Spanish Sensation Ricky Rubio Boosts Timberwolves' Ticket Sales

By Sharmaine Jones

The Minnesota Timberwolves have been waiting patiently for Ricky Rubio, their 2009 5th overall draft pick from Spain, and he's finally here! Rubio held his first press conference on Tuesday and if his comfort in front of the camera is any indication of how he'll handle himself in the NBA, basketball fans are in for a treat.

Rubio arrived at Minneapolis' St. Paul airport Monday to a warm welcome from fans and Timberwolves employees, and took to Twitter to show his appreciation.

"Acabo de llegar al hotel. Un viaje largo pero muy entusiasmado de estar aquí. Que recepción en el aeropuerto, increíble. Ahora a descansar!"

Next up was the press conference and the 20-year-old point guard handled the plethora of tough questions thrown at him with ease. When asked about his sub-par numbers in the Spanish league last season (6.5 points, 3.5 assists), the young man smoothly answered:

"Sometimes the stats don't say how good are you," Rubio said. "Or maybe opposite thing, if you make a lot of stats but your team is losing, that doesn't (matter). The goal of this sport is team wins. It's not an individual sport. If I wanted to play individual, I'm going to play tennis or something like that. But it's a team."

We loved is explanation of why he takes a "pass-first" approach to the game:

"One of the best sentences ever was Magic Johnson say a basket make one guy happy, an assist two guys happy."

He even introduced his father, mother, brother and 14-year-old sister and joked when asked if he planned on taking them to Minnesota's popular "Mall of America":

"That's a good question because my family want to go there, but I don't let them because they going to take all," he said with a smile. "I don't mean it like that, but I'm going to try to keep my credit card in my pocket."

You don't get a second chance to make a first impression so Rubio knocked that opportunity out of the park! He really won us over with his charm, humor and humbleness and apparently Timberwolves fans were impressed as well. According to bringmethenews.com, the team has sold more than 500 new season tickets packages since the Spaniard joined the team. The increase makes this the most sold since 2005.

A jump in sales and joining a team that has won just 17 games last season would be a significant amount of pressure for most to handle but we get the feeling that Rubio, who has been playing professionally since the age of 14, will manage just fine.

Will Rubio make an instant impact on the Timberwolves? Tell us what you think

Tags basketball, Blogger: Sharmaine Jones, Minnesota Timberwolves, NBA, Ricky Rubio, Spain