A nugget from Kent, who joined me at practice today:

Wolves president of basketball operations David Kahn said the team has sent video to the NBA , seeking to call attention to what Kahn and the team's coaches believe are opponents being overly physical with rookie guard Ricky Rubio.

The team sent many examples of what it deems are fouls never called against defenders who have decided the best way to play the skinny rookie is to muscle him.

"All our young guys are learning that, Ricky especially," coach Rick Adelman said about opposing defenses adjusting to stop the Wolves' offense. "They're putting bigger guys on him...They’re beating the hell out of him right now. The league has figured out you have to be physical with him. And he’s kind of learning on the fly.’’

When asked how physical teams are being with him, Rubio chuckled and said, "Tough enough. I mean, it's close to end of the season, everybody wants to get a spot in the playoff and everybody start to play more physically. You know, it is what it is. We just have to play at the same level or even harder."

I asked if he has seen this all before from all those pro seasons he played in Europe or if this is physical play at a different level for him.

"No, in Europe we play aggressive, too," he said. "But here you have the best players in the world. It's tougher."

In other news...

Nikola Pekovic participated in practice today, but it went only about 45 minutes and it was mostly just a walk-through with no scrimmaging.

He shot afterward and will be re-evaluated Wednesday at the morning shootaround if see if the sore foot that caused him to miss Monday's victory over the Clippers feels good enough for him to play that night against Portland.