Jimmy Butler participated in the shootaround Friday morning at Target Center and pronounced himself ready to return to the Timberwolves lineup against Oklahoma City.

Butler missed the past two games, both lopsided losses, because of an upper respiratory infection. The Timberwolves (1-3) struggled defensively without him.

"I can really cover up a lot of things," he said. "Not everything, don't get me wrong. I'm not that good of a player.

"I'm not saying that's going to change everything, but I'm hoping it'll change it a little bit."

Butler thinks the team can get on the same page but, "It's going to take time, but we don't have that much time. You can't continually practice bad habits."

"It's never acceptable to lose. We can't accept it. We have to get it out of our system right now."

As for his respiratory issues ... well ... here you go: "If you all see snot rolling down my nose and my face into my mouth, it's disgusting, but it might happen a few times. ... I'll just get a towel and wipe it away."