Brandon Rush excelled at the end of last season, but he appears to have found himself out of the team's rotation.

Rush will miss the first five regular-season games because he failed the NBA's mandatory drug test three times.

"It's all on me," he said. "I put myself in this position by messing up."

The third-year player has logged a total of 38 minutes in four preseason games.

He may not play anymore in the preseason because coach Jim O'Brien plans to use rotation players in the final three games.

"There are two issues," O'Brien said. "There would be the issue of where he would be in the rotation if he wasn't suspended. That is an issue separate from the suspension. He has to earn a rotation spot, number one. Number two, clearly he can't be in it the first five games so I'm thinking in terms of obviously other people.

"And depending on how the other people do in the first five games, we'll see how he fits back in."