Ricky Rubio participates in first full contact practice with team this season – NBA News
Ricky Rubio took part in his first team practice on Sunday to the relief of not only himself and the team trainers, but also the Minnesota Timberwolves squad who have been waiting for him to return all season long. Rubio tore his ACL back in March which shut him down for the season and started a long and difficult journey back to full strength. Sunday marked a milestone in his recovery, when he practiced with teammates for the first time.
"After a long time, I'm on the court again. It felt pretty good to start knowing my teammates again,” said Rubio.
Although he is progressing well with the recovery, there is still some time to go before Rubio can start trusting his knee once again and start cutting lanes and driving the way he used to. The team trainers are examining him closely and do not want to take any risks with the franchise point guard, who would rather be patient with his recovery than hurt himself again as he recovers from the first injury of his career.
Rubio ran five on five drills on Sunday, and showed highlights of the skills that made him one of the most exciting guards to watch last season and helped catapult the Wolves to playoff positioning. He did feel some discomfort in his knee on occasions, but trainers expected that as some of the scar tissues from the surgery breaks up.
"It will feel weird for a while. Until I'm feeling great and nothing at all about my knee, I'm not going to play. Actually, I'm happy about today. I felt pretty good, but I want to be perfect. I have to work hard. I have to keep working and see where I'm at.” added Rubio.
Wolves head coach Rick Adelman was happy to see Rubio back on the court and said that he showed some of the signs that made him a top guard in the league last season. He hopes to have Rubio back as soon as possible so that he can take control of a Wolves team that was expected to turn heads this season after some roster upgrades in the offseason, but that has only managed to stay around the 0.5 win ratio so far.
"That's there. He showed that today. He passed the ball very well, got to spots. That's always going to be there. It's just going to be his conditioning and his legs and how long can he go? That's going to be the biggest thing,” said Adelman.
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