Without question, the Wolves' non-starters deserve credit when assessing the reasons behind the team's 8-1 start.

"As a unit, we try to come in and bring the energy and make sure when Coach makes substitutions that we're not going from strength 100 to falling off," Trent said. "We want to bring that energy every night."

Many NBA teams have guys sitting on the bench who are either too young, too old or too overmatched to give significant minutes. Not the Wolves. Six of their seven reserves have been NBA starters. The seventh is rookie Loren Woods.

"We don't feel like normal bench players," Billups said. "We feel like we have a starting eight or starting nine."

They even have a nickname, calling themselves the "zoo crew," although "zoo keepers" would probably be more appropriate. Their job, after all, is to maintain order when things are going well. When the game is a little sloppy, their job is to clean up the mess.

"If something's not going right, we want to come in and fix it," Trent said. "If we're not rebounding, OK, let's go in there and get some rebounds. If we're not defending, let's go in there and turn it up on 'D'. If the starters are doing everything right and we're up, hey, let's maintain that."