Basketball-wise, there wasn't much to be gleaned from Monday's advertised Timberwolves scrimmage, which was free and open to the public. But we did walk away from the excursion with a few thoughts:
*The fan interest was pretty solid. The picture you see was the line as we waited to get through security (full pat-down, in midseason form). Sorry if any of those backs of heads were supposed to be in a meeting. We don't think anyone is incriminated, though. Once inside, it was clear there were roughly a few thousand people there -- seating was pretty much limited to one side of the lower bowl, but that was pretty much full from what we could tell. Minnesotans love free stuff, and the timing during the lunch hour was perfect, but we're still impressed by the turnout.
*We were surprised not to be bombarded more with promotions/ticket sale offers. This was a captive audience choosing to watch a scrimmage. We were not stopped once by anyone trying to sell season tickets. We did see cheerleaders trying to sell a calendar and received a pocket schedule of this year's games as well. Maybe we're just used to being marketed to death. We're not complaining, just surprised.
*The scrimmage? Eh, not really a scrimmage so much as 10 minutes (running time) of glorified passes and dunks. Honestly, aside from a couple of nicely scripted Ricky Rubio flips, there was nothing basketball-wise to gain from the experience. Darko made a three-pointer. But really, everyone was moving at half-speed. It looked like a Wolves game last year. ZING! (Rick Adelman did not pay us to say that, but he could have).
*The entire thing had the feel of a college "Midnight Madness." A short dunk contest came at the end of the event, and the filler material was designed to showcase personalities and embarrass the youngsters. Perhaps our favorite moment was Rubio singing "Happy Birthday," on bended knee, to a young female fan. The dance contest was smile-worthy until it rolled to an unsatisfying halt because Derrick Williams and Malcolm Lee refused to dance to four different songs in their tie-breaker.
*We'll say this for Williams, though: He can dunk with the best of them.
*Finally: The Wolves' second and final exhibition game on Wednesday in Milwaukee will be the centerpiece of the RandBall 5th Anniversary Redactular. Game starts at 7 and is televised on FSN. Place is TBA, but we should have that nailed down tomorrow. Basically, it will be a bunch of commenters (and us) watching TV and making fun of each other. Please do join us in turning Internet friends into real-life friends.
