Sam Mitchell told his former SiriusXM NBA Radio pals today that he "absolutely" plans to start Zach LaVine over vet Kevin Martin at shooting guard.
Sam Mitchell: Starting job is Zach LaVine's to lose
Ricky Rubio won't play in Wednesday's preseason opener because of quad strain.
October 7, 2015 at 1:28AM
He also told reporters that Ricky Rubio will not play in tomorrow night's preseason opener against Oklahoma City at Target Center.
The radio network had former NBA star Eddie Johnson and Mitchell's former broadcast mate Justin Termine in town and at practice for interviews with Kevin Garnett, Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, Ricky Rubio and Zach LaVine, among others, that will air Wednesday from 6 to 8 pm.
Here's the audio.
Mitchell has said these last few weeks that his job is to develop talent, which certainly suggested he might start LaVine at shooting guard.
But Mitchell told SiriusXM NBA Radio that he told LaVine that decision is written in pencil, not pen, and that the job is his to lose or give away.
Mitchell told Martin of the decision before the Wolves began camp practices last week. We'll see what that means for his future here. He's in the same position as Corey Brewer was last year -- able to opt out of the final year of his contract after this season -- and Brewer was traded in December.
Until today, Mitchell had only said opening night is a long way off when asked about who'll start where, although he made it pretty clear he's committed to the team's youth.
Rubio only did some work on the side at today's practice. That means he hasn't participated much in the last three practices and was held out of Monday night's scrimmage as well because of a quad strain the team's training staff considers minor.
Mitchell said it doesn't make sense to push it this early in the season, which means he will start rookie Tyus Jones at Rubio's point-guard spot against OKC.
The Wolves will start two rookies (Towns and Jones), two second-year players (LaVine and WIggins) and a 39 year old (Garnett) tomorrow night.
Everybody else other than Rubio and Nikola Pekovic is expected to be available to play.
A couple other things:
* Third-year swingman Shabazz Muhammad walked out after practice today with agent Rob Pelinka, who also reps Jones. Muhammad apparently switched agents over the summer, from Bill Duffy (who has Wiggins and LaVine among many, many others) to Pelinka.
* Mitchell, Rubio, Towns and Muhammad are among those Wolves attending tonight's Lynx WNBA Finals game.
Both teams were returning from a break and showed it, but Jaden McDaniels' energy salvaged matters for Minnesota.
