Shooting coach Mike Penberthy didn't return to the Timberwolves this season on a full-time basis, but he will continue to work with pupil Ricky Rubio and maybe others, including Zach LaVine, both during visits to Minneapolis and when the Wolves play closer to Penberthy's Los Angeles-area home.
Penberthy served as the Wolves' shooting-coach specialist last season but reached a mutual agreement with the team that he would not return, partly because he didn't want to be apart from his family for the entire season.
"It depends on the games, how many minutes I play, how tired I am," Rubio said. "But I'm probably going to work out with him as much as I can. It's a good relationship I built last year with him and I want to keep building. It's something that is good for me."
Penberthy often said last season that Rubio's shooting would get worse before it got better as the two deconstructed his shot and corrected flaws before they put it back together with the correct form and rhythm.
He shot a career-low 25.5 percent on three-pointers last season when he played just 22 games because of a severely sprained ankle. His career-best season on three-pointers was his lockout- and injury-shortened season when he shot 34 percent.
Rubio continues to work on his improved midrange game, shooting as he comes off screens. It's a shot that is so crucial in an NBA game built around the pick-and-roll game, one that Rubio calls "the key of the game right now."
But he also acknowledges he needs to improve that three-point shot, and has. He said he made 89 of 100 shooting in the gym Sunday night.
"That's my record," he said. "Pretty good, but let's see in the game."