Everyone is talking about Ricky Rubio’s contract…

Ricky Rubio must sign a contract extension before the end of October to avoid restricted free agency in the summer of 2015.

Locally, there has been a great deal of talk surrounding what the Wolves’ front office may or may not be willing to stretch their offer to, and reportedly, the Wolves have stuck firm at a four-year, $48 million offer. Many, including ESPN 1500’s Darren Wolfson, feel that they won’t move off of this number.

The key is the Wolves’ willingness to allow the market to set Rubio’s true value. Flip Saunders and Milt Newton appear to feel very confident in the rest of the NBA not thinking a whole lot of Rubio (relatively speaking, of course). They could very well have a decent pulse on the situation, as they surely have received trade calls for the still-just-23-years-old point guard, and should be able to assess what other organizations would be willing to throw at Rubio and his agent in the form of an offer sheet after the 2014-15 season.

Then again, some of the more savvy, analytically-inclined organizations are the ones that could be laying in the weeds, waiting for any signs of improvement in Rubio’s scoring at the rim to solidify him as a top-flight point guard as he hits free agency.

After all, Rubio is one of the best defensive players in the entire NBA, and the numbers accentuate this far beyond the so-called “eye test”. It remains unclear if Saunders and Co. acknowledge this or not, and this could ultimately be what causes Rubio to be undervalued by his own organization.

As it stands currently, ESPN has posted a number of articles surrounding the intriguing negotiations, and Rubio is currently the lead story on ESPN.com’s NBA page.

Steve McPherson, also of the fantastic A Wolf Among Wolves and FanSided’s own Hardwood Paroxysm has a very good feature piece that focuses on Rubio’s goal to improve his leadership on this young, suddenly Love-less squad, both verbally and through leading by example. An excerpt:

"One of the newest (but also most veteran) Timberwolves players, Mo Williams, thinks Rubio has started to take those steps. “From the time I’ve been here, he’s taken that level,” Williams said on the first day of Wolves training camp. “Yesterday he was reading a book on the way up here and it was in a language I can’t read so I said, ‘What kind of book is that?’ And he said, ‘It’s a book on how to be more aggressive and lead and things like that.’ That lets you know it’s in his mental. He wants to lead and he’s in a great position now. It’s not, ‘Whose team is it?’ It’s his team.”"

DJ Foster of ESPN.com posted another entry in his series of “Then & Now & Later” articles, this time focusing on Rubio. It’s a solid breakdown of Rubio’s basketball career to this point, highlighting early expectations through his current shortcomings.

As you follow the above links, be sure to keep Rubio’s age in perspective as you read.

Foster hits on this at the very end of the piece — there is still so, so much to be hopeful for in regards to Rubio’s career. I’ll leave you with the final paragraph of Foster’s article.

Flip Saunders could certainly stand to read this paragraph a few times.

"But it’s easy to forget that what drew so many to Rubio in the first place can’t be taught or acquired. His vision is a rare and undeniable gift, and it’s hard to imagine he’ll squander it forever by failing to supplement it with more refined skill and scoring, even if he doesn’t need to in order to survive."