Success story: Sam Cassell has turned the page in Minnesota, giving the Timberwolves reason to believe there could be a happy ending come June

Think of this as a modern basketball fable. Let's call it, The Boy who Cried Timberwolf. You see, Sam Cassell plays basketball, and for him, it always has been a simple game. There's some running, there's some shooting, there's some picking-and-rolling. As Sam sees things, it's his job to do those things against an opponent for 48 minutes in a given night, then proceed to the next game. That's why he never quite understood what he was doing each morning in Wisconsin, where he was employed by the Bucks for four-plus years, running plays, over and over. He'd been executing the same plays for all of those years, with the same coach and, essentially, the same players. The repetition never really suited Sam. He's a league-leading fidgeter; to say he has a short attention span is like saying Ahab doesn't like whales.

So, Cassell simply would sit down. Injured, tired, bored, sleepy--pick your reason. And because Cassell got to sit, his high-priced Bucks teammates, Glenn Robinson and Ray Allen, felt the), could sit, too. This did not please earnest Bucks coach George Karl, who watched as his best players put in effort-free practices. Tensions were created that would foment until the team could no longer function. Remember when Milwaukee nearly stormed into The Finals, coming within one game in 2001? Ever wonder what went wrong over the following seasons? Practice, that's what went wrong.

Those Bucks have been disbanded. They're now scattered around the league, and Cassell can look back with some perspective. "Look, George Karl said I never practiced," Cassell says. "But I practiced enough to make my game solid. He can't take credit for making me a better basketball player. I knew how to make myself successful. Can't no man, no coach, general manager, owner, tell me how to make myself a better basketball player. It might have gotten to him because of the practice thing, because I did not want to do one play 50 times in a row. So I would go sit down. So be it."

The darnedest thing happened to Cassell on his way out of Milwaukee, though. He found redemption, in practice of all places. Cassell wound up in what might be the perfect destination: Minnesota. There, he has been paired with Kevin Garnett, the ideal teammate for Cassell's skills and loose temperament. Garnett, the Timberwolves' superstar big man, has excavated every bit of untapped talent from Cassell's wiry, 6-3 body. Garnett approaches basketball with an intensity that allows no loafing in games, in shootarounds or in practices. It helps that Garnett has a glare that could turn back a howling troop of rapacious Huns. So, at age 34, and spurred by Garnett's example (and his glare), Cassell has discovered the joys of practice.

"I think he has been capable of playing this way all along, but I think this year he has a better focus," says Bucks guard Damon ]ones, one of Cassell's oldest NBA friends. "He is approaching practices--practices!--and games with an intensity that goes with being around a guy like Kevin Garnett, who brings his all every night. It's a trickle-down effect."

The results have been undeniable. Cassell is carrying averages well ahead of his career norms: He is scoring a career-high 21.1 points, shooting a career-high 49.8 percent from the field and putting in a career-high 41.4 percent of 3-pointers. He's also averaging 7.7 assists, 1.4 more than his career average. Cassell already was in the midst of a good career, but his brief time in Minnesota has made that career better. He may not admit it, but Cassell owes this, in part, to practice.

"You can't do what you have always done on your old team once you get to a new team," says Allen, now in Seattle. "There is a certain level he has to match to play with a guy like Kevin Garnett. There is no question about who the go-to guy is. It's Kevin Garnett. Sam knows that. So Sam is allowed to complement him, and just hit the dutch shots and make open jumpers."

It's not exactly Aesop, but the fable of Sam Cassell shows that even a hardheaded guy who claims that can't no man tell him how to be a better basketball player can turn into a better basketball player with the help of another. Now in his 11th season, Cassell is thriving. And practicing. "I haven't had that kind of problem with Sam from Day 1," Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders says.

Cassell laughs about his new-found practice habits. "Well, now, it's different," he says. "Now, with Flip, it's practice the play, OK, move on. Play 1 is done. Let's do Play 2,"

Much more good than bad

Whatever the moral of the story is for Cassell, he is not the only one benefiting. His personal improvement is obvious, but that improvement is outweighed by the payback he is delivering for the franchise. The team's recent history has been one of good starts, bum luck and bad finishes. The Timberwolves were 30-10 two years ago before closing the season 20-22. Last year, they were 40-21 after their first March game but went 11-10 from there. Even closing games was problematic--Garnett carried such a heavy load on both ends for the team, he usually had little left for the fourth quarter.