Author: David Shama

The Wild expect crowds of over 12,000 at Xcel Energy Center on both Friday and Saturday for the NHL Entry Draft.  The Saturday attendance could be the largest of the weekend, partially because more players with Minnesota ties will be selected than on Friday.  Wild season ticket holders have been given priority with draft day tickets.

The entry draft hasn’t been held in Minnesota since 1989 when the North Stars hosted at Met Center.  The North Stars’ first pick was Rochester’s Doug Zmolek.

Tickets are $20 for the Wild Fan Fest at St. Paul’s downtown Crowne Plaza on Friday from noon to 5 p.m. and can be purchased on wild.com.  Celebrities expected to participate include Gary Bettman, Scotty Bowman, Brad Brown, Jack Carlson, Ryan Carter, Tom Chorske, Cal Clutterbuck, Chris Dahlquist, Karyn Bye-Dietz, Colton Gillies, Mikael Granlund, John Harrington, Darby Hendrickson, Phil Housley, Willard Ikola, Dave Jensen, Antti Laaksonen, Reed Larson, Craig Leipold, Gigi Marvin, Brad Maxwell, Rob McClanahan, Lou Nanne, Bob Paradise, J.P. Parise, Mark Parrish, Steve Payne, Shjon Podein, Jenny Potter, Tom Reid, Gordie Roberts,Marco Scandella, Jared Spurgeon, Brad Staubitz, Clayton Stoner, Wes Walz, Doug Woog, Tim Young and Tom Younghans.

Ricky Rubio’s parents are expected to live with the 20-year-old during the coming season.  Rubio said he’s excited about house hunting in Minneapolis.

Look for Tubby Smith’s Gophers basketball team to open with home exhibition games against Bemidji State on November 1 and Augustana November 7, followed by the regular season opener versus Bucknell at Williams Arena on November 11.  The schedule hasn’t been officially announced yet.

The Twins rank No. 39 among MLB, NBA, NHL and NFL teams in the annual ESPN The Magazine Ultimate Standings measuring how much franchises “give back” to the fans.  The Wild rank No. 92, the Vikings No. 106 and the Wolves 118 of 122 franchises.

The Twins, who continue Interleague play this week against San Francisco and Milwaukee after sweeping San Diego last week, are among baseball’s winningest franchises ever in games between the American and National Leagues.  The Twins’ record is 144-109.

The 38^th annual Minnesota High School All-Star Football Game will be played on Saturday starting at 7 p.m. in TCF Bank Stadium.  For the first time since 1979 teams will have North and South designations, not Metro and Outstate.  Players from the metro and outstate areas will be on both teams.  The game is one of the successful projects of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association.

Indicative of the trend toward winning warm weather baseball programs, Athlon Sports didn’t include a single Big Ten player on its 2011 college All-America team.

Ricky Rubio will be introduced to media and fans tomorrow at Target Center.  He signed a multi-year contract with the Wolves last week, ending two years of speculation about whether he would ever play for the NBA team housed at First Ave. North.

That commitment ended one phase of the Rubio story, but another begins when the much discussed Spanish guard plays his first NBA season.  Rubio’s NBA potential is hotly debated.  Detractors point to his single digits per game averages in scoring and assists in Europe, an inferior basketball environment to the states.  Admirers gush about Rubio’s court vision, passing and ball handling.

A psychic may know how Rubio’s NBA future looks, but the rest of us will have to see whether the Wolves, winners of only 17 games last season, have a savior or a dud in the controversial 20-year-old who has been playing against pros since he was 14.  The years ahead will tell if we’ve got another “Pistol” Pete Maravich or Marko Jaric, but Sports Headliners offers the following on what Rubio can expect during his introductory months in the NBA, and what his arrival means to the Wolves franchise and this town.

• Rubio can expect to be verbally and physically targeted by the many “characters” playing in the NBA.  Expletives and body blows will say, “Welcome to the NBA, Rook.”

• The greeting will be friendlier inside the Wolves’ locker room where forward Kevin Love will likely lead the friendship committee.  The Wolves are a team searching for both talent and leaders, and that will make the locker room chemistry a lot better for Rubio than if a veteran star or two (see Kevin Garnett) saw this club as his domain.
• Rubio will find the NBA more wide open and favorable to his fast break style of basketball.  He will play more minutes per game than in Europe and presumably have a coaching staff interested in building a system around him.
• The grind of the 82-game season will test the young body and mind of the 6-4, 190 pound Rubio who is still maturing.  That could be “code” for saying Rubio will play inconsistently, some nights making brilliant plays and other games making us pine for Jonny Flynn.
• The scouting report on Rubio is his passing and ability to drive to the basket are world class, but his shooting needs work.  And his defense might, too, because he lacks foot speed although his quick hands will compensate.
• Rubio can expect criticism from media and fans here, some of it nasty and undeserved.  Welcome to a cynical society.
• But he can also expect adoration.  He plays with flair and is good looking. The groupies are dancing in anticipation of his arrival downtown.

• Rubio’s arrival breathes life into a Wolves franchise that has been bleeding money for years.  He’s created excitement this month among the hard core fan base and made marginal fans pay attention.
• Rubio will wear jersey No. 9 and the aggressive Wolves marketing department announced the availability of $9 tickets last week.  Wolves owner Glen Taylor has reported annual losses of more than $10 million in a season, and can only hope that Rubio is such a big box office hit that his franchise eventually exhausts ticket availability in all categories.
• That’s not going to happen for all 41 home games next season but a smashing Rubio debut changes the basketball landscape in this town.  The Wolves have been awful for years and the basketball Gophers haven’t capitalized on the opportunity.  If the two products are stocks, a buyer has to be thinking the Wolves are a “potential buy.”
• While Rubio’s arrival helps close “the hole in Taylor’s wallet,” it also boosts the resume of beleaguered general manager David Kahn.  He’s made some much criticized moves (see Steph Curry, 2009 draft and DeMarcus Cousins, 2010 draft) but just signing Rubio exceeds the expectations of the most negative critics who said he would never agree to play in small market Minneapolis for the woeful Wolves.
• Rubio’s signing means the Wolves are likely to trade 22-year-old point guard Jonny Flynn and keep 30-year-old Luke Ridnour for comfort and security.  It also means that should Cleveland choose not to take Duke point guard Kyrie Irving No. 1 overall in Thursday night’s NBA draft, the Wolves will either pick Irving at No. 2 and trade him, or pass on him for another player.
• With Rubio at point guard, the Wolves will have one of the NBA’s best passing and most unselfish teams.  In the money and glory selfish NBA, that’s a refreshing sentence to write.  Not only will Rubio often pass first and shoot second, so too will Love and center Darko Milicic.
• Rubio’s arrival gives substance to the franchise mantra of “Run with the Wolves.”  The scheme will include Love rebounding and outleting the ball to Rubio from the defensive end.  Rubio moves to the middle of the court and sees all the fast break possibilities including teammates running ahead of him.  Rubio deftly makes a long bounce pass, or a pinpoint alley-oop pass.
• Even in June the anticipation of it all quickens the pulses of Wolves fans and commands the attention of those who have been in hiding for years.   Ricky Rubio just might make the dreary winters ahead seem shorter and more pleasant.