Ricky Rubio is now the leader of the Minnesota Timberwolves. He has lost the best teammate he has had in his entire career. That usually spells disaster for any player. But this case is exceptional in many ways.

Rubio was touted years before he set foot in the NBA, and with every year that the Wolves waited for him, the pressure mounted. In every year that Kevin Love played, they fell short despite his statistics. When Rubio decided to make the jump to the NBA was supposed to be the answer.

The T-Wolves used precious lottery picks for Rubio, even passing on Stephen Curry to draft him. That's not the Spaniard's fault (or mistake, if you want to look at it that way). But as Kevin Love's stats kept improving and the T- Wolves still continues to lose, the blame fell on his shoulders. 

A more detailed look from Vice Sports:

"In a lot of ways Rubio was asked to develop more quickly than may have been fair. In the one season between Rubio being drafted and actually making it over to the NBA, Love became a star; a status that was further cemented during Rubio's rookie season which both started late and ended early because of injuries. By the time he was fully rehabbed and ready to begin his second season Rubio would have just a handful of opportunities to play with Love before a set of ill-fated knuckle-pushups ended Love's season. Rubio and Love were supposed to be the Timberwolves' young core. They were supposed to grow alongside each other, intertwining development and skill sets like two trees wrapping around each other in the forest-Stockton and Malone for a new generation."

The timing was not perfect, and perhaps he was really not a good match for Love. The Timberwolves line-up kept changing around Love and Rubio and this stunted their development.

Now all that changes. With Love gone, Rubio will get Andrew Wiggins, an uber-talented prospect with a newly minted chip on his shoulder. Rubio has young guys who will follow his lead this time.

"Rubio has an opportunity that is rarely afforded to young players who were drafted high and have fallen short. He has three years of experience under his belt, hasn't had to move cities, and still gets the opportunity to be part of an organization who's status quo and goals for the future are suddenly a perfect match for his own. Make layups, make jumpshots, make his teammates better in an offense which functions effectively, regardless of the score or the time remaining in the game; focus on process until the product arrives. Losing your best teammate would seem to make the game harder, but things just may be getting easier for Ricky Rubio."

The Timberwolves won't have it easy at first, but they had no choice because Love was walking away next year. This is the best situation they can get into.