Thirty on 30: Kevin Garnett settled into a courtside chair at Target Center one morning last week and, over the next half-hour or so, sounded very much like an old 30-year-old. Which is, after all, what he is, with 11 years on his NBA résumé, nearly 900 games under his belt, more than 34,000 minutes on his clock and, as usual, plenty on his mind.
The Timberwolves' most valuable performer and most identifiable face had some fun with arithmetic ("If I had a kid when I came into the league, when I'm 36, he'd be through high school. That's crazy"). He pondered his eventual retirement age (either 34 or 40, depending on circumstances). And he daydreamed aloud about game days when he's no longer one of the participants.
"After I'm done playing, I'm going to get a season ticket. Sit my rear right down on the floor with my guys," Garnett said. "I'll get an extra seat on the floor, come in and watch Rashad, Randy, Craig, LeBron, 'Melo, D-Wade. I'll enjoy life.
"But when it's over, it's over. That's why I go hard. That's who I am, and I can say I gave it everything I had."
Right about then, half of the lights in the arena bowl went out. If you don't grasp the symbolism of that, you haven't been paying attention.
Garnett's retirement date is of far less concern to the Wolves these days than his departure date, because, more than ever, they might not be one and the same. The 2006-07 season that begins Wednesday against Sacramento could be Garnett's last with the team, the culmination of too many dreary finishes, too much roster turnover and too little postseason progress.
It has been hinted at for a couple of years actually, that Garnett might finally ask the big question: Stay or go? Press him and you'll get more theory than answer.
"It's sad that we live in a society that's not built off of loyalty and consistency," Garnett said. "Within neighborhoods, ratting is at an all-time high, telling on everybody. It seems like people forget about loyalty. It's not about the old school, man. I'm such an old-school guy, but the standard now is to move on when something's bad."
Stay or go? In Minnesota, it's a loaded question, dragging a resolution to dread in either direction. In 29 other NBA markets, meanwhile, it's pure sport, someone else's problem amped up and embraced.
"Everybody speaks from the newsstand, and the newsstand seems to be, 'That ain't working out for him. He needs to leave,' " Garnett said. "But if I was to go off what everybody else wants me to do, I'd probably be broke, out of the league, by the side of the road, living under a bridge. At some point, you've got to be a man and do what's best for you."
OK. So what is it going to be: Stay or go?
• • •
"I'm sure Reggie, if he looked back, would love to say, 'Yeah, I have that ring.' ... I don't think it's something that legitimizes your career. It's something we all play for. But sometimes there's just somebody who comes along -- we saw it with John Stockton and Karl Malone, they might have won two or three championships if not for Michael Jordan."
TNT analyst and former coach Doug Collins, on former Pacers guard Reggie Miller's lack of a championship ring.
• • •
Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock never won Academy Awards. John Coltrane and Bill Evans didn't sell albums like Kenny G. And Kirby Puckett and Ernie Banks never signed with the New York Yankees.
"I've always respected the fact -- and this is nothing toward people who move around, because we all have our own takes on what's best -- but I've always respected the fact that one guy can put his mark on a franchise, and a city, and a state," Garnett said. "That's one of the things I appreciated most about Kirby, God rest his soul. That when you think of the Minnesota Twins, you think of Kirb."
Hmm, seems like an answer forming here: Stay.
Not so fast.
"I'm pretty sure it would be weird to see me playing in another uniform," Garnett said. "But I can remember Kirb always saying, 'Man, it's about winning and making sure you're happy.' One of the things I took from that dude was always respect winning, and if an organization is not in a position to keep up with that, then you may have to make a decision for yourself.
"Whenever I have my talks with Glen [Taylor, Wolves owner], he's always seemed like ... he's in the right direction."
Here is Taylor's take on that: "If I made a decision that we were going to rebuild, I would probably not ask Kevin to be part of that. Because I 'owe' him? No, because I respect him and all the things that he's done. I would try to help him get on a team that he could use his skills to try to win."
Cases get made on both sides. The Wolves have paid Garnett about $165 million so far and, since he became their centerpiece in his second season, have eight playoff appearances, seven first-round eliminations and, most recently, two lottery berths to show for it. His game is hardly perfect; all these years in, he doesn't have one "go-to" low post move, he should get to the foul line more and he's no Kobe Bryant or even Sam Cassell in the fourth quarters of tight games. He has, at times, appeared to pick and choose the teammates with whom he connected (see Wally Szczerbiak).
But Garnett's versatility and team focus, in a 7-foot package, are unrivaled. High miles and barking knees not withstanding, he still has several good-to-great seasons in him. There hasn't been a whiff of the off-the-court trouble for which this league is all too famous. He's immensely entertaining, and he "gets it" when it comes to the fans.
All the guy wants now is to win. He has an "out" clause in his contract in July 2008, allowing him to become a free agent. That means the Wolves, to avoid losing him for no return, would need to move him by February 2008 (or work with Garnett on a sign-and-trade the following summer).
That gives them this season, basically, to make spring fun again. And puts us right back where we started.
"Who knows? I take a lot of pride in being the face of the T-Wolves," he said. "Calling the Target Center the 'Garnett Center.' Knowing that I put some of these green seats in here, if not some extra blue and black. ... Owners come and go, some franchises move around, but the connection you have with the city is forever.
"I would love to stay, that's my plan. But it's got to be within the boundaries of winning."
• • •
"I love the kind words Coach Collins said. But I would trade all 25,000 points, all those fourth-quarter heroics, for a ring. Does it legitimize? I don't know. But at the end of the day, you are judged by your wins and losses. Personally, I never got it done. Will that leave an empty [feeling] in my gut? Maybe so."
Miller, on the same teleconference call as Collins, on his 18 seasons in Indiana without an NBA title.
• • •
Miller at least got to the Eastern Conference finals six times and made it to Game 6 of the 2000 NBA Finals. "I would probably be more upset if I never had those," he said last week. "I had my opportunities to win the championship."
Garnett and the Wolves got to the Western Conference finals in 2004, a team with Cassell and Latrell Sprewell that figured to make another run the next season. Instead, that team collapsed, the mercenaries focused on their paychecks, coach Flip Saunders fired for failing to overcome it.
Last season? Fuhgedaboudit. A rookie head coach, a downgrade at point guard from Cassell to Marko Jaric, a midseason trade that convulsed the roster and, by the end, Mark Madsen jacking up three-pointers in a grab for lottery balls.
Could Garnett -- should Garnett -- have done more than stew about it? That's possible. To him, though, it was a romance gone sour. Great for the motivation this season, less great as it was happening.
"Getting knocked off, knocking at the door, no one answering -- those things are not only humbling, but they put a different kind of fire in you," Garnett said. "Every time you come up short, it's like seeing that girl in school every day that you're sweet on.
"It's like, she ain't ever said two words to you but all of a sudden she smiles at you. That turns into a 'hi.' A 'hi' turns into a walk down the hall. That turns into sitting with her at lunch. And then when you get that phone number, 'OK, cool!' That turns into a big opportunity.
"When you get to the Western Conference finals, you feel like you've got the phone number. And then you lose the phone number. And she moves away to a different school."
End of story? Uh, not quite.
Garnett sees seedlings of Sprewell and Cassell in Ricky Davis and Mike James, guys to share in the scoring and the drive. But that's potential, not yet real. Number's still lost.
"You have no way of getting in contact with her and you feel like you're moving backwards now," Garnett said. "You don't know any of her friends. But you know what school she's going to, so you can go up there, sit in the parking lot and look really stalk-ish."
• • •
"The most frustrated I've seen KG is the year after they went to the conference finals and lost. He's been frustrated ever since. ... In a minute, he's going to be in for 16, 17 years. It's gonna be a new era. KG has two, three years left to get it done.
"I don't think he's going to be in Minnesota. In another year or two, they'll have to make a big deal."
Miami Heat guard Gary Payton, Garnett's good friend who won a ring in June, at age 37, with his sixth team.
• • •
In some ways, Garnett is at a point in his professional life that a lot of folks reach. After all, 30 for an athlete is like 45 or 50 for an accountant, a reporter, a chef. Little trade-offs go on all the time, or not, between pushing -- hard -- for that next promotion, a bigger bonus, the transfer that uproots the family and a sense of balance that reassures you.
You know, it's-the-journey-not-the-destination stuff. Which works fine until you catch some boss taking advantage of it.
Garnett doesn't want to compromise. He wants his passion met. Staying put and being noble and fighting the good fight seem fine with him, as long as management is working like he works. More than what's in his "description," Garnett takes pride in extra stuff, like rounding up NBA talent to scrimmage on the Wolves' practice court in August.
"I got Huddy to come in here, which is something that the Timberwolves couldn't do," he said of oft-injured guard Troy Hudson, who ducked team requests to work out in-house.
A little anger bubbled up now. "So when I hear about trades and about moving me, those are the things that upset me," Garnett said. "Because I'm dedicated to this. I'm invested in it wholeheartedly, and it's not about dough or any glamour. ... Sometimes you feel like you're taken for granted around here. Like, 'Hey, KG, he's known for doing this.' ... No. To hell with that."
So what's it going to be? Stay or go?
Source
There are a lot of great quotes from Garnett where he talks about how he values loyalty and about how he wants to stay here. Then he talks about how he wants to win and all that stuff. It's hard to get a read on what he is thinking.
In other Garnett news, he won the Citizenship award for 2005-2006.[/quote]
