Robbi Pickeral of the Pioneer Press reports that many NBA teams, including the Timberwolves, use a plus-minus rating as an assessment tool. The system adds all the points a team scores while a particular player is on the court, then subtracts the points allowed while he is not playing.

Coach Flip Saunders prefers to use the system on a game-by-game basis ? for instance, to see how the team responds when forward Kevin Garnett is on the bench, or which point guard is more effective at which times.

But from a fans' standpoint, it's interesting to look at season trends. Not surprisingly, Garnett, at plus-46, has the best rating, according to Wolves statistics. Discounting Wally Szczerbiak, who has played in only four games and is on the injured list, only three other players ? Kendall Gill (+21), and little-used reserves Igor Rakocevic (+6) and Reggie Slater (+3) ? were in positive figures before Sunday night's game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

"It's skewed because when you have some games like New Jersey or San Antonio ? when you get blown out ? you have to throw those games out because when you get beat by 20 and your main guys play a lot, you're going to have some negatives,'' Saunders said. "That's why I think it's more important to do it on a game-by-game basis, so you have a better understanding of things ? like if K.G.'s out for 2? minutes and we score only two points, or we're outscored 13-2. Those types of situations.''

Other season numbers of note: Shooting guard Anthony Peeler has the worst rating on the team, at minus-65. Starters Troy Hudson and Rasho Nesterovic are both at minus-29.