In November 1999, the bold proclamation came from the grandest pro basketball pooh-bah of them all: David Stern.

The NBA commissioner said the Timberwolves and Sacramento Kings were two of the up-and-coming NBA franchises, part of a new wave of teams about to make their move.

OK, it also might have been a proclamation of marketing convenience: Stern was in Tokyo, and so were the Wolves and Kings to start the 1999-2000 season.

Yet Stern was not alone in believing that, if nothing else, the Wolves and Kings were about at the same place in their development.

During the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season, the Wolves finished 25-25 despite the Stephon Marbury trade, and reached the playoffs for only the third time in team history. The Kings finished 27-23 and made the playoffs for the second time in 13 years.

The Wolves had a young star in Kevin Garnett. The Kings had a young star in Chris Webber. The Wolves had a players' coach in Flip Saunders. The Kings had a players' coach in Rick Adelman.

Some even believed that even with the trade of Marbury for Terrell Brandon, the Wolves were a more solid, stable bet for the future than the flashier and more volatile Kings.

Almost three years later, this is the reality: Webber, Adelman and the more volatile Kings have homecourt advantage in the Western Conference Finals, and Garnett, Saunders and the more stable Wolves have been sitting in their well-worn Barcaloungers for almost a month.