One of Ricky Rubio’s masterful ball-handling skills: balancing two on his shoulders while smiling. Pure skillz.

Has a point guard ever changed your life?

Odds are against such a scenario having occurred for you. Unless you’re a serious fan of a particular basketball team, or you married a point guard, or had some … er … “assets” riding on the outcome of a game, a point guard has likely never had much impact on how you view the world. However, if you do follow professional basketball in the Upper Midwest, you may have found yourself developing an affinity for the position. The reason: for the second time in two years, a point guard is reviving a moribund regional NBA franchise. This time, he’s Spanish.

Following the salad days of Kevin Garnett, the team had fallen to the bottom ... so much so that I won a 2011 silent auction for T-Wolves tickets with a $5 bid (including the yearbook).

In 2009, I announced “Operation Buck ‘Em Up” to increase fan interest in the Milwaukee Bucks, the seemingly forgotten major sports team in our state. The lack of response to my project confirmed my concerns that little could be done to excite people outside of the Milwaukee area about the Bucks. Then came point guard Brandon Jennings in the 2009-2010 season, breaking team records and spiking interest in the team throughout the state. The Bucks made the playoffs, and the future was suddenly bright.

The future seemed dark for their western neighbors, the Minnesota Timberwolves. Following the salad days of Kevin Garnett, the team had fallen to the bottom of the Western Conference, regularly displaying incompetence on the court – so much so that I won a 2011 silent auction for T-Wolves tickets with a $5 bid (including the yearbook). Apathy reigned for the Wolves, and considering how most top-notch NBA players like to play in warm climates or big markets with basketball heritage, the fan disinterest and organizational malaise was bordering on permanence.

There was one glimmer of hope, from that same 2009 NBA Draft that brought Jennings to the Bucks. The Wolves drafted a Spanish point guard named Ricky Rubio. He had a flair for dramatic passes, the sort of style that gets the average sports fan’s attention. Problem was, his Spanish pro team would not let him out of his contract, and thus Rubio stayed in Europe until this season. Additionally, there were concerns that his jump shot had a tendency to miss the basket; that his pro numbers overseas were below what was expected of a top-five pick; and that Rubio would finally realize he was headed to a cold medium-sized market and demand a trade to New York. We 14 remaining Timberwolves fans waited with hesitancy when the NBA lockout finally ended and the exhibition season started in December.

Then Ricky Rubio started playing NBA basketball. Whoa.

With his floppy black hair, Rubio sets the half-court offense and whips a pass, sometimes with one hand, sometimes without looking, to a teammate in perfect position to nail a basket. You see the guy charge into traffic under the basket, only to see the ball go flying back out to the three-point line for someone like All-Star teammate Kevin Love to drain a three. This scene has never happened to the Wolves in their 22 prior seasons.

I saw a similar display by one of the NBA’s legendary point guards, Steve Nash, last April, when the Phoenix Suns paid a visit to the Target Center. Nash exhibits the same skill with the ball, the same ability to find the right player in the right position to get points, the same floppy dark hair. Nash is a future Hall Of Famer. Consider this when watching Rubio.

You can on TV, more frequently this year due to the lockout-induced compressed schedule. For the first time … well … ever, I have found myself checking Fox Sports North for T-Wolves games. A few weeks ago, I stuck around the TV just to see what Rubio would do. I needed to witness one of those “Did you see that?” passes. Rubio has become must-see-TV (and must-see-in-person, now that Target Center is selling tickets like they haven’t since the first W. administration), similar to Brandon Jennings’ arrival a couple years ago. The Timberwolves are competitive, and, perhaps more importantly, interesting. If you appreciate basketball, pay attention to Ricky Rubio, and you’ll witness how a point guard can change your life.