Is it just me, or is anyone else put off by Kevin Garnett lately?
Don't get me wrong, K.G. is a basketball warrior. His passion for the game is unparalleled. His skills are freakish. And how do you not love a guy who donates $1.2 million to Oprah's Angel Network to build 24 homes for Hurricane Katrina survivors?
But as a leader, Garnett is horrible.
I mean -- hello -- after all these months, now he wants to open up about the dysfunctional family that is the Minnesota Timberwolves? Where was all of the brutal honesty last year? He wanted no part of the three-ring circus created by Latrell "I Can't Feed My Family" Sprewell, Sam "One-day Holdout" Cassell and Kevin "Everything is Fine" McHale.
Garnett forgot that he's the four-star general in charge of the franchise and wrongly played the part of the dutiful soldier. He stood idly by while Spree and Sam poisoned the waters, coach Flip Saunders lost his job and the team missed the playoffs.
Apparently, Garnett works as slowly as a congressional hearing and needed half a year to review the wreckage before making a meaningful observation. He recently ripped McHale, Minnesota's vice president of basketball operations, for not handling the contract matters before last season and for replacing Saunders when McHale obviously didn't want the responsibility of coaching.
Wow, what a stunner. We all knew McHale was uncomfortable on the sideline. He said so himself. We all knew Saunders was the fall guy and that something needed to be done about Sprewell and Cassell.
But where was Garnett then?
It wasn't enough for him to post on the left block and drain impossible rainbow jumpers each night or bust his hump in practice like a 10-day free agent fighting for a job. He needed to be out front, vocal and commanding. He needed to be a leader. That's what real superstars do.
So forgive me if I'm not bowled over by Garnett's criticisms. In my opinion, they would have carried more weight had they been aired last year.
Still, when The Big Ticket speaks, people listen. And when he's critical of management, newshounds speculate. TNT analyst Charles Barkley got the ball rolling on the Garnett trade rumors, and a flurry of possible scenarios have erupted across the league.
Of course, they're bogus. Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor says he has no plans to trade Garnett. He knows that rarely -- if ever -- can a team trade a franchise player and improve. The Lakers, Magic and Raptors are Exhibits A, B and C.
There's also the sticky little matter of fair market value. Given the constraints of the collective bargaining agreement, it would be virtually impossible to put enough players together to make a K.G. swap work.
So forget about the rumors you heard out of Detroit involving Rasheed Wallace and Darko Milicic. Similar speculation including Golden State's Jason Richardson and Troy Murphy or New Jersey's Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter are just pipe dreams.
The Knicks are always linked in trade discussions and are said to be dangling the expiring contracts of Penny Hardaway and Antonio Davis for Garnett and Wally Szczerbiak, which would free more than $100 million from Minnesota's payroll and allow the team to rebuild. Such a deal also would reduce the Timberwolves to expansion team status.
Garnett put it best when he told Barkley: "This is my reality, and this is where I'm at. Stop causing controversy and (throwing) dust in a clean house."
Garnett will turn 30 in May and is in his 11th season. He is an eight-time All-Star and a former MVP who has three years remaining on his contract after this season. K.G. isn't going anywhere, at least not this season. But make no mistake, he has put the Timberwolves on notice.
Essentially, he's telling McHale to be creative and daring with personnel moves, which means adding a respected veteran so Garnett doesn't have to shoulder all the leadership responsibilities.
He's suggesting that Taylor keep the team pocketbook open. Minnesota reduced its payroll from $71 million in 2004-05 to about $61 million this season, dropping the Timberwolves from the league's top five to No. 15.
He's warning new coach Dwane Casey to come up with a plan to get the team above .500 or risk being gone by next summer.
Finally, Garnett speaks. We all knew what he was thinking. It's too bad it has taken him this long to say what was on his mind.
That is from the December 9th edition of The Sporting News magazine. I opened it up today and flipped through the pages. I got to the NBA section and saw a big photo of KG, of course I had to read it. But in the article Percy Allen bashes Kevin Garnett for not being a leader. Basically saying KG decided to step up now about last season because of that TNT interview that aired about two weeks ago. Is this guy living in a shell? Did he see the KG interview last season on TNT when KG broke down into tears about what was happening? When he said management was handling the situation poorly.
I've never been a fan of Percy Allen, who is the new NBA columnist now for the Sporting News. This article really got under my skin because he is so ignorant to the past. Kevin Garnett did stand up last season and he did confront Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell. But it must not have gotten through to him. Just because he goes on TV and is asked a question about last season doesn't mean he isn't a leader. None of us are in that locker room so you don't know if he spoke up everyday or if he didn't. But to base leadership qualities off an interview a year after the incident (when KG was asked directly about last season) is just ignorant.
I know I'm a Kevin Garnett homer, but how can you seriously bash Garnett's leadership qualities because of this interview? How can you say he has never spoken out before in the past? Rasho Nesterovic left Minnesota because he couldn't handle KG's in-your-face attitude.
Percy Allen crictizes Garnett for only "leading by example". Yet, when people talk about Tim Duncan and his great leadership qualities they say he "leads by example" and that is what is so great about him. KG leads both ways. I just don't understand where Percy is coming from.
End rant.
