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Utah Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin has a secret, which he plans to keep until Tuesday.
Corbin knows who will start in the season opener against the Lakers in Los Angeles, but he declined to reveal his lineup before practice on Monday morning.
Asked if he had decided on his starters, Corbin said, "We know who is starting."
Asked if he was ready to announce the starting lineup, Corbin said: "Not now. We'll name them tomorrow."
Asked if the announcement will come after the morning shootaround, a slightly impatient Corbin said, "Tomorrow. Sometime tomorrow."
Given the makeup of his roster, Corbin has a number of possible lineups, which makes his job more difficult.
"The good thing is we had a lot of guys we considered to start," he said. "In some cases [players] deserve to start but, because of where we are, we just decided to go a different way. … It's a good place to be right now for this young team."
If Al Jefferson starts at center and Devin Harris opens at point guard, Corbin's biggest decisions will be Gordon Hayward or C.J. Miles at small forward and Paul Millsap or Derrick Favors at power forward.
Corbin could start Hayward and Miles and bring veteran shooting guard Raja Bell off the bench, but he might want Bell to open as the primary defender on Kobe Bryant.
Dream fulfilled
Even though he won't turn 20 until May, rookie Enes Kanter has been dreaming of playing in the NBA for "two or three years."
It's about to happen.
"I'm just excited for this first game, and I think I'm ready," Kanter said. "I'm in good shape. … I'm going to go out there and fight for it."
Millsap ready to go
Millsap continues to improve after missing practice time last week because of tendinitis in his right quad.
"No pain, that's the good thing," he said. "Ready to go. Ready to go full steam."
In his first five seasons, Millsap has missed only 12 games. He has played all 82 games three times.
New-look Lakers
The Lakers' size and strength has hurt the Jazz in recent seasons, but they will be without suspended center Andrew Bynum in the opener.
L.A. also traded Lamar Odom, who has been an extremely difficult matchup for Utah over the years.
Finally, Mike Brown has replaced Phil Jackson as the Lakers' head coach.
"It's a different look," Corbin said. "But they've always been a smart team and taken advantage of any mistakes you make on the defensive end. So we still have to be smart about how we play against them."