Forging a path the Timberwolves hope to follow someday, the Sacramento Kings are crossing over from a team that just wants to compete to a team that's learning, however painfully, to win.

It's an uneven process, to be sure, one that already this season has included a four-game winning streak and a double-overtime victory at Phoenix that has been balanced by defeats in Memphis and Dallas during which they led by 18 points or more in the first quarter of each game.

"It's a work in progress," Kings point guard Darren Collison said. "We are making strides. We are improving, which is always a good thing. We've got some pieces that we can build around for a long time."

Those pieces include a grown-up — or at least growing up — DeMarcus Cousins at center, a gifted scorer and recently re-signed Rudy Gay at small forward and presumably in Collison the point guard leader for whom a once rudderless franchise long has searched.

Their 9-5 start was the team's best in a decade.

Petulant and problematic not that long ago, Cousins has grown into what Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders called a top-five candidate for the NBA's Most Valuable Player and a double-double machine who has become remarkably dependable in both production and temperament.

"I think he had this ability all along, before I got here," said Collison, who signed last summer as a free agent after he played for four different teams in his first five NBA seasons. "But I definitely see him maturing as a leader."

Sacramento coach Mike Malone calls Cousins a changed player and person since late last season, when he was served a one-game suspension after he was ejected from a game against Houston.

"Everybody who doesn't see us night in and night out thinks it just started this year," Malone said. "The last 25 games last year he was different, in all the right ways: trying to be positive, trying to control his emotions.

"He carried that into the summer and now DeMarcus wants to win. He's tired of losing. A lot of time, you have to participate in your own recovery. It can't just be everybody else. DeMarcus has really sacrificed and handled his emotions and is being the best leader I have seen him be in the short time I've coached him."

Cousins went to Spain last summer and with Team USA won a gold medal at the FIBA World Cup. Kings teammate Gay went with him.

Together, the two came back changed players, Malone contends. They returned with Gay willing to sign a three-year, $40 million contract extension — a pay cut from the $19.3 million he's earning this season — two weeks ago as well.

"The great thing for me was they went over as teammates, having spent most of last season together, but they came back a lot closer," Malone said. "They bonded in Spain. Rudy and DeMarcus kind of found a common ground and realized they need each other to get to where we all want to go."

Where the Kings want to go, of course, is back to the playoffs for the first time since 2006. The only NBA team to wait longer is the Wolves.

But to hear Gay tell it, they want to go much farther than that with a franchise that once appeared headed for Seattle and in a city that will open a new downtown arena in 2016.

"We're on our way to building a new Sacramento, not just a team," Gay said. "The whole chemistry, the whole city … what they [Kings management] have been talking to me about is just changing the whole city.

"It's huge, huge. That's one of the biggest things they used this summer to keep me here."

NBA Short Takes

A date with history?

If the Philadelphia 76ers keep going as they have been — terribly — they will come to Target Center on Wednesday with the chance to tie the NBA record for most consecutive losses to start a season.

They entered the weekend 0-15 with home games against Dallas and San Antonio before they'd play a Wolves team reeling in its own way.

The 76ers' 0-15 start is fifth-worst in NBA history, behind New Jersey's 18 losses to start the 2009-10 season, Miami's 17 its very first season (1988-89) and the Los Angeles Clippers' 17 in the 1999-2000 lockout-shortened season. The Clippers lost 16 games to start the 1994-95 season as well.

The 76ers know how this goes: Their 26-game losing streak last season tied Cleveland (2010-11) for the NBA's longest ever.

Uphill climb

Oklahoma City welcomed Russell Westbrook back Friday, a step in getting both him and injured Kevin Durant healthy again. Without them basically all season, the Thunder started 4-12. For the Thunder to reach the 49 victories it took Dallas to earn the West's final playoff spot last season, it'll have to go 45-21 the rest of the way.

Wacky schedule

First the NBA sent the Wolves on a six-game, 12-day trip that covered more than 5,500 air miles and included a stop in Mexico City.

Now they're sending the Wolves from Los Angeles to Portland and back again to play three games in four nights. The Wolves played the Lakers on Friday, then flew to Portland to play the Trail Blazers on Sunday night.

They return to Staples Center on Monday to play the Clippers. Go figure.

Wolves' Week Ahead

Sunday: 8 p.m. at Portland (FSN)

Monday: 9:30 p.m. at L.A. Clippers (FSN)

Wednesday: 7 p.m. vs. Philadelphia (FSN+)

Friday: 7 p.m. vs. Houston (FSN)

Saturday: 7:30 p.m. at San Antonio (FSN)

Player to watch:

Damian Lillard, Portland

Clutch point guard's 33 three-pointers were the franchise's most made in the season's first 10 games, and he always seems to make plenty against the Wolves.

Voices

« She did everything. She sacrificed everything. »

Wolves forward Thad Young on the influence of his mother, Lula Hall, a single mom who raised him. She died earlier this month after an 18-month fight with breast cancer.