Dennis Green demonstrated in his decade with the Vikings that he had a limited talent for evaluating defensive players. The Timberwolves' braintrust of Kevin McHale and Flip Saunders has a more specific problem: no talent for evaluating players named Jackson.

McHale and Saunders decided to let Bobby Jackson leave as a free agent for the Sacramento Kings on Aug. 1, 2000. It was left to Rob Babcock, Wolves director of player personnel, to explain the organization's thinking in the next morning's Star Tribune.

"Bobby did a great job for us, and we were interested in having him back," Babcock said. "But it would have been financially irresponsible for us to sign him to a lucrative long-term contract. Plus, I think the thing that was hurting Bobby was that he was competing for backup minutes with Will."

The "Will" referred to was Will Avery, selected with the 14th overall pick in the 1999 draft. Avery remains the Wolves' most recent first-round selection. He has been written off as a bust, replaced late in the season by previously unemployed veteran Robert Pack.

In late February, McHale and Saunders tried their luck with another Jackson. They lobbied owner Glen Taylor and finally were able to get him to sign off on acquiring center Marc Jackson from Golden State.

This week, Bobby Jackson finished second in the NBA's Sixth Man Award voting. This week, Marc Jackson played no minutes in the Wolves' two playoff losses in Dallas.

The contract the Wolves would have been required to match to keep B. Jackson pays him $13.7 million over five seasons. The contract the Wolves took on in acquiring M. Jackson calls for $21.5 million over the next five seasons.