Extreme makeover: tired of first-round playoff exits, the Timberwolves have nipped and tucked Kevin Garnett's supporting cast into the shape of a conference title contender.(NBA preview: assembling a supporting cast)

Sam Cassell has this vision of the way this season ought to be--no, the way this season will be--for the Timberwolves. Cassell will be at the controls, of course--in his vision, he's always at the controls--and Latrell Sprewell makes up the other half of the picture.

"I'm going to have him running the court," Cassell says, "dunking, high-fiving, chest-banging. New York has never seen Spree the way I'm going to have him."

And understand this: In the World According to Sam, Sprewell merely is his second option. Imagine the things he can conjure up for Kevin Garnett.

"Kevin's the top guy on this team," Cassell says. "We all understand that. Everyone's got to respect one another."

These, obviously, are the new Timberwolves. No team underwent such as radical facelift in the off: season. Maybe the players didn't show up at training camp wearing peel-and-stick name tags that said, "Hi, My Name Is ...," but certainly the Timberwolves will need some get-acquainted time.

Their past needs no introduction, not at the Target Center nor anywhere else in the NBA. Among those most familiar with the T-Wolves are the Rockets ... and the SuperSonics ... and the Spurs ... and the Trail Blazers ... and the Spurs again ... and the Mavericks ... and the Lakers--the teams that have booted Minnesota from the first round of the Western Conference playoffs the past seven years.

That won't happen this time. The Timberwolves cleared the dead wood after first-round ouster No. 7 and put together a cast of talented veterans who give Minnesota a different look and new hope.