The Wolves have bought out center Theo Ratliff's contract for the remainder of season. This will make Theo a Free Agent following a 48 hour period where he must clear waivers, after which he is expected to sign with his former team the Detroit Pistons.
Detroit Drafted Theo with the 18th pick in the 1995 Draft. He went on to have two productive seasons in Detroit by leading the team in blocks in both his rookie and sophomore seasons. Until being traded to the Sixers for Jerry Stackhouse in the middle of his third season.
With Theo no longer being on the Wolves roster it will no doubtingly open up minutes for the Wolves to look at their rookie center Chris Richard. Richard a 
2nd round pick by the Timberwolves, is fresh off a recent stint in the D-League where he was averaging a double-double. So now that he has gotten himself back in playing shape (after sitting on the wolves bench for most of the first half of the season) I hope that he can provide defensive toughness near the paint as well as helping out on the offensive boards. He is also very good at finding open space under the basket that creates passing lanes for players who are driving to the hoop. When Chris gets one of those passes from a driving teammate you can be sure that he will follow it up by slamming home one of his Shaq like two handed rim shaking power dunks.
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