Team's stand-pat approach doesn't sit well with Garnett

By doing nothing at the NBA trading deadline Thursday, the Timberwolves actually might have done a whole lot of something to alter their team.

Kevin Garnett, the Wolves' All-Star forward, made it pretty clear after the shootaround Friday morning that he was not happy with the stand-pat approach.

"We made no moves. Typical," Garnett said in a raspy voice, apparently fighting a cold.

Asked if he had been hoping for a trade to boost the team's playoff chances, Garnett responded: "We're trying to get better, right? It is what it is."

A couple of minutes later, after some comments about Phoenix, he offered a glimpse at how "not happy" he really was.

"Thank God for opt-outs," Garnett said as he wrapped up the brief interview.

The 7-foot franchise player has an opt-out clause in his contract after the 2007-08 season, before the final year of his current contract.

Assistant general manager Fred Hoiberg said he spoke with Garnett after the deadline passed, however, and that the player's mood was "good."

You don't work here!

Whatever the lawyers work out, forward Eddie Griffin's return to the active roster doesn't figure to be an option. Griffin's name had been removed from his dressing stall before Friday night's game, and guard Trenton Hassell already was moving in.

Griffin, whose dismal season bottomed out when he was suspended Jan. 12 for five games for failing an NBA drug test, has not been with the team since that layoff and has not played since Dec. 13. The team and Griffin's representatives reportedly tried to negotiate a buyout of the final 1 ½ years on the 24-year-old's contract, but the case could go to arbitration.

Taking things lightly

Charlotte coach Bernie Bickerstaff, whose team rallied from a 17-point deficit Wednesday in a game that the Wolves felt they lost (as opposed to the Bobcats winning), didn't necessarily see the "me" attitude that coach Randy Wittman did. But Bickerstaff saw something amiss.

"Regardless of the situation, you've got to respect the opponent," he told Charlotte reporters. "Once they got the lead, there was a lot of laughing and joking."

Madsen on the mend

Mark Madsen still was limping Friday, but he was able to get both sneakers on while wearing a splint to support his sprained left ankle.

"It's been responding well to treatment," said Madsen, who stepped on a Charlotte player's foot, suffering the first ankle sprain of his NBA career.

Madsen said he has been using a machine three times daily that pumps his foot with ice and compression. He and Wittman still estimated Madsen could miss two weeks.

Works for them

The Wolves, in Wittman's view, got distracted against the Bobcats by personal issues, such as shots and minutes. Somehow, though, a talented Phoenix club that has a backup point guard, Leandro Barbosa, who is good enough to start for most teams and a bevy of talented scorers manages to make it all work.

"That's why they're good, because they don't [lose team focus]," Wittman said.

"I don't know why it is. Characters and who you are ... Raja Bell scores 28 one game and eight the next because they've got different guys. That's why you're good, because they've got a group that can accept, 'One night it ain't gonna be me, the next night it is.' "

Steve Aschburner • saschburner@startribune.com