Sorry if I didn’t quench the thrist for details about Wednesday night’s summer-league game. I headed off to catch a red-eye flight home from Vegas and then tapped out a post at home before I headed off for a nap.

Craig Smith signed his deal about an hour ago and said he will play in tonight’s game against Portland (9 pm webcast, 1 am on NBA TV), although he’s not sure if he’ll play in the final two games after that.

Here’s some of what he had to say after agreeing to a new reasonably priced two-year contract (still trying to nail down the number, I’d guess $3.5-4 millionish total) after discussions with other teams didn’t yield an offer sheet:

“I’m just happy that I’m back. We’re going to be much better than we were last year. I’m just ready to get after it. I told Mac and Jim Stack that I wanted to be here and I wanted to grow with the young nucleus. We went through the transition, me, Randy and Rashad, and I wanted to stick it out through the tough times, and the times are going to get better. They felt the same way.

Being around a totally different organization is something I thought about. It’s kind of like going to school on the first day, getting used to stuff. It’s about where your best fit is and I’ve always felt this was the best fit. We had a couple of talks with teams, nothing really came out of it. I decided to go back to Minnesota and just talk it out because that’s where I wanted to be.”

The Wolves still are talking with Ryan Gomes, Sebastian Telfair (and Chris Richard).

“We like Craig a deal, I didn’t see any reason not to try to re-sign him,” Kevin McHale said. “There was an opportunity to chase other free agents, but that didn’t make any sense to me. I like our young guys a great deal. I like our guys as much or probably more.”

On the prospects of signing Gomes and Telfair, McHale said, “You never know until you sign them. It’s so hard to say. We want to sign them. We like them. We felt the same way about Craig. I told him I’m so happy to have him back. He’s such a great guy, the same way I feel about Bassy and Ryan. They’re just a joy to be around. We’re having meaningful conversations with both of them. It’s a process.”

Asked about the possibility of trading for a point guard (Randy Foye currently is the only one under contract): “We’ve had some conversations with some teams. We don’t have a deal to announce today.”

McHale’s impressions of Kevin Love’s summer-league play: “Solid. Kevin really knows how to play. He does some things really easily, very very good at a lot of little things. I’ve been impressed. For a 19 year old kid, he’s really advanced. He has a great feel for the game.”

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