"On the day the Minnesota Timberwolves formally introduced Ricky Rubio as the newest member of the team, club president of basketball operations David Kahn had to reassure the Spanish point guard that he is not trading him.

"Ricky Rubio will not be traded by the Minnesota Timberwolves," Kahn said during today's press conference for Rubio on the Target Center floor. "You can go to sleep on that."

Kahn also denied the Timberwolves were considering a deal with the Los Angeles Lakers that would bring the Timberwolves seven-foot center Pau Gasol, a Spanish native and friend of Rubio's, in exchange for All-Star forward Kevin Love and the team's No. 2 pick in Thursday night's NBA draft.

Other than that, as Timberwolves broadcaster Tom Hanneman pointed out when he introduced Rubio to begin the press conference, "It's a great day for the Timberwolves organization."

Rubio, speaking carefully in English, spoke of being "comfortable" with the Timberwolves organization and his desire to help the team develop a winning tradition. The Timberwolves have not made the NBA playoffs since 2004 and were 32-132 over the past two seasons.

"This is a dream come true for me to be here," Rubio said. "I know the expectations are very big. We probably won't win the championship like I did at home, but I'm ready to help the team out." "