3-2-1, Contract

It's a familiar NBA script: a new team emerges as a championship contender, plays tough in the playoffs, and inevitably loses. Analysts begin chirping about how We Haven't Heard the Last of Them, they'll be even better next year, wiser, bigger, faster, smarter, hardened by the rigors of the playoffs and voracious for the championship they almost tasted. It's a compelling narrative, fueled by the NBA's tendency to appreciate the chance of success over actual achievement. Unfortunately, it has happened exactly once in the past 20 years, when the Chicago Bulls finally surpassed the Detroit Pistons on their way to a win in the 1991 Finals.

Since then, the league's champions have either been long-established contenders or longshots thought to be years away from a title. Meanwhile, teams like Cleveland (Magic Johnson's "Team of the 90s") and Seattle (the alleged descendants of Karl Malone and John Stockton) all approached the title without claiming it, while the Bulls frustrated the Knicks, Pacers, and Jazz - "emerging champions" each - throughout the 90s. More recently, Sacramento has proven that a team can dominate a league without winning so much as a conference title.

Garnett's Timberwolves now take their place among those nearly great teams. Garnett dragged the Wolves into the playoffs by the scruff for years before finally getting significant help last year. He's now watching that team slip into back into the depths of mediocrity. Sam Cassell is well off last year's All-Star pace; Troy Hudson is not the player he was before his injury; playoff stars Trenton Hassell and Fred Hoiberg have failed to extend their summer hot streak; three centers combine for exactly 8 points a game; and Latrell Sprewell has been himself to an intolerable degree.

Center Ervin Johnson was a member of that Sonics team that made its Finals appearance in '96, a team that expected a title shot to be an annual event. He should know that a team's first shot at glory may be their best.

ANTWAN JAMISON

Dallas' perennial indecision has flung players to the far corners of the league, muddling the careers of many in the process. Jamison, however, is one who has found a happier home after passing through the Mavericks' shaky hands. After being underutilized, in his opinion, in Dallas, Jamison has flourished as the Wizards' primary offensive option and all-around Locker Room Leader, encouraging and praising teammates, taking young guys to lunch, and even lightening the burden of perennially disappointing forward Kwame Brown, who two years later still plays like he has Michael Jordan sitting on his shoulders.

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