The 19-year-old high school kid and the skinny long shot from Duluth -- the Timberwolves' two draft picks Thursday night -- realistically won't help the team improve much next season.

Maybe the 33-year-old point guard and the 35-year-old backup center the Wolves acquired Friday will.

In a trade with the Milwaukee Bucks, the Wolves swapped guard Anthony Peeler and forward Joe Smith for guard Sam Cassell and big man Ervin Johnson. The trade, initiated about two weeks ago and completed Friday afternoon, is contingent on all four players passing physicals.

The move is said to be the first of several in the offseason intended to boost the Wolves, if not beyond their 51-31 regular-season record in 2002-03, then at least out of the playoffs' first round next spring. Also on their agenda: finding a taker for injured point guard Terrell Brandon's contract in a trade for a healthy player or two, re-signing free-agent center Rasho Nesterovic, luring one or more free agents to accept the team's salary-cap exception slots and getting All-Star forward Kevin Garnett to commit to a contract extension beyond 2003-04.

Cassell, who will turn 34 a few weeks into the coming season, is the best player in Friday's trade. He has averaged 15.9 points, 6.1 assists, 1.18 steals and 30.4 minutes over 10 NBA seasons, split among five teams.

An extroverted 6-3 playmaker who was a member of Houston's championship teams in 1994 and 1995, Cassell spent the past four full seasons in Milwaukee -- which, coincidentally, acquired him in the three-team trade in March 1999 when Stephon Marbury forced his way from Minnesota to New Jersey and Brandon moved into the vacated spot in the Twin Cities.

Contract difficulties prevented the Wolves from getting Cassell straight-up at the time. But they liked him then and they like him now.