Making a point: Saunders needs Rubio to share his vision for Wolves

His efforts rejected the first time he accepted the Timberwolves coaching job, Flip Saunders is back again two decades later. This time it's with an open heart and open mind, yet he promises he'll demand just as much as when he was a younger man who formed rookie Stephon Marbury into an NBA point guard.

Bill Musselman was his demanding coach when Saunders was a freshman point guard at the University of Minnesota 40 years ago. That's the way Saunders has coached from his Continental Basketball Association years right through NBA jobs with the Wolves, Detroit, Washington and back again, prodding at one turn and providing enough freedom at the next to such players as Chauncey Billups, Sam Cassell and John Wall.

"I've had great success with guys," Saunders said, "but I'm hard on point guards."

This time his pupil is Ricky Rubio, in his fourth season with the Wolves, and with whom Saunders has entrusted his point guard-driven system in an association that will go far toward determining their team's success this season and beyond.

With Kevin Love now gone to Cleveland, Rubio steps forth as something of the franchise's face and team leader at a time his agent is negotiating a long-term future in Minnesota. The results of those conversations could be agreed upon by late Friday night's deadline.

Saunders' arrival as Wolves president of basketball operations and then coach wasn't enough to convince Love to stay. Now the union he forges in both jobs with Rubio will shape the young point guard's career arc and the franchise's future as well.

Saunders never played the game beyond college, and Rubio plays it with a proficiency and flare that Saunders might not always find familiar, but in many ways they consider themselves the same.

"He knows how a point guard feels," Rubio said. "Every player is different. But at point guard, if you want to share the ball and make your teammates better, like I have to do, he used to do it, too. It's something we share."

Building trust

It's not exactly a unique relationship. The NBA's history is filled with former point guards from varying levels of ball who coached other point guards. Rubio's last coach, Rick Adelman, played serviceably in the league for seven seasons long ago, for example.

Across the league, from Milwaukee's Jason Kidd to the Los Angeles Clippers' Doc Rivers and Oklahoma City's Scott Brooks, former point guards-turned-coaches play on through another younger man's eyes and legs.

"I don't know if that necessarily translates into being a good point guard coach, but you understand the position because you played it," said Brooks, a former NBA backup who also played for Musselman with the Wolves long ago and now coaches the gifted Russell Westbrook. "There's not a point guard in the history of the game who doesn't have four players who want the ball and a coach who wants him to deliver the ball. Coaches who played that position understand the enormous stress a point guard goes through every night."

Saunders thinks of himself and the relationships he builds with point guards as something unique.

"The dynamics of how I coach and the responsibility I give point guards is a lot different," Saunders said.

Perhaps that's because he invested so much of himself while teaching Marbury the professional nuances of the position before Marbury dumped him and the team by forcing a trade during his third NBA season. Saunders did much the same with Billups during two seasons in Minnesota (2000-02), when Billups found himself as a point guard, before the two eventually reunited in Detroit. Or perhaps he remembers all those late-night phone calls with No. 1 overall draft pick John Wall from the one full season Saunders coached him in Washington (2010-11).

All these years later, Saunders said he still talks weekly with Billups regarding all kinds of matters, a friendship he calls an example of the trust he builds with his point guards.

"It's important you build relationships with those guys," Saunders said. "They have to think like you. You have to be into their heads to know what they're comfortable doing. You build that relationship and they'll trust you on the floor, trust that you're going to put them in situations where they have a chance to be successful."

The buck stops …

Part drill sergeant, part father figure, Saunders now turns his attention to an already mostly molded point guard, a 10-year pro in Spain and the NBA who's undeniably polished in every area of his game except for shooting and scoring.

Just as it was when he was a 19-year-old playing for Musselman, a maniacal sideline presence, Saunders believes his point guards are a direct extension of himself.

Musselman's philosophy, which Saunders adopted: If any teammate on the floor errs, the point guard is to blame. If a big man takes a bad shot and misses, the point guard shouldn't have passed him the ball.

"It forces your point guard and it forces the other players to know he's the guy if something goes wrong," Saunders said. "It's like the quarterback in football. If things go well, you're great and when things go bad, it's your responsibility. I always thought as a point guard, that's something you thrive on."

Rubio has worked daily with the team's new shooting coach, Mike Penberthy, hired in good part to specifically help Rubio on his mechanics. During training camp, he was seen reading a book on leadership. Saunders also believes his offense and Love's absence will create more space for Rubio to work and more room to drive to the basket, whether it's to create a shot for himself or his teammates. He called Rubio "more aggressive" offensively this preseason because of those factors.

"I'm trying to improve in all kinds of areas," Rubio said. "Of course, the big guy is not on the team anymore. Somebody has to step up. I don't think it's only one player. Of course, I have to step up my game, and I'm working hard to do it. I'm trying to be more vocal, talk more. Like I always say, I don't like to talk much. I lead more by example."

Falling for Ricky

Saunders suggests language — even though Rubio fluently speaks English — remains an issue when Rubio is making quick decisions on the court. He praised Rubio's work ethic and his willingness to try to improve in suggested areas, such as the aforementioned leadership and shooting.

"I've come to like him more than I even liked [him] before, and I liked him before," Saunders said during the preseason. "He's shown a lot of leadership, and you don't have to worry about Ricky. He's going to play hard every time he steps on the floor."

If the Wolves don't agree with Rubio's agent on a contract extension by 11 p.m. Friday, Rubio will become a restricted free agent next summer. The two sides can finalize a four-year deal now — perhaps worth as much as $52 million, if Rubio's side agrees — or agent Dan Fegan will wait until next summer to gauge his market value then.

Either way, the Wolves will have the right to match any offer and keep Rubio in Minnesota, unlike long ago when Marbury forced his way to New Jersey with a breakup that still might leave Saunders wondering what if …

"K.G. always said he felt something left when Steph did because of the amount of time and energy you invest," Saunders said, referring to Kevin Garnett. "It's like being jilted when you're younger. But you get over it in time and other challenges come up."

And now that challenge is building trust — and a dependable scoring game — with another young point guard, this one who turned 24 this month.

Saunders uses this story to describe how he handles point guards and gets them to perform their best late in games: Early in his career, someone asked him about it and he cited jockey and horse racing legend Willie Shoemaker.

"When he was on the horse, the horse didn't know he was there," Saunders said. "But when he pulled the reins, the horse knew. That's the same way I deal with point guards: I give them the freedom to go, but I'll pull in the reins to get them to do what we need in the system."