Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said Tuesday he expects to examine soon the terms of the contract that will be offered to fourth-year forward Al Jefferson, the centerpiece in July’s five-player, two-draft pick trade for Kevin Garnett.
 
The Wolves have until Oct. 31 to sign Jefferson to a contract
extension. After that, Jefferson, selected by Boston 15th overall in
the 2004 draft, cannot be signed until next summer, when the Wolves
still would retain the right to match any other team’s offer.
 
"We will try," Taylor said. "It will be a good offer, a real offer, not
a low-ball offer. But I don’t know what his agent’s expectations are."
 
 
A footnote, an afterthought to July’s Kevin Garnett trade, new
Timberwolves center Theo Ratliff has demonstrated across Europe and the
American South recently that his surgically repaired back has healed
and, at age 34, he still possesses the instincts that twice made him
the NBA’s blocked-shot leader.
 
 
"Theo gives us a presence we haven’t had in there,"
coach Randy Wittman said Tuesday before Minnesota’s 103-77 loss at
Atlanta, a game in which Ratliff didn’t play. "He’s going to have the
ability to block shots, as well as Al. That’s something we really
haven’t had here in a number of years."
 
Ratliff has impressed Wittman so far in the
exhibition season since being acquired from Boston in July as part of
the Garnett trade. If he continues to play like he has, he could get
significant minutes this season at center, maybe even start at times.
 
 
Forward Mark Madsen, who has been sidelined since
August because of surgery on his right shoulder and pectoral muscle,
said his "progress is going very well and very steady." He didn’t want
to put a time frame on his return, but he’s expected back in
mid-November.