It's final audition time for Wolves

By JERRY ZGODA, Star Tribune

Last update: February 19, 2008 - 12:52 AM

The Timberwolves returned to work Monday with a rare evening practice that ended their four-day NBA All-Star Game break and opened the second "half" of their season, with Thursday's league trading deadline approaching and 31 games in their 82-game schedule left.

Wolves coach Randy Wittman considers the season's remaining nine weeks the final acts in a season-long audition that will determine who stays to become part of the franchise's future.

"I told our guys we're looking to see who we move forward with," Wittman said after a long (two hours, 20 minutes), briskly-paced practice.

"This is a good time for me to look at how a guy's character is. It's a good time for me to see who fights through it, who continues to battle. And who doesn't. That's going to determine who we move forward with."

The Wolves' options are limited with the trade deadline almost here. Their most attractive negotiating piece is injured center Theo Ratliff's expiring $11.6 million salary slot. Veteran forward Antoine Walker is a proven shooter who won an NBA title with Miami two seasons ago, but his limited game and his $8.5 million salary makes him difficult to trade.

Young, little-used guard Gerald Green -- the runner-up to Dwight Howard in last weekend's NBA All-Star slam dunk contest -- wants to be traded because he figures his days in Minnesota are over when he becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer anyway. But Green has little value unless packaged in a bigger deal.

The Wolves emerge from the All-Star break with a five-game losing streak that came after they had won five of their past seven games. Tonight's game against Philadelphia at Target Center will start the final four games in a stretch in which the Wolves will have played 10 of 11 at home.

The Wolves won the first two of those home games, then lost the next four. Now, they face the 76ers, winners of five consecutive games (all at home), tonight, San Antonio on Thursday, Dallas and Utah next week. Those final three opponents all are fighting for playoff position in a formidable Western Conference race.

Richard returns

Rookie forward Chris Richard returned to the team on Monday, as expected, after a six-game trip to the Wolves' NBA Development League affiliate in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Richard was sent there to get some extensive playing time and offensive confidence. He returned from a town where he says a cold wind always blows with averages of 28.3 minutes, 10.2 points and 11.5 rebounds.

Until then, he had averaged 1.3 points and 1.9 rebounds in 9.2 minutes while playing in 24 games for the Wolves.

Richard called it a "better experience than I thought it'd be."

"The guys were cool, the coaches were pretty good, the competition was a lot better than I thought it'd be," he said. "I got a lot of minutes, got a lot of shots. So I think I did OK."

McCants on dunks

Green, prickly in recent days about attempting to defend his 2007 slam dunk title while he plays little for his team, left practice Monday without talking to reporters. But Rashad McCants, Green's assistant Saturday in New Orleans, did speak.

McCants lit a candle on a cupcake and placed it on the back of the rim so Green could blow the candle out on one dunk. On another, McCants threw a rainbow pass from behind the backboard and over the rim that Green caught on one bounce, whipped through his legs and slammed down.

"People have seen all the regular dunks: The [Michael] Jordan dunks, the Vince Carter dunks," McCants said. "So now you have to get more creative and try to make something up."