Though the Minnesota Timberwolves' payroll is well above the NBA's salary cap, vice president Kevin McHale said Thursday that the team will actively look for free-agent talent this summer. "We plan on doing a lot in free agency,'' McHale said. With players like Kevin Garnett, Wally Szczerbiak and Sam Cassell making big money, the Wolves are one of many teams that are over the salary cap. But that's not going to stop them from trying to upgrade a team that missed the playoffs for the first time since 1996. When the free agent market opens July 1, McHale said he expects the few teams with cap space left to "eat up the Joe Johnsons and the Ray Allens,'' two of the marquee players who could be available. That means the Timberwolves will use their mid-level exception — in which team are allowed to spend more than the cap allows for one signing — to compete with the other teams for the best of the rest. "Twenty-four or 25 teams will have the same flexibility with the mid-level exception,'' McHale said. "So we'll have less flexibility than some, but the same as most.'' Minnesota has plenty of questions on its own roster. Swingman Latrell Sprewell is a free agent and would have to take a huge pay cut to return to the Timberwolves. That would seem unlikely after Sprewell griped before last season began about his $14 million salary and turned down a three-year $21 million contract extension. After being one of the poster boys for the underperforming Wolves, Sprewell will have difficulty securing a similar offer this summer. McHale said that it was too early to say whether Sprewell would be back and that most of the team's efforts have been focused on preparing for Tuesday's NBA draft and getting acquainted with new head coach Dwane Casey. "It's hard to say because the free agent market doesn't open until July 1,'' McHale said. He did acknowledge, however, that Sprewell's status could influence what the team does with the No. 14 pick on Tuesday. "It does enter in,'' McHale said. --

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