See the first installment in this mini-series for a look at how much Sebastian Telfair could cost this offseason.

With the impending NBA trade deadline and three young players (Telfair, Gomes and Smith) up for restricted free agency, the Timberwolves have some tough decisions to make sooner or later. But what's the ballpark for these guys? What might it take to lock them up? Contingent upon the Timberwolves wanting to, of course.

The real trick will be timing these deals. Whoever gets the first deal will be used as a measuring stick by the other two. In my mind, that's all the more reason to deal one and avoid internal contract jealousy.

In a follow-up from the last post, here are some more mid-season awards:

• Most Promising thing about the Team Award: This is a tough award to give out. I’ve whittled it down to two things: draft picks and Big Al’s low post game. On one hand the Wolves will likely be selecting fairly high in the next 2 drafts. However, unlike last year where there were 2 dead locks in the top 2 slots, this year’s draft doesn’t have that single wow player to make the quest for the largest amount of ping-pong balls as worthwhile as it would be in other years. Furthermore, as Memphis and Boston proved last year, and to say nothing about the Wolves’ luck in past drafts, having the worst record and/or tanking it is no guarantee of draft success. If anything, this year’s draft is one where the team could be somewhat content picking in the 5-8 range as the top 6 picks will likely be college freshmen. In other words, the Wolves would likely get just as much value out of a player like DJ Augustin or Ty Lawson in the 7 slot as they would out of Derrick Rose with the number 1 pick. It’s easy to forget that Lawson was considered a right-handed version of Mike Conley during his freshman season. Lawson has returned to Chapel Hill to post some impressive numbers, to include a +3 ppr, which is a pretty damn good indicator of success at the next level (Rose has a negative ppr rating). Getting back to the question at hand, while the Wolves do have some nice picks coming their way, it is tough to get too worked up about the team selecting a franchise player in what looks to be a pretty mediocre draft…which brings us to Big Al’s low post game. Low post players typically hit their stride in their mid to late 20s and if what we have seen from the 23 year old Jefferson in his first Wolves campaign is any indication, the big fella has the potential to be a major offensive force for many years to come. From footwork to creating angles to the hoop, Jefferson can simply put the rock in the hole. While his mid range jump shot resembles a push shot a little too much, if he can learn to hit the 10-12 foot jumper, he should find increased success against larger opponents (read: centers) by taking them out of their comfort zone in the lane. Granted, his defense leaves a lot to be desired and he performs much better at the 4 than the 5, but if there is one reason and one reason alone to be excited about this current group of players, it is the dominant offensive game of this very young post player.
• Biggest Disappointment: In a 7 win season this is another category with no shortage of candidates. At first glance, I wanted to tie the winner of this award to on-court performance. After all, as much as the current state of affairs is the result of poor front office decisions, what’s done is done and there is no use in crying over spilt milk, right? Wrong. As crappy as things have been on-court, there is some truth to the assertion that this is a young team with a lot of players who have never played together before. There’s also a lot of truth in the ineffectiveness of a product that has had 2 of its most important starters out of the lineup for nearly the entire season….which brings me back to a front office decision. The single biggest disappointment for the Wolves was when they selected Corey Brewer with the 7th pick in the 2007 Draft. This award has nothing to do with Mr. Brewer the player. He’s a smart player, I like his game, and I think he will grow into a fine pro. What was disappointing about the pick is that by failing to move KG before the draft, the Wolves lost an important opportunity to pick a player that would compliment their future rebuilding plans. As any T-Wolf fan can tell you, one of the things that this team needs more than anything else is a big man to compliment Jefferson in the low post; a big athletic guy who can rebound and defend while doing the ever-cliched little things. You know, someone like Joakim Noah or Sean Williams. I know that the KG trade happened well after draft day but by postponing the deal the Wolves lost a full year of draft rebuilding potential when they selected a wingman…which they then received 2 more of in the KG trade itself. Again, this has nothing to do with Brewer the player. It has everything to do with a front office that seems to be flying by the seat of its pants while telling everyone they have a plan, and that is the biggest disappointment of them all.

Letter Grades:

• Al Jefferson: B. Big Al would warrant an A if his impressive offensive numbers weren’t completely negated by poor defense. While he’s capable of racking up 39 and 15, he’s just as capable of letting his opponent go 14-16 from the floor while racking up a negative +/- number. That being said, Al has never played for a decent squad so it’s hard to gauge just how much of the problem is of his doing. Not even 5 man rotation stats can provide a window into this important question. Stats to watch for: PER: 22.74, Reb-r: 19.1, FT/FG: 20.
• Sebastian Telfair: B-. Coming into the season, the 22 year old point was viewed as a gun-toting left over in the KG trade. After Randy Foye went down with a kneecap injury, Bassy stood up and straight-out won the starting point slot from Marko Jaric. While he’ll never be known as a great shooter (witness his 25% 3pFG%), he is shooting 40% from the floor while drastically improving his shot selection in the last 10 games. Overall he’s giving the team 9.6 points, 6 assists, and only 2 turnovers per game. In the last 5 games it has been especially noticeable that Bassy has forsaken the outside shot (only 6 3ptA) in favor of penetration, passing and mid-range jumpers. In that short stretch, he’s averaged 12 ppg, 7.4 apg, and only turned the ball over 7 times while shooting over 50% from the floor. This is a sign of a player realizing the strengths and weaknesses of his game. If Bassy continues to massively limit his outside shots while keeping the assist/turnover rate where it is, the Wolves can legitimately feel good about going into next season with a competent point on the roster. Stats to watch for: PER: 10.55, PPR: 6.0, TO-r: 10.7, AST-r: 32.0, eFG: 42.3%.
• Ryan Gomes: B-. As much as one can get worked up over his play of late (17 pts, 6.6 reb, and 52% from the floor over the past 10 games), Gomes did not have a good start to the year and there was a period in early December where he was absolutely non-existent. Gomes is a nice player to have on a team; he’s versatile and hard working and he seems to have a very high basketball IQ. Stats to look for: PER: 15.58, Reb-r: 11.1, eFG: 49.5%.
• Rashad McCants: C. I really wanted to give Shaddy a B. He is the Wolves’ only decent perimeter threat and he has a dynamic arsenal at his disposal on the offensive end. However, there are just too many times where the Wolves’ offensive flow comes to a grinding halt when the guy gets the ball in his hands. He has played better defense of late but still needs to cut down on silly hack fouls 60 feet from the basket. Stats to look for: PER: 14.26, 3p%: 41.8, ppr: -3.6, Reb-r: 6.5, FT/FG: 12.

More later.

Finally, after 2 games and 2 quarters of awful, uninspired, and unprofessional basketball, the Wolves put something together to temporarily make the anger subside and the apathy disappear. For 3 quarters last night, the Wolves played America’s Beautiful Game.

Let’s get the bad out of the way. The Wolves came out of the gate and tanked it. Greg Buckner and Ryan Gomes played some of the worst ball seen in this awful season and they were both promptly sent to the bench, never to return. Gomes, in 8:26 of play, racked up a –14. He also airballed an open 3, missed defensive rotations, cowered in front of Marvin Williams, and all-around stunk it up during his limited time on the court. Some of this may have had something to do with Jerry Sichting’s decision to start a front court of Corey Brewer, Gomes, and Al Jefferson against Josh Smith, Williams, and Al Horford; but most of it probably had something to do with Gomes being terrible. Not until Rashad McCants entered the game for poor Ryan did things start to turn around for our poor Puppies. Things got so iffy during the 1st, that Atlanta’s play-by-play guy (thanks NBA package) said the Wolves “[are] not competing and that is the distressing thing.” When he said that, I was beginning to look into the possibility that the Wolves are the most talentless team in the league since the 2004-05 Atlanta Hawk club that won 13 games…maybe since the Dallas Mavs team that won 11 games after they drafted Jim Jackson and he refused to play for them until late in the season. Anywho…

I don't even know what to write after Saturday's loss to the Grizz and last night's scrimmage against the varsity squad. There's really nothing to say about the Grizz game because it wasn't on TV and I was saved from hearing it because down here in south central MN there was a MSU hockey game on the station that usually carries the Wolves (KTOE). There's probably just as little to say about last night's mess...and I watched 1/2 of it.

First of all, I know it was snowing like nobody's business, but the Target Center was damn near empty last night. Both teams reciprocated the gesture by not really showing up to play. The Lakers suited up 10 players and Kobe Bryant played for less than 30 minutes. The Wolves played without Marko Jaric, Theo Ratliff, Randy Foye and their Coach, Randy Wittman. Big Al may as well taken the night off to rest his knee because he didn't really show up either (results, not effort). It's nights like this that make people hate the NBA. Guaranteed money with no guarantee for effort.

I suppose you could take a few positives from the losses. Sebastian Telfair is proving himself to be an NBA point, and it should once again be noted that he's a 22 year-old guard with no college experience who has shown constant and consistent improvement when given the chance to prove himself on the court. He's increasingly showing himself, along with Toine, to be the only Wolf that understands the importance of changing his game to fit what he brings to the court on any given night. Last night, Bassy's shot wasn't working early so he went to the rim; knowing that he wasn't going to hit any threes and that he could get by his slower opponents at the 1. He didn't force a shot that wasn't working and he fell back to option 2. That's a damn revelation with this group of players.

Has anyone noticed that Craig Smith has hit 70% from the floor during his last 5 games? He may have had some trouble guarding Odom last night, but the favor was returned on the other end of the court.

That's about it. There's nothing to write home about with these games. The Wolves are entering a particularly tough stretch of their schedule, they are banged up, their coach is in the hospital, and it's frickin' snowing. Again: this season will be measured by ping-pong balls, Foye's (eventual) proficiency at the 1, McCant's ability to play the 2, and the expiring contracts of Ratliff, Michael Doleac, and (hopefully) a large chunk of the young Celtics. As long as the players don't go insane, they are doing their job. This year (and the next) is about getting through 82 games without taking on additional salary and avoiding a win total that would knock the team out of the top 3 picks in the 2008 Draft.

As if to cap off the night's suckiness, the match up between OJ Mayo and Derrick Rose was ugly as sin.

Yikes indeed.

PS: can we officially stop pretending that Ryan Gomes is a decent player?