Steve Aschburner of the Minneapolis star tribune reports: After missing the past 5 games with a sprained right ankle, Timberwolves starting center Rasho Nesterovic returned to the lineup Friday night in Miami against the Heat.

In his return, Nesterovic had 4 points and 4 rebounds in 19 minutes of action.

However, Minnesota might have been better off without him.

Aschburner points out that Minnesota went 4-1 without Nesterovic and outrebounded their opponents by an average of 12.8 per game (48.6 to 35.8).

On Friday night, not only did Minnesota get outrebounded 37-30 but they also got humilated 111-84 by the lottery-bound Miami Heat.

There is so much speculation alone about what the MVP means and what the criteria should be to decide who it is, that by the time you figure it out, you still haven't picked a winner.

However, Israel Gutierrez of the Miami Herald say that by using the Larry Bird formula, the MVP is an obvious choice.

Kevin Garnett.

The formula adds player's points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks and then subtracts missed field goals, missed free throws, turnovers and personal fouls. You then divide that number by the number of games played.

Numbers aside, Garnett is having a great season, playing as unselfishly as he has in past seasons while asserting himself a little more offensively.

''Kevin's a guy who has always been brought up to share the ball and play the game the right way,'' Wolves head coach Flip Saunders said. ``If somebody's open, he's going to pass him the ball.''

Garnett, though, is not ready to call himself MVP.

''I'm not the type of person to sit back and assess my play,'' he said. ``If anything, I've got to critique a lot of things, the things I don't do well. You can answer that question for yourself.''

Steve Aschburner of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports: USA Basketball is waiting for an answer from Kevin Garnett but can afford to wait a little longer.

While Garnett still hasn't responded to their invitation to join the 2004 Olympic team, he isn't facing a deadline because Craig Miller, spokesman for Team USA, said this week that selection committee probably won't meet again until late April.

Right now, Garnett is focused on his team the minnesota Timberwolves but his agent remains hopeful that he will be on the team.

"They've been very good about it. They haven't put any pressure on us," said Andy Miller, Garnett's agent. "It still is a goal for both sides."

The team first plays this summer in a qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico and if they finish among the top three teams, they will move on to play in the 2004 Olympic games, which will be played in Athens, Greece.

As everyone seems to be talking about the Timberwolves' Kevin Garnett as the potential league MVP this season, on paper at least, Minneapolis Star-Tribune writer Steve Aschburner believes that many will have a hard time looking past Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks as being the NBA's best.

Aschburner writes that the "best player on the best team" criterion is a powerful one, even with a roster as deep and talented as Dallas'. Nowitzki leads the Mavericks in scoring (23.8) and rebounds (9.8) and ranks sixth and eighth in the NBA in those categories.

In an amazing stat when Nowitzki has been on the court Dallas has outscored teams by 671 points. When he sits, the Mavs have been outscored by 91. Garnett's numbers: plus-329 and minus-198.

"Some people would say 'Nowitzki does a lot and is one of the top players. But if you take Nowitzki off [their team], where would they be, compared to if you take Nash off?' Nash makes everybody so much better. Both those guys have to be considered."

According to a report in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune after the trade of Gary Payton after 13 loyal years in Seattle, Kevin Garnett claims he has come to learn just how much of a business the NBA truly is.

"From a player's standpoint, you want to be loyal," said Garnett. "But it's got to be a 50-50. As much as you are loyal, management has to meet that."

"Can you be loyal and miserable at the same time? Yes, that's totally possible. You can want [to win], but if other people don't want it or management doesn't want it, if they're not actually going out and being action more than words, then you have to make a decision. That's probably the hardest thing to do. Gary was Mr. Seattle but he felt like he was in no position to win or to grow. That's hard."

Insiders say Payton wanted to re-sign but with a raise, while the Sonics weren't sure he fit their long-term plans even at a pay cut.

Garnett also questioned why Malone didn't say anything to him when the Jazz played in Minneapolis last week.

"I'm not going to speed my thought process up and assess my situation any quicker than I already have because Karl Malone says something," Garnett said.

If you listen to writer Jerry Brewer, employed by the Orlando Sentinel to write day in and day out about Tracy McGrady and the Magic, there is only one clear MVP this season.  And his nickname is not TMac.

While McGrady and fellow high school sensation Kobe Bryant have had phenominal seasons, another prep-to-pro has got them beat.  They call him the big ticket.. Kevin Garnett... Da Kid.

'Unless Bryant can get the Lakers to 50 victories, unless McGrady can get the Magic to 45, unless Jason Kidd can hit five open jumpers in a row and unless Tim Duncan can provide a good quote, then Garnett should be MVP,' writes Brewer.

With teammate Wally Sczcerbiak missing 30 games this season and Terrell Brandon last seen somewhere around Iraq, the only help Garnett has seen in his corner this year has come from Joe Smith.. which isn't saying much.  Despite going alone Garnett has the Timberwolves as only one of four teams - all of which reside in the Western Conference - to already surpass the 40 win plateau.  The other three are the highly fancied Dallas, Sacramento, and San Antonio.. teams with multiple options and weapons a plenty.

"He is an overlooked and often ignored treasure," ESPN commentator and former great Bill Walton said. "We need to start paying a lot more attention to this guy."

"At the end of the year, when they start pointing fingers, it's always going to be pointed at me first," Garnett said. "I don't have a problem with that. I've heard all those things before.

"At the end of the year, things go bad and they say, 'Kevin Garnett ain't doing blah, blah, blah.' It's very unfair. But like I've said, you control the things you can and not the stuff you can't."

Kevin doesn't care.  He just works harder.

Last summer Knicks guard Latrell Sprewell was rumored to be traded in an endless number of scenarios to 28 different teams.  Once such scenario involved the Minnesota Timberwolves and Wally Sczcerbiak, Greg Logan from Newsday writing that Wally didn't think that was such a bad idea.

"Any time you mention playing for the Knicks, it's very intriguing," Szczerbiak said. "The Knicks are a fun team; they play in a fun spot. But right now, I'm very comfortable here. I've made a home here in Minnesota. The way we're playing and the upside we have, there's no place I'd rather be. New York will always be my home in the offseason and where I will always call home, but for now, I'm doing great and enjoying myself here."