Five season-ending questions facing the Wolves

1 Will Flip Saunders return as coach?

Saunders isn't saying, other than to promise he's the coach until he isn't.

Team owner Glen Taylor prefers Saunders concentrate on his managerial job but won't demand he give up coaching. The team could promote assistant coach Sam Mitchell. But after he suffered through this season with a roster he basically built from the studs up, expect Saunders back for another season, unless, say, pal Tom Izzo changes his mind about leaving Michigan State.

For now, Saunders will keep busy with offseason preparations, including what he calls a "big" draft. "I told you I'm going to be the coach until I say I'm not the coach," he said. "The next time you'll know there's a new coach is when there's a press conference."

For now, Saunders said he is handling both jobs perfectly fine because of the people who surround him in an arrangement that apparently provides organizational continuity, too.

"Your ownership, your management, your coaching has to be on the same page," said Saunders, who also owns a piece of the team. "We don't have a problem with that. I just go into the bathroom, talk to myself and we're in good shape."

2 Will Kevin Garnett play next season?

He hasn't won't play the final 18 games because of a sore knee, but look at it this way: He didn't play so the Wolves could maximize their draft-lottery chances. It also allows Garnett six full months to get healthy to play again.

"That's why he's taking his time," Saunders said, "so he doesn't do anything to mess the knee up and so in the offseason he can gear up to play a full season when it's 0-0."

3 Is it time to sweat over all the injuries?

The Wolves have lost 312 man-games to injuries, a rash they believe a new partnership with Mayo Clinic will help mend. They also hope — and expect — starters Ricky Rubio (ankle) and Nikola Pekovic (Achilles' tendon) are fully recovered (or nearly so, in Pekovic's case) by training camp's start next fall after each underwent surgery this past week.

The Wolves owe Pekovic nearly $36 million for the next three seasons after this one. Rubio's four-year, $55 million contract extension starts next season.

"I think it'd raise more if I was at the point where I thought these were career-ending situations," Saunders said. "I don't think we're at that point. … We're trying to find an answer for all these injuries. I think that's why they call it practicing medicine. It's not an exact science."

4 When will the Wolves join the 21st century?

The Wolves rank last in the NBA by a good margin in three-pointers made this season with fewer than five a game. But Saunders insists he's a proponent and not a hater of the shot that is transforming the game.

He cites disrupting injuries and believes he has the shooters, if healthy, to improve in that area next season. He created some Internet buzz last week by saying the three-point shot shouldn't be a major part of Andrew Wiggins' game but also said he expects Wiggins to improve in that area, as will LaVine.

Saunders said he'll look to add three-point help, but it won't be a determining factor with their top draft pick. "We're not going to take a guy just because he's a three-point shooter," he said. "If that were the case, we would have kept Brady Heslip."

If the Wolves lose Wednesday's finale, they will choose no worse than fourth in a draft that preferably will bring them one of two big men, Duke's Jahlil Okafor or Kentucky's Karl-Anthony Towns.

The sleeper pick is Latvian power forward Kristaps Porzingis, who might be as skilled as anyone in the draft.

Former second-round draft pick Nemanja Bjelica wants, at age 26, to move to the NBA. The questions regarding a 6-10 power forward with guard skills: What will it cost to sign him and do the Wolves want to make room a position where they already have Adreian Payne, Anthony Bennett and Robbie Hummel?