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Wolves Notes: D-League in Omaha, Ricky Rubio to play Sunday?

By Ben Beecken

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Today marks the first full off day for Wolves players since training camp kicks off, as the Star Tribune’s Jerry Zgoda notes. Also, we’re officially within two weeks of the regular season opener. It’s getting real, folks.

Another exciting bit of news: Sunday’s game at Memphis could include Ricky Rubio for the first time this preseason as he continues to recover from off-season ankle surgery and a mild strained quadriceps from last week’s training camp.

The Wolves have been missing the straw that stirs the drink for the first four preseason contests, and the point guard carousal of Lorenzo Brown, Andre Miller, and Tyus Jones has put forth some decidedly uneven efforts. Here’s hoping everything is as on track as interim head coach Sam Mitchell believes it is.

It’ll be good to see Rubio on the court along with Karl-Anthony Towns for the first time ever, as well as the Rubio-Zach LaVine back court that we didn’t get the chance to see much of in 2014-15. Sunday’s game is a 5 p.m. Central Time start and is the third-to-last preseason contest. The Wolves will play against the Milwaukee Bucks in Madison on Tuesday before returning to Target Center to close out the preseason with those same Bucks on Friday.

Elsewhere, the D-League saga continued with still more expansion news. This time around, Minnesota garnered a cursory mention, although it seems unlikely that it ultimately would mean anything for the Wolves.

FanSided’s own Upside & Motor posted an excerpt from an Omaha.com interview with Gary Green, the owner of the Omaha Storm Chasers, a Triple-A baseball club affiliated with MLB’s Kansas City Royals.

"“We’ve had talks with the NBA and the guys in the D-League and they absolutely want to have a team in Omaha. We’re having trouble getting an affiliation because, unlike baseball, most of these NBA teams want to have their minor league in their backyard. Baseball cares about the market they play in and their popularity. The D-League doesn’t seem to care quite as much about that.We have to reach for Minnesota, Denver and places further away. There is one team that I would say we’re on the back burner, kind of moving toward the front burner hopefully.”"

Denver is the logical fit here, and the Wolves would no doubt prefer to end up with a team in a cursory city in Minnesota, such as Rochester, Mankato, St. Cloud, or maybe even Duluth.

Of course, nothing has leaked that leads anyone to believe that a move such as that will happen sooner rather than later, so Omaha would seem to be a distant possiblity.

One thing is for sure: the Wolves need a D-League team, and they’ve quickly ended up behind the eight-ball when it comes to the present day operations of the NBA D-League. It’s already beginning to affect how the organization’s talent is developed, so Wolves fans should hope for a swift change in direction on this front from owner Glen Taylor and others.

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