I'm just curious...at the end of the NBA season when Jonny Flynn is named Rookie of the Year while Ricky Rubio is still flopping in Europe, how will Minnesota GM Dave Kahn spin it? Most likely, he'll go with the "we always knew Jonny was a special player..." schpiel. But I'd like to think that there's an outside chance he'll try to make out that all this stuff about Ricky Rubio being the future of the Timberwolves was "just a stunt to really motivate Jonny, who was our #1 guy all-along." I think he's got it in him.
Jonny's certainly off to a good start on that road with the NBA Summer League winding down. He was named Rookie of the Month for his work in the Summer League.
In games on Friday and Saturday, Flynn scored 45 points on only 21 field goal attempts, utilizing pick-and-roll plays to get into the paint at will and draw several fouls.
"Here in the NBA it’s like the lane is wide open," Flynn said. "There’s more space out there. So there’s more opportunities to create off the bounce."
TrueHoop called him the "single most electric guard here in Vegas." True to form though, Jonny lamented the team's lack of wins. They only won one of their five games.
Jonny also keeps saying all the right things about holdout Ricky Rubio, though there's a not-so-thinly-veiled point in how he says it:
If he were to come in and play beside me, we'd be a better team. He's going to make our team that much better. I'd love to have him by my side, making me better."
"Our team." "By my side." Kahn might want Rubio to be the fact of the team but all signs point to Rubio being too soft in the personality department while Jonny just oozes top-dog mentality.
Jonny wasn't the only former Orange on the T'Wolves roster as Paul Harris wrapped up the summer as well. Paul didn't get too much PT though he did log 20 minutes against the Bulls to close out the session. Paul apparently doesn't expect much of an offer to come in from Minnesota as he apparently says he "hopes he got somebody's attention as he continues to figure out where he might play this coming year."
Demetris Nichols also played sparingly for the Bulls and Darryl Watkins suited up for the Rockets. Neither seemed to make much of an impact unfortunately.
Check out Jonny's vicious windmill slam at the 1:30 mark:
Some more Jonny highlights in case you missed them...
And here's a report on Flynn and Harris, together again, courtesy of Ryan Miller (confiscate the tape!)