Jefferson went through a rigorous conditioning and drills program while serving his two-game suspension without pay for his DWI arrest on Feb. 28 near downtown Minneapolis.

“Al has done everything as accurately and correctly as you could possibly ask somebody to do, under the circumstances,” Rambis said of Jefferson, who had 36 points and 13 rebounds in the Wolves’ 125-112 loss to Dallas. “He’s handled the situation very well. I’m proud of him as a ballplayer and as a man. He owned up to his mistake, apologized for it and didn’t try to shirk his responsibilities.”

Rambis had enough confidence in Jefferson’s conditioning to put him in the starting lineup. Jefferson spoke to reporters after Monday morning’s shootaround and said he has been through the “hardest seven days of my life.” Jefferson did not contest the Wolves’ suspension, which cost him $292,682 of his $12 million salary this season. An NBA spokesman said the league is not expected to impose additional penalties because of the Wolves’ disciplinary action.

From David Aldridge/NBA.com: These five teams know tales of woe all too well
True, Minnesota has spent the first year of Kahn’s tenure tearing down the old roster, amassing assets and trying to change the culture of losing under first-year coach Kurt Rambis. The changing the losing part hasn’t gone so well, after a 1-15 start, but Kahn is trying to show that improving is a two-way street; the Wolves have upgraded the team’s weight room and lounge, and have tried to be innovative with their players in areas like nutrition education.

“I do believe that, based on NBA standards, the Timberwolves had fallen behind the curve a little bit,” Kahn said.

Minnesota expects to have between $10 million and $12 million in cap space this summer, but won’t sign a free agent just for the sake of signing one. Kahn thinks that Al Jefferson and Kevin Love have proven they can play together, but that the duo will only survive long-term with more big bodies on the roster.

“They can’t just be one and two,” Kahn said. “The third piece has to be someone with some significant size. We need to add somebody to the team along with Kevin and Al. That’s how it can work. If you say, over 82 games, can Al and Kevin work, with each of them playing 35, 38 minutes a game? No. We’re just too short. We’re hurt in our rim-protecting ability and we’re hurt in our transition-defense ability.”

From Frank Hughes/SI.com: Where will John Wall fit in?
Minnesota (14-49), the worst team in the Western Conference, will have a good chance to land the top pick. However, the Timberwolves took Ricky Rubio and Flynn with back-to-back picks in the 2009 draft, and bringing on a third point guard would create even more of a logjam (Rubio is currently playing in Spain) and necessitate a trade. That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for the beginning of David Kahn’s stewardship of that organization.