Garnett Tribute

[BiGrEd819]

watch minnesota tank a season and go fish o.j mayo. haha jk. sad to see garnet go and i think minnesot got one of the best or the best option available at the time, however, i dont think they got a "great" deal.

[air gordon]

I know you love KG, and he will be missed in Minnesota.

But give praise where praise is due. Minny gutted Boston in this deal. Took their best prospect who is already a sure thing, their second best prospect who is very young in Gerald Green, their third best prospect in Ryan Gomes, and a nice expiring in Ratliff. That's an outstanding return for KG, and gives hope to a franchise that had none left.

thats what i said. every minny fan seems pissed about this deal. if i am a fan of the wolves i am happy beyond belief. they just landed a future. went from a team that will constantly fight for the 8th playoff spot and more times than not fail to get it, to a team that in 3-4 seasons could be very fun to watch and very dangerous to play.

the celtics took the flip side and went with win now so i still say this deal was good for both teams involved.

they gutted boston so they got a great deal? oh c'mon. Boston wasn't a brooding nest of franchise talent.
Al Jefferson, definitely a great pickup but not a 'franchise' talent yet

the rest? not even starting worthy players.
Green can dunk and hit the 3 but no in between game and hasn't demonstrated much b-balll smarts. sounds eerily like JR Smith
Gomes is ok
Ratliff's expiring contract is Jefferson's ticket to resigning

i'm happy that McHale finally got the rebuilding ball going but let's not go off the deep end saying he pulled a fast one on Ainge

and quite honestly i can see there being a "krause" effect where players will hesitate to come play for Minny because of McHale. and will fans continue to fill up the target center??

i hate to be a skeptic but i've seen this before when the Bulls dynasty was broken up.

[Sauru]

i think the point that everyone is missing is, the wolves were going no where with kg, no where at all. right now the wolves will be worse, neare the bottom of the nba, but now they have thier pick back and they could land a top 3 pick this season. its true this entire trade is based on potential, but i rather have potential over knowing i am going to be the 9th or 10th team in the west year in and year out. kg is great, but he aint a finisher. kg got the best situation right now as he can do his thing til the last 3 minutes and when its clutch time its pierce and allen time.

this could blow up in the wolves face. jefferson could prove to be a 1 year wonder who had inflated numbers on a bad team in a weak conference. i dont think it will happen but it could. they could be the worst team in the nba and get the 4th pick and not land a franchise changing player. they could use thier cap room on a player who does not work out at all. however in the end you gotta take a chance. when pierce was complaining about the youth movement i was wanting him traded. i said if the celtics could somehow work a deal with a team that needed a go to guy to push them over the top then a good deal could come in return. i wanted to somehow see him go to phoenix and we get a good role player back plus atlantas pick. i am happy it worked out the way it did but really all i wanted was a change for the team. both teams changed and both teams are taking a big risk. if the celtics dont win and win fast everyone is losing thier job and if the wolves dont pull together with its young talent then mchale is gone, hell he might be gone anyway, which i think would be a mistake.

[Silas]

Regardless of how strong the return deal was for Minnesota, I don't think they could have gotten anything better. From all the "possible trades" being thrown around, this was surely their best option and obviously trading Garnett was a necessary evil but I think they won't be as bitter about it in three to four years. It would have been much worse if he was 25 or 27 and exploded into a player they'd never imagined with his new team, but Garnett has played as well as he ever will with Minnesota. He's by no means declining rapidly, but he won't be the same player he was in 3 or 4 years, so I think this was their best option, and it was going to happen, so there's not too much to be bitter about.

It sucks horribly to lose a player like Garnett, but it had to happen IMO and I'm not sure they could do much better.

[air gordon]

i think the point that everyone is missing is, the wolves were going no where with kg, no where at all. right now the wolves will be worse, neare the bottom of the nba, but now they have thier pick back and they could land a top 3 pick this season.

ive been all for T'wolves to rebuild/trade KG for at least a year now. for the same amount of time, i've been telling Riot the same thing. lol look up the threads. and to tell you the truth, i didn't see that many nlsc-ers on the bandwagon with me... only until now i'm reading "oh well yeh they had to trade him/it was inevitable"

it was nice that they got back their pick... i left that out

perhaps my earlier post is more directed at INDY for suggesting they fleeced boston

Regardless of how strong the return deal was for Minnesota, I don't think they could have gotten anything better.

says who? there were a multitude of trades for Garnett in the last few years. McHale foolishly waited this long to finally do something

and as mentioned in another thread- McHale's friendship with Ainge played a key factor in the trade going down. this was probably the best deal he could get out of Ainge, not the rest of the NBA

[Silas]

Well if you go back a few years, yes, but I'm talking about the latter half of this season and the subsequent off season. I'm sure he was offered some stronger deals in years past, but In the recent months, I think this was his best option.

[air gordon]

there were better deals last season.

the main point here is that McHale could have nailed the prom queen but instead settled for taking his sister to the prom

if you want to give props to the guy for that and for painting himself in the corner, fine with me

[Silas]

I'm definitely not calling him a good GM. I think he has made some very, very poor moves in the past and had he handled himself better, he could still have Kevin Garnett and just have completed yet another winning season, but that's not the case.

All I'm saying, is that in the past few months, as trading KG became even more and more imminent, he made the best deal he could make in that time frame. Obviously he could have made better moves had he decided on trading KG earlier, but he didn't.

[air gordon]

i didn't suggest you called him a good GM...

McHale should have traded Garnett after the '05 season. as far as i'm concerned, a trade was "imminent" as early as then. screw this time frame talk- that's 2.5 years he waited to pull the trigger. it's his fault for waiting this long and it's his fault for getting this type of deal.

and good for him for gettting the best deal from Ainge, not the nba

[Silas]

Well you're right about waiting too long. He did wait too long, but you can't go back and undo the past. I think people complain about the deal they just made, saying, "well you should have done it earlier" but the truth is he can't. So having traded Garnett when he did, I don't think he could have done much better. Perhaps there was a better deal out there but I personally don't see it.

The point is, no matter what he did, fans were going to be bitter, but all I'm saying is that for trading him when he did, since you obviously can't go back and undo all that waiting (which would be nice), He got a decent deal. You either have to get a rising talent or a bonafide superstar when you give up someone as good as KG, so I think Jefferson and a huge, very valuable expiring contract, along with other possible production players, isn't such a bad deal afterall.

Obviously the success of this trade truly resides on the success of Jefferson, so we'll see.

All I'm saying is that for trading him when he did, he didn't do too bad.

[air gordon]

All I'm saying is that for trading him when he did, he didn't do too bad.

then you should have just said this instead of posting that other stuff lol ( and he didn't too good either btw lol)

you can't undo the past but you can definitely (and have the right to)criticize the person responsible for putting the team in this situation. Mchale settling for this boston trade was a direct result of him being a coward.

the fans would have been less bitter if HE GOT A BETTER DEAL

you want to keep on clamoring on about he got the best deal for the time frame or whatever with Ainge, not the nba.. ok with me. i'm done

[Silas]

No, no more.

But, what other deals did he have available at the time?

What I was aware of was an offer with the Lakers involving Bynum or Odom and perhaps Kwame Brown. That was the only other high quality offer that I knew of that was still on the table.

[Andrew]

Seems Juwan Howard is among those who aren't too happy with the deal and reportedly wants out now that he won't have a chance to play alongside KG.

[Sauru]

in the end this trade comes down to jefferson. if he continues his development like many think he will then its a great deal. i know chicago made a offer last season but i dont see either gordon and deng being a better quality player than jefferson. if the bulls last season offered those 2 plus the knicks pick then the wolves are dumb, not sure exactly what that trade was though. the laker trade was junk also. they would be better this season if they made that but not as good in future years, which is all they want.

[Silas]

Maybe not even better this season, the Wolves are rated 94 with Andrew's new roster!

[Riot]

The thing is Garnett was willing to stay here and become a mentor for the young guys (Foye, McCants, Brewer, Smith, etc). We had young talent that you could "rebuild" around Garnett with his tutelage. At the same time, you still have Garnett's draw in the fact that veterans will still want to play in Minnesota because of him. I think you'd be able to compete quicker if you held onto Garnett than make this trade.

On top of that, the guy didn't want to leave and after 12 years you would think that would mean something to the front office. I guess they can talk the talk but not walk the walk.

[Sauru]

the only thing i didnt like is they kept saying "we are not looking to trade garnett" or " we have no intention of tradeing garnett", thats what bothered me about it.

[Andrew]

That surprised me as well. Even though they were listening to offers around the Draft, it didn't seem they were actively looking to pull the trigger on any deals unless KG himself wanted out. Obviously, they were more interested in making a deal than they appeared.

[magius]

The thing is Garnett was willing to stay here and become a mentor for the young guys (Foye, McCants, Brewer, Smith, etc). We had young talent that you could "rebuild" around Garnett with his tutelage. At the same time, you still have Garnett's draw in the fact that veterans will still want to play in Minnesota because of him. I think you'd be able to compete quicker if you held onto Garnett than make this trade.

On top of that, the guy didn't want to leave and after 12 years you would think that would mean something to the front office. I guess they can talk the talk but not walk the walk.

maybe in a perfect world you could take everything someone says for face value, but not in this one - and especially not in the game of celebrity, which basketball players are, and which nba teams make money off, where pr means everything. it is quite possible that kg requested a trade behind closed doors the way it ought to be done. and, if that is the case, the front office did in fact respect kg by keeping it silent (and vice versa) and dealing him to a now decent team. kg may have loved minny, but i have a hard time believing he was content remaining on a no way team going nowhere fast, not a player of his calibre or passion. you don't have to play in a city to love it, and who knows how many years kg has left. consider this, there have been players who loved playing in one space, kg was no exception, there is precedent, but of them there have been very few, if ANY, who have remained with one team their entire career, let alone, and perhaps more importantly, a presently losing one with no hope of a championship in the foreseeable future.

the only thing i didnt like is they kept saying "we are not looking to trade garnett" or " we have no intention of tradeing garnett", thats what bothered me about it.

imagine it from the minny's head office pov, what else could they have said? "we are looking to trade kg?" they would be massacred, just for the amount of disloyalty that would imply.

imho, the way i see it, this trade was done absoultely right, behind closed doors, without pointed fingers or barbed insults. there was more to it than meets the eye, if modern day society has taught us anything it must be that, and all sides benefitted, perhaps not equally depending on point of view, but this aint no equal world.

[Andrew]

That's a good point. The absence of bitter words and public trade demands was quite refreshing.

[maceo24]

I dont know about you guys, but I enjoy a little bickering and poop-throwing. That way its less surprising when that player is found to be screwing the groupies on road trips...

Kobe makes it way to easy to be sarcastic.

KG is a class guy though, chances are it was just as you suggested. I just hope the fans in Minny arent too sore over the loss to give him the standing O he deserves for carrying that franchise for so long.

[Riot]

KG is a class guy though, chances are it was just as you suggested. I just hope the fans in Minny arent too sore over the loss to give him the standing O he deserves for carrying that franchise for so long.

Oh, you got it completely wrong. I expect Garnett to get a VERY, VERY long standing ovation. Everyone here knows what Garnett meant to the franchise and everyone is sad about him leaving. There is no doubt he'll get a very warm welcome when he comes back to Target Center in Feburary. In fact, they are expecting the game to be sold out which is a rarity in Minneapolis.

[Andrew]

I dont know about you guys, but I enjoy a little bickering and poop-throwing. That way its less surprising when that player is found to be screwing the groupies on road trips...

It can make things more interesting at times but as I said, it's refreshing when there isn't any bitterness or public sniping because such a situation is rare.

KG is a class guy though, chances are it was just as you suggested. I just hope the fans in Minny arent too sore over the loss to give him the standing O he deserves for carrying that franchise for so long.

I'm with Riot on this one, I imagine he'll be warmly received. Any bitterness Timberwolves fans may have as a result of the KG trade is likely going to be directed at the front office rather than KG himself.

[Dan's Brain]

All that public bickering and mudslinging accomplishes is bringing down a player's trade value. The Wolves wouldnt have got anything close to the deal they got if KG had been out there criticising everyone in the organisation. It's just arrogance, and players getting paid too much. But that's another debate.

[maceo24]

All that public bickering and mudslinging accomplishes is bringing down a player's trade value. The Wolves wouldnt have got anything close to the deal they got if KG had been out there criticising everyone in the organisation. It's just arrogance, and players getting paid too much. But that's another debate.

I agree, but not entirely. There are players whose value will never diminish no matter how big of a prick they are. Kobe is a douche IMO, but you can't put a value on what he gives your team on the court. Same with KG, Duncan, Nash, Lebron, Jordan, Shaq (in his prime), list goes on. The problem is when these players know this, and exploit it.