Michael Beasley (photo. Omar Vega)

As the NBA regular season approaches, we preview the upcoming campaign with the “Highs and Lows” system — predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team.

Added: Michael Beasley, Wesley Johnson, Luke Ridnour, Martell Webster, Anthony Tolliver, Nikola Pekovic, Kosta Koufos, Sebastian Telfair, Lazar Hayward

Lost: Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Ramon Sessions, Ryan Hollins, Damien Wilkins, Sasha Pavlovic

Ceiling: Tolerable
It’s not all bad for the Wolves. As much as GM David Kahn has been Rodney King‘d by the media for his personnel moves, he has at least constructed a roster full of young talent that has a lot of room to grow. Beasley, Corey Brewer, Wayne Ellington, Jonny Flynn, Hayward, Wes Johnson, Koufos, Kevin Love, Pekovic and Webster are all under 25 years old, and none are being overpaid (by NBA standards). If the Wolves should ever convince a big-time free agent to come to Minnesota, he’d have a decent supporting cast. If not, the franchise has a couple of guys who could possibly develop into big-time stars on their own … Those couple of guys are Love and Beasley. Despite injuries and long stretches where he was coming off the bench, Love averaged 14 points and 11 rebounds last season, finishing second in the NBA in offensive boards. With Al Jefferson gone to Utah, K-Love has stepped it up as a scorer, dropping 19 points a night in the preseason. Beasley has been written off by many as a bust despite being just 21 years old and having yet to find his niche in the League. With Miami he switched roles and positions often, and it’s not like his numbers were bad (14.8 ppg, 6.4 rpg). He’ll have a featured role with the rebuilding Wolves and could approach 20 points a night from the small forward spot … Kahn also got a lot of grief for inking Darko Milicic to a 4-year, $20 million contract, but was it really that bad? For a 25-year-old 7-footer who can give you 8 rebounds and 2 blocks a night in starter’s minutes, $5 million a year is reasonable. It’s not like that was a Jerome James move … Flynn is the Ray Felton of the ’09 draft class, as in he’ll forever be linked to Stephen Curry, Brandon Jennings and Tyreke Evans, who are unfortunately just better than him. Flynn took his lumps as a rookie (13.5 ppg, 4.4 apg, 81 starts) and will miss time at the beginning of this season with a hip injury, but he can be a solid starter … The Wolves are deep with young talent on the wings: Brewer is an athletic defender, Webster is a great shooter and improving defender, rookie Johnson is an athletic do-it-all type, and Ellington can shoot and score … The Wolves won’t fool anybody into thinking the glory days of Garnett and Spree are back, but they’ve got a solid foundation for the future.

Basement: Terrible
The present, however, could get real dark before the silver linings appear. The first red flag with the Wolves is that they don’t have a definite go-to guy or a recognized veteran leader. Without Jefferson’s low-post scoring ability, now it’ll be up to either Beasley (Minnesota’s most gifted scorer), Love (best overall player), Flynn (controls the ball) or one of the wings to step up and surprise some people. And with so many of the key guys being so young, it’s like the blind leading the blind … Second-year head coach Kurt Rambis tried to run the triangle offense in Minnesota that he learned in L.A., but it’s tough when you don’t have anybody resembling Kobe or Jordan. This year’s Wolves are going to run more, taking advantage of their athleticism and young legs and K-Love’s storied outlet passes. But what about when things slow down late in close ballgames? … The Wolves were 29th in the League in scoring defense last year, allowed the most three-pointers to opponents, and on paper they’ve gotten worse on D by adding Beasley and Ridnour. With Flynn out for a while and Ridnour starting in his place, Darko’s ability to defend the paint will be tested early and often … While young talent is good to have, with no real standout stars in the group, you also have a lot of young guys who want to play and aren’t too far removed from their days in high school or college when they got star treatment. If Rambis can’t manage the minutes and egos, things will fall apart quickly for a group that is already threatening to be really bad.

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10/20 — Orlando Magic
10/19 — Oklahoma City Thunder
10/19 — Detroit Pistons
10/15 — Golden State Warriors
10/12 — Chicago Bulls
10/12 — San Antonio Spurs
10/5 — Toronto Raptors
10/1 — Sacramento Kings
9/28 — Atlanta Hawks
9/27 — Portland Trail Blazers

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