Feb/070
I Feel Your Pain Kevin Garnett
I have always had a love/hate relationship with Kevin Garnett. One game I'm thinking he's pure MVP, the next I'm thinking trade the bum. Well Kevin, I want to apologize. I want to say sorry for all my trade you away and build again blog posts. I'm now fully on your side...and I feel your pain. Looking back at Garnett's career to this point, you realize his plight has more to do with the turmoil surrounding him and less about his consistent 20pts - 10rbs - 5ast.I took this clip off Yahoo yesterday and it got me thinking:
Garnett was asked by All-Star weekend reporters: So when are you going to follow the lead of so many of your peers and ask out of a losing cause with the Timberwolves? "I've never been good at following," Garnett said. "When it's time to make a decision on what's best for me, I'll make a decision on Kevin Garnett."
The Timberwolves look like unlikely candidates for the Western Conference playoffs, despite firing Dwane Casey to make Randy Wittman head coach. Garnett knows that it won't make a difference with the lousy roster assembled around him.
"It's not my first situation with coaching changes," he said. "My coach for nine years was my hardest, that being Flip (Saunders). To see him go to Detroit and be successful with one of my best friends, Chauncey (Billups), was very difficult."
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There were three things in those three paragraphs that made me respect Garnett in a new way.
First - "when are you going to follow the lead of so many of your peers and ask out?" Garnett doesn't follow the lead of the ball-hogging primadona NBA player. You don't hear him out there campaigning to play closer to home (Starbury) or selling his soul for a title (Malone/Payton). In an ESPN sports world that promotes and reports the exploits of me-me-me players like TO, the professional attitude and work ethic of Garnett is uplifting.
Second - "Garnett knows that is won't make a difference with the lousy roster assembled around him" Last year three economics professors from three different colleges co-authored a book called The Wages of Wins. In it they tried to create a new algorithm to determine how effective and important an NBA player is to their team. Their formula is very much like a QB rating for NFL quarterbacks. The basic formula for QB ratings is fairly simple Yards - 3 X Plays – 50 X Turnovers. The authors created a formula to create two new scores - Wins Produced and Wins Score. The formula is little more complicated and looks something like this Points + Rebounds + Steals + ½Assists + ½Blocked Shots – Field Goal Attempts – Turnovers - ½Free Throw Attempts - ½Personal Fouls.
When you run the formula over the past four seasons one player always rises to the top - Kevin Garnett. Kevin has led the NBA in Wins Produced four straight years. In 2002-03 Garnett produced 31.5 wins, the rest of the team 15.1. In 2003-04, the year Kevin won the NBA MVP, Garnett produced 30.5 but the rest of the team produced 25.3. Translation = teammates matter. In 2004-05 Garnett produced the same 30.0, but his teammates only added a combined 14.8. In 2005-06 Garnett still led the league with a 26.0 wins produced, but his teammates only added a pathetic 9.4 wins.
So what does it all mean? For four straight years Kevin Garnett has proven to be the most effective and productive player in the NBA. When he gets the support he needs (Sam, Spree, Wally) the team becomes a Title contender and Kevin wins the MVP. But over the last 3 years his teammates production has become worse and worse. Yet I still blamed Garnett? I'm sorry Kevin.
If you look at Garnett's numbers at the All-Star break it may surprise you. He leads the NBA in rebounding, he's top 15 in scoring and steals and among forwards he's number 3 in ast. with 4.5/game behind LeBron and Boris Diaw. The man is still dominating the game. I'm sorry for all the things I said Kevin.
Third - "To see him go to Detroit and be successful with one of my best friends, Chauncey (Billups), was very difficult." The only consistent in Kevin's MN career has been McHale screwing things up and tragedy. McHale gets rid of Kevins foundation, his coach. McHale rids Kevin on his best friends, Billups/Sam "the closer"/Joe Smith. Remember when Kevin was emotionally distraught at the end of the 05 year when they traded away players behind his back?
When you look at McHale's record you have to start thinking the Clippers or NY Knicks aren't the worst run franchises in sports. The Timberwolves have seen 6 first round draft picks leave the team or the league (due to lack of ability), 3 picks get taken away by the NBA due to the secret Joe Smith deals, traded one pick (in 2000) and have already traded the rights away to two future picks.
And then there was the Sealy death. Kevin openly talked about how Malik was an inspiration to Kevin growing up, how Malik was a good "dark black" player just like Kevin when he was being teased growing up because he wasn't "light black" when players like Kidd were popular. On an ESPN program Jimmy Jam spoke about the greatest dunk he ever saw Kevin throw down. The night they dedicated Sealy's jersey at the Target Center, Kevin charged the lane for a rebound, rose well above the rim and threw it down like a tomahawk. Kevin then pointed in an outburst of pain as he shouted at the #2 over and over again as the crowd roared, "This is for you, this is for you, this is for you." How do you carry that pain?
So I'm sorry Kevin, because you aren't a cry baby, because your teammate production continues to decrease although you continue to lead the league in productivity and because your GM trades away or fires everything that provides stability or support for the future. I don't want to see Kevin traded away... I still have hope to once again hear a sold out crowd chant M-V-P during the NBA Finals to the man who deserves it the most - Kevin Garnett.
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