Kevin Garnett retired from the NBA on Friday.
A professional basketball player since 1995, many of us (myself included) literally watched KG come into the NBA as a child, and are watching him depart as a full blown adult. His 21 seasons outpace those of the great Tim Duncan (19) and the great Kobe Bryant (20). Articles are already flooding the internet speaking to Garnett’s influence for various reasons, not the least of which include KG becoming the first player to go from high school to the NBA since Darryl Dawkins and Bill Willoughby two decades earlier. This, at a time when most people believed prep stars weren’t capable of making a leap from dominating pimple faced geeks worried about their homecoming date to banging under the boards with Charles Oakley and Kevin Willis. Even as a kid, I was one of those people…
Yeah, we all got that one wrong.
It’s fair to recognize Garnett as a trail blazer (not the team) who paved the hardwood for the likes of Kobe, T-Mac and LeBron. A cynic would argue he also opened the door for Kwame Brown, Korleone Young and DeSagana (don’t call me “Lasagna”) Diop. Regardless, the league took on a different identity during the 11-year window in which players could make the jump from high school to the pros, and Garnett was the catalyst for the youth movement that gifted us some of the game’s all-time greats.
However, with the departure of LeBron James from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Miami Heat in the summer of 2010, the NBA’s new king led with a new credo: Rings— by any means necessary. James leaving the only franchise (and home) he’d ever known for a greater opportunity to win set a new precedent for the league’s top stars. Sure, upper-echelon players had changed teams before, but not like this.
The always colorful Charles Barkley openly criticized James, 25 at the time, for walking away from the Cavaliers when they were still one of the elite teams in the NBA. The expectation laid out by the generation of stars who came before LeBron was to give everything to the franchise that drafted you, and you live with the results, for better or worse. Leaving to join up with a better team — colloquially known as “ring chasing” — is acceptable only for players in the twilight of their careers. Hall of Famers like John Stockton and Reggie Miller rolled the dice of spending two decades in one city, only to never have that loyalty rewarded with a championship. Other Hall of Famers like Karl Malone have ring chased the honorable way — as a washed old man — only to come up short.
Fast forward to 2016, where the league’s second best player just abandoned his championship caliber team to link up with the winningest regular season team ever in the NBA. The free agency comings and goings of other stars resulted in infamous synonyms such as “Melodrama” and “The Dwightmare”. Every organization’s mission is to create a “super team”, which should’ve been the goal all along. Only now, every superstar’s mission is to be on a “super team”; no superstar wants to be left out in the cold for fear of actually having to carry a franchise the old-fashioned way.
Styles P may have rhymed about KG being nicknamed “The Kid”, but from the very beginning Garnett would carry himself, eventually his franchise, in a manner that would have made him quite popular with the generation that preceded him. He faithfully rode with a Minnesota front office that did little to put together a team worthy of taking the floor with the future Hall of Famer. It wasn’t until Garnett’s eighth season in Minneapolis that the organization finally put some decent players around him, those being Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell (and when you look at the entire roster, that team was hardly impressive). The addition of those two All-Star guards resulted in a Western Conference Finals appearance. Immediately. Prior to that, the best teammates KG had were Stephon Marbury (who wasn’t mature enough to handle Garnett owning the spotlight), Terrell Brandon (post prime) and Chauncey Billups (pre prime).
Garnett’s unwavering loyalty to Minnesota was puzzling at the time, but in hindsight is incredibly refreshing. So many fans these days — particularly fans over 30 — are disgusted by players’ desire to be on a super team. As people heaped praise upon Tim Duncan for staying in San Antonio, a pristine organization by comparison (and therefore not a difficult decision), Garnett — his basketball equal — toiled away in the Twin Cities.
He was great. On and off ball, switching on P&Rs etc. Had total command of his team’s defense every night. Ranks really high. #TheBigTicket https://t.co/QXJeWyrY7M
— HipHopSportsReport (@HHSReport) September 24, 2016
The last thing Garnett ever wanted was to be viewed as a guy who couldn’t hack it as a franchise guy and needed to rely on other stars to get the job done. This is why Garnett initially vetoed a deal that would’ve send him to Boston to join Paul Pierce (and eventually Ray Allen) in the summer of 2007. KG had to be convinced this move was the best move for him and his chances a winning a ring. “I didn’t speak publicly, really didn’t say too much to my friends or any of that,” said Garnett in a SI.com piece. “But I really tried to be comfortable with seeing myself in a Celtics jersey.”
“I really tried to be comfortable”? Those aren’t the words of a man patiently waiting to skip town as soon as the opportunity presents itself.
Barkley is often erroneously viewed as a hypocrite on the ring chasing subject. Yes he forced at least one trade in his career. But he was 29 at the time and well into his prime years after having spent eight years in Philadelphia, where his front office dedicated their time to bringing in impact players like Jeff Ruland and Charles Shackleford, and giving away the #1 overall pick in the draft (which turned into Brad Daugherty). Furthermore, forcing a trade to theoretically any team, and joining up with other two other stars as a free agent are hardly the same. Still, had Chuck 86’ed the 76ers sooner, maybe he would’ve gotten his hands on that elusive championship.
Kevin Garnett never had anything remotely close to the championship-caliber organization Tim Duncan had throughout his prime years. Yet when Duncan retired, most observers casually slid The Big Fundamental into their all-time top 10 list. The moment Garnett obtained the support Duncan (and Kobe) always had…
Championship. Immediately.
Sidebar: And a second Finals trip in three years, and what should’ve been a third in 2012 if not for LeBron’s supernova performance in Game 6.
It speaks to how much luck factors into our perceptions of players. Duncan is considered a “winner”, Garnett typically isn’t. But if you believe Duncan would’ve been dragging Troy Hudson and Anthony Peeler to multiple titles in Minnesota, you’re sadly mistaken.
Apart from being a selfless stat monster that at his apex was a savant on the defensive end, Kevin Garnett’s legacy is serving as the bridge between two NBA worlds. He was a leader of the new school for the high school-to-NBA movement, while holding down the belief system of the old school. And after nearly a decade serving as by far the best player in Timberwolves franchise history, KG begrudgingly agreeing to a trade to the Boston Celtics inadvertently launched the new “super team” craze amongst players. But make no mistake: Kevin Garnett is way more Dirk than Shaq.
Ultimately, Garnett approved the move to Boston, which was the best decision of his career and solidified his standing amongst the greats. There was however a certain honor in watching Kevin Garnett carry the T-Wolves and attack the game with an intense love that, even in defeat, only enhanced his valor.
That don’t make em like The Big Ticket anymore.
