When the St. Louis Rams decided to trade the No. 2 overall pick in April’s NFL draft for a bevy of other picks, it was pretty much thought that the Vikings, with the No. 3 pick, wouldn’t have much leverage left to trade down for more picks.

But those chances, albeit still slim, may have changed with the Rams’ agreement to exchange the No. 2 pick with Washington for three first-round picks and a second-round pick. The Redskins made the deal so they can choose quarterback Robert Griffin III from Baylor.

The Rams now have Washington’s No. 6 overall pick. St. Louis would love to have cornerback Morris Claiborne of Louisiana State or wide receiver Justin Blackmon of Oklahoma State.

It wouldn’t be surprising if the Rams at least try to make a deal with the Vikings for the No. 3 pick. If St. Louis were to offer the No. 6 pick plus one of its second-round picks, Minnesota general manager Rick Spielman, who then would have the No. 6 pick and two second-round picks, certainly would find such an offer enticing.

There’s also the possibility that still another team would want to trade with the Vikings to move up to take running back Trent Richardson of Alabama.

The safe pick for the Vikings at No. 3 remains offensive lineman Matt Kalil of Southern California.

Among Spanish national basketball officials who saw Timberwolves guard Ricky Rubio play three games at Target Center last week was Juan Maria Gavalda Robert, the president of Spain’s basketball coaches association, which oversees its Olympic team.

Robert was at the game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night when Rubio tore a ligament, ending his season and probably his chances of playing in the Olympics this summer in London.

“Ricky is shooting better than he did in Barcelona, and he’s making better decisions when to shoot,” Robert said.

Robert is technical director for Rubio’s one-week summer camp in Banyoles, Spain, about 100 miles from Barcelona. He said 51 percent of the camp’s 250 youngsters are girls, 49 percent boys.

Robert also said Rubio’s sister, Lila, 15, is considering playing basketball next school year in Minnesota, and perhaps playing college basketball in Minnesota.

Wolves owner Glen Taylor said Saturday that the team planned to continue Rubio’s development over the summer.

“This first year was so important for him, and now he’ll be away from the team for quite awhile,” Taylor said. “The team has been emerging lately, and we’ll ask other players to step up. Those are my expectations. It’s all part of it. This is when we ask a seasoned coach and players to take on a little bit more. Maybe another rookie guard, Malcolm Lee, can help.”

It looks like Michigan State and Duke lead the early recruiting sweepstakes for Apple Valley sophomore point guard Tyus Jones, with Minnesota in third place. Jones made an unofficial visit to East Lansing the other day, and Duke is said to be willing to bypass the signing of any other point guards if Jones will commit.

Gophers athletics director Joel Maturi, asked Saturday about a contract extension for men’s basketball coach Tubby Smith, who is signed through the 2013-14 season: “Any contract extension obviously (works) two ways. Tubby’s got to agree, and his lawyer’s got to agree, with conditions. It’s not just a matter of years; it’s a matter of money and all those kind of things. I’m confident something will be worked out to the satisfaction of Tubby and Gopher basketball.”

Update on former Twins: In four games for the Colorado Rockies this spring, Michael Cuddyer is hitting .375 with four runs batted in, Jason Kubel is hitting .167 in five games for the Arizona Diamondbacks with no RBIs, and Kevin Slowey has given up four hits in two innings for the Cleveland Indians.

Hardly anyone noticed, but the 6-foot-4, 300-pound guy hitting a couple of balls over the fence at a Twins minor league field the other day in Fort Myers, Fla., was Matt Birk.

The six-time Pro Bowl player and former Vikings center has been vacationing with his family in Naples, Fla., and wanted to see some spring training workouts. When a Twins employee invited him to take batting practice before regular minor league player workouts began, Birk responded by banging a couple pitches over the fence.

He got about two dozen swings in.

“It was a blast,” he said. “I should have played baseball.”

The last organized baseball Birk played was in grade school at Nativity.

“I stunk; I was so bad in grade school that I didn’t even try out for baseball in high school,” he said. “I played right field, second base, batting eighth. I was terrible.”

Birk swings right-handed.

“I grew up playing stickball, and this really brought me back to my childhood,” he said. “I was like a little kid again. It was a rush.”

Birk, 35, contrary to a report elsewhere, has not retired from football and intends to play again next season. Last season was his third in a three-year contract with the Baltimore Ravens. He is a free agent now.

The red circle with the No. 13 on the helmets of players for St. Thomas Academy’s Class A state champion hockey team was to honor injured Benilde-St. Margaret’s player Jack Jablonski.

For geographic and economic reasons, Blake Hoffarber, the former Gophers sharpshooter, has declined two basketball offers from teams in Turkey and one in Germany. The former Mr. Basketball Minnesota from Hopkins hopes to play for a NBA D-League team.

Meanwhile, Hoffarber has offers from a handful of local companies if he decides to begin a business career.

The first guy to use a curved stick in college hockey is believed to be former Gophers star Noel Jenke of Owatonna, Minn., in the late 1960s. Jenke, a three-sport star, also played linebacker for the Vikings.

Add LaTroy Hawkins, now with the Los Angeles Angels, Eric Milton, Denny Hocking and Joe Mays to the group of 2002 Twins who will be honored Opening Day on April 9 at Target Field when the Twins celebrate the 10th anniversary of that club against the Angels.

A group of a dozen 2002 Twins will make the ceremonial first pitch for the opener.

Target Field’s winter covering peeled back this weekend to show a bright green grass field.

Ex-Viking Randall McDaniel, who teaches elementary school in the Twin Cities, received Arizona State’s Alumni Achievement Award the other day.

John Rizzardini, who recently left as the Wild’s VP for ticket sales, has been named chief marketing officer at Oregon State.

Ex-Gopher Ben Utecht, on former Colts teammate Peyton Manning: “(NFL analyst) Tom Jackson said when he saw him (recently) throw, it looked like the Peyton of old, and that there was going to be a day very soon when he’s completely back. I completely agree with that.”

New National Collegiate Hockey Conference Commissioner Jim Scherr will be in town this week to observe the WCHA playoffs. Scherr is a former CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Two Timberwolves games, two Gophers men’s hockey games, a Wild game and the state boys hockey tournaments made for a nice economic weekend (nearly 80,000 tickets sold) for local sports and businesses.

Popular former Timberwolf Mark “Mad Dog” Madsen, 36, a former Stanford star, is back at his alma mater working on an MBA.

Former Wolves assistant Greg Ballard, scouting for Atlanta, was at Target Center last week. Ballard, desperate to lose weight because of severe back pain, said he lost 40 pounds in six weeks and plans to lose another 20.

St. Paul’s Ken Mauer Jr., who officiated Wednesday’s Wolves-Clippers game, weighs 160 pounds with body fat of just 6 percent.

That was comedian Louie Anderson at Friday night’s Timberwolves-Lakers game at Target Center.

DeLaSalle 6-foot-6 sophomore basketball player Reed Travis, brother of Harvard freshman Jonah Travis, is getting attention from the Gophers, Wisconsin and Iowa State.

There’s a decent chance that former Gophers guard Royce White, a sophomore at Iowa State, will declare himself eligible for June’s NBA draft.

As part of a new five-year contract, Twins TV analyst Bert Blyleven will work 100 games this season for Fox Sports North. Blyleven, who turns 61 next month, wants to spend some time traveling with wife Gayle. He’ll also make a couple of trips to Cooperstown, N.Y., this summer.

Nearly three dozen former North Stars players, including Don Beaupre, Brian Bellows, Neal Broten, Jack Carlson, Dave Langevin, Pete LoPresti, Dan Mandich, Brad Maxwell, Lou Nanne, Murray Oliver, Bob Paradise, J.P. Parise, Willi Plett, Steve Payne, Tom Reid, Gordie Roberts, Glen Sonmor, Dean Talafous, Carl Wetzel, Tommy Younghans and Tim Young, are expected to be at Xcel Energy Center on March 29 when the Wild plan to honor them during their game against Florida.

Cretin-Derham Hall grad Raijon Kelly made the All-Southern Conference freshman team at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala.

Former Whistling Straits general manager Steve Friedlander from St. Paul is VP of golf at the exclusive Pelican Hills club in Newport Beach, Calif., where Lakers star Kobe Bryant resides.

Jackson Brett, son of Hall of Fame baseball player George Brett, is a 6-1, 220-pound freshman catcher for the University of St. Thomas baseball team this spring.

Ex-Gophers QB Marc Trestman, entering his fifth season as coach of the Montreal Alouettes, has promoted former Winona State assistant Carson Walch to wide receivers coach and added ex-Vikings assistant Matt Sheldon as linebackers coach, joining St. Paul’s Andy Bischoff, who is running backs coach. The Alouettes have won two Grey Cups and 70 percent of their games during Trestman’s tenure.

Bob Meisterling, retired Stillwater orthopedist, received a surprise 65th birthday telephone call from former U.S. Open and Masters champion Billy Casper the other day.

Charles “Lefty” Smith‘s life will be celebrated April 14 from 3-5 p.m. at South St. Paul High School, where the late hockey coaching legend got his start before building the Notre Dame men’s hockey program.

Pro Football Hall of Fame member Bobby Bell will be in town to speak at the “Honoring Legends-Inspiring Leaders” dinner April 22 at the University of St. Thomas.

Among assistants for the Minnesota High School All-Star football game June 30 at TCF Bank Stadium will be former Gophers offensive lineman Jeff Moritko.

Ron Adams, the new North St. Paul baseball coach, played third base briefly for the Gophers.

St. Thomas Academy standout swimmer Luke Schneeman is the grandson of University of St. Thomas Hall of Fame swimmer Dan Schneeman.

Jake Moreland, who is married to former Cretin-Derham athlete Anne Sampair, has accepted the tight ends coaching job at Air Force Academy.

St. Paul Saints President Mike Veeck is raving about a biography of his father, Hall of Fame former Chicago White Sox owner Bill Veeck, by Paul Dickson, for release April 28.

Of 53 prospects invited to USA Hockey’s Under-17 national team development evaluation camp, just five are from Minnesota: Paul Bittner of Crookston, Shane Gersich of Holy Family, Tyler Nanne of Edina, and Ryan Collins and Jack Glover of Benilde-St. Margaret’s. The camp is March 19-23 in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Former Gophers QB Tony Dungy is featured speaker at LSU’s coaches clinic March 22-24.

Concordia-St. Paul assistant AD Tom Mauer will become an assistant softball coach at the school this season.

Minnesota State High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame electees for induction Oct. 27 at Ramada Plaza in Minneapolis: Jerry Coe, Coon Rapids; Dick Jonckowski, Shakopee; Rick Michel, Stillwater; Don Sauter, Sibley East; Joe Sczublewski, Albert Lea; Chuck Tabor, Robbinsdale Cooper; Bob Wasko, South St. Paul, and Dave Wendlandt, Brownton.

Linda Wells, the former Gophers softball coach who went on to conduct clinics across the world, resides in Phoenix, where she plays golf and tennis and hikes.

Minnesota golf hall of famer Nora McGuire, who had 60 girls in her Cretin-Derham Hall golf program last year, is returning as coach.

A tribute for longtime White Bear Lake football coach Bob Jackson, who retired after last season, will be April 15 at Jimmy’s in Vadnais Heights.

Gustavus Adolphus sports information director Tim Kennedy won the Mike Augustin Award, named after the late Pioneer Press sportswriter, for outstanding contributions to MIAC programs in areas of media, communications and sports information.

DON’T PRINT THAT

If the Vikings get approval for a new stadium, don’t be surprised, for a corporate sponsorship fee of at least $5 million a year, if it’s named Target Stadium.

Vikings owner Zygi Wilf would get all naming rights revenue. Target, based in Minneapolis, already has the Twins’ Target Field and the Timberwolves’ Target Center.

Add University of Wisconsin deputy athletics director Sean Frazier as a potential candidate for the Gophers’ AD job. Word is Iowa State AD Jamie Pollard has become a strong candidate.

Rumor that won’t die: The Timberwolves trading with Portland for shooting guard Jamal Crawford.

By the way, the Wolves had interest in 7-foot-1 center Joel Przybilla of the Trail Blazers before the ex-Gophers center signed a prorated $500,000 free-agent deal with Portland last month.

Ex-Gophers guard Flip Saunders endowed two $250,000 men’s basketball scholarships to his alma mater.

New University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler told Gophers coaches he has no plans to eliminate any of the school’s 25 sports.

Fifteen NHL scouts attended the state boys hockey tournament in St. Paul this week. But for the first time in years, no Minnesota high school players are expected to be chosen in the first two rounds of the NHL entry draft in June.

The highest-projected Minnesota prep for the draft is Lakeville South senior center Justin Kloos, whose team upset Duluth East on Thursday evening. Kloos, who has committed to the University of Minnesota, could be picked in the third round.

Don’t be surprised if Kloos is named Mr. Hockey Minnesota today.

The Lynx haven’t done it, but word is some WNBA teams are getting as much as $600,000 annually for allowing corporate sponsorship logos on their jerseys.

The buzz at the Xcel Energy Center during the state boys hockey tournament is that the University of Iowa is considering a men’s hockey program to eventually join the Big Ten Conference, which adds hockey as a conference sport in 2013-14.

The Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul and Target Center in Minneapolis could end up hosting the Big Ten and National Collegiate Hockey Conference men’s hockey tournaments on same weekends when those leagues begin for the 2013-14 season.

OVERHEARD

Timberwolves all-star Kevin Love, on how physically teams have begun playing him: “If you look at my arms or some of the hip checks I get or the pushes in the back, it’s grueling. But if I’m playing 40 minutes a night, it’s bound to happen sooner or later. Teams are really playing me physical and our team physical because we play hard-nosed basketball. For me, I just try to be as relentless as I can.”

Charley Walters can be reached at cwalters@pioneerpress.com. Follow him at Twitter.com/Charley_Walters.