Craig Smith, Ryan Gomes and Gerald Green will all be key players in the future for the Timberwolves but they will likely be coming off of the bench this season. Smith is a banger at power forward who will be stuck behind Al Jefferson this season. Smith played in 82 games (5 starts) as a rookie last season for the T-Wolves and he averaged 18.7 minutes, 7.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game. Ryan Gomes was a starter in Boston at small forward and he will push rookie Corey Brewer for playing time. Gomes played in 73 games (60 starts) last season for the Celtics and he averaged 31.2 minutes, 12.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.6 assist per game. Gerald Green will likely back up Rashad McCants at shooting guard and he should get a lot of playing time for the Wolves. He played in 81 games (26 starts) last season for the Celtics and he averaged 22.0 minutes, 10.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game. Marko Jaric will back up Telfair at point guard until Randy Foye returns from injury. Jaric played in 70 games (13 starts) for the Wolves last season and he averaged 22.2 minutes, 5.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game. It’s hard to see where Antoine Walker fits in with the T-Wolves. He played in 78 games (15 starts) for the Heat last year and he averaged 23.3 minutes, 8.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. He also shot really poor last year in Miami. Michael Doleac will back up Ratliff at center this season. He played in 56 games (0 starts) last year for the Heat and he averaged 12.5 minutes, 3.6 points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. Greg Buckner can handle playing either shooting guard or small forward. He played in 76 games (11 starts) last season for the Mavericks and he averaged 18.1 minutes, 4.0 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. Mark Madsen is back to get some minutes at center and power forward for the T-Wolves. He played in 56 games (0 starts) last season for the Wolves and he averaged 8.4 minutes, 1.1 points, 1.6 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game.

The starting lineup is looking really thin for the Timberwolves with the injury to starting point guard Randy Foye. Sebastian Telfair will probably start at point guard for the T-Wolves until Foye is ready to return. Everyone always talks about how talented Telfair is but the results have not been there to this point in his career to justify the scouting reports. He played in 78 games (20 starts) last season for the Celtics and he averaged 20.2 minutes, 6.1 points, 1.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. Telfair also is not a good shooter as he has only hit 37.1% from the floor and 28.9% from three point range. Rashad McCants had a rough season last year as he was recovering from a severe knee injury. He will be the starting shooting guard this season for the Wolves. He played in 37 games (0 starts) last season for the T-Wolves and he averaged 15.0 minutes, 5.0 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game. McCants needs to tighten up his shooting as he only hit 35% from the floor and 26.7% from three point range. Rookie Corey Brewer has won the starting job at small forward and he will bring hustle and defense to the starting lineup. Power Forward Al Jefferson was the key to the Kevin Garnett trade in the off season and he is a stud. Jefferson will likely even be better than he was last season and that should be fun to watch. He played in 69 games (60 starts) last season for the Celtics and he averaged 33.6 minutes, 16.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Theo Ratliff will be the starting center and all the T-Wolves expect from him is to play good defense and rebound. He only played in 2 games (both starts) last season with the Celtics and he averaged 22.0 minutes, 2.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. He has been productive in his NBA career which has covered 679 games (495 starts). He has averaged 27.4 minutes, 8.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 2.6 blocks per game.

Randy Foye will miss several weeks after a stress reaction was found in his left knee. This is a blow to the T-Wolves as they were ready to hand the starting job at point guard to him for this season. He played in 82 games (12 starts) last season for the T-Wolves and he averaged 22.9 minutes, 10.1 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. He also shot decent as he hit 43.4% from the floor, 36.8% from three point range and 85.4% from the free throw line. The T-Wolves will let Sebastian Telfair and Marko Jaric battle for the starting job while Foye is out.

The T-Wolves have released Wayne Simien and they also got rid of Beno Udrih on the same day that they acquired him from the Spurs. The T-Wolves also received cash from the Spurs for a second round pick in 2008. The Timberwolves used the money they got from the Spurs to help pay the buyout with Juwan Howard.

The Timberwolves bought out forward Juwan Howard’s contract on Saturday as he didn’t want to be a part of the Timberwolves anyway. Plus, the T-Wolves had too many players on the roster so someone had to go. Howard has played 13 seasons in the NBA and he has averaged 16.1 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game in 951 games (889 starts) so he shouldn’t have any problems finding a new job before the season starts this week.