He sees the floor just as good as any of them, probably better,’ Tolliver said. ‘He and Steph Curry are about on the same level. He got the ball exactly where it needed to be when it needed to be there. That’s a special talent. Not every point guard in the league has that. It’s going to be real good for us.’ Asked if Rubio sees the game uniquely, Randolph said, ‘Yeah, I’ve never seen anything like it.'”