Most people remember the Wolves’ one season of glory in 2004 when they earned the No. 1 seed in the West, then defeated a pesky Denver squad in five games before going the distance in a memorable seven-gamer with Sacramento that ended with Chris Webber’s three rattling out for a three-point Wolves win and a berth in the conference finals. People also remember that was as far as things went, followed by year two of MV3 turning into a fiasco of petty squabbles that eventually cost Flip Saunders his job and started the downward spiral toward trading KG and starting over. What gets glossed over in the misery that followed is that Sam Cassell was severely limited in the conference finals — won in six games by the Lakers — because of hip and back problems. In four of the six games, he played five minutes or fewer. The Lakers were fearsome, but they proved to be very human in the finals when they lost to the Pistons in five games. What if Cassell hadn’t been hurt? Do the Wolves win that series, maybe in seven games, and at least make the NBA finals? Does that change anything going into the next season — perhaps the Wolves would have had more incentive to extend Cassell’s contract, making him a happier camper? Do the Wolves perform well enough that they don’t fire Flip Saunders and don’t eventually trade Cassell AND a No. 1 pick for Marko Jaric? Are they able to more subtly rebuild around Garnett instead of trading him? These questions aren’t as obvious as the milkshake graphic (thanks, Jim), but they do bear pondering.

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