Category: Timberwolves

Will this town say goodbye to Kevin Garnett on Friday night?  Garnett and the Celtics will come to Target Center to play the Timberwolves for the first and only time this season.  It could be Garnett’s final game here.

The face of the Wolves franchise from 1995-2007, Garnett will turn 36 next month and his body has lots of “miles” on it. “Da’Kid” arrived here at 19, just a few months out of high school.  Friday night he will be back in Minneapolis with speculation surrounding his future.

Garnett’s contract expires after this season but Boston coach Doc Rivers said last week the Celtics want him to return.  “Oh yeah, absolutely. We want him back,” Rivers told CSN New England last Friday.  “I think it will come down to if he wants to play or not.  But, you know, who knows? So many games and so many things can happen. Being around this as long as I have I know it is very emotional how the season ends. And a lot of players have made poor decisions on the end of a season, so we’ll have to wait and see.”

Not surprisingly, Garnett isn’t saying what his plans are. But you have to wonder if he wants to chase one more world championship with the demands of offseason conditioning and the grind of another NBA season.  He’s been earning about $20 million or more per season for a long time.  How much more dough does he need? And how enthusiastically will the Celtics front office be to keep paying Garnett seven or eight digits?

Garnett’s skills have been eroding for years, probably even before he arrived in Boston via the blockbuster trade from the Timberwolves.  Now he’s been moved from power forward to center to help fill Boston’s gap in the middle and although he’s quicker in a lot of matchups he’s averaging 15.4 points per game and 8.1 rebounds versus career numbers of 19.4 and 10.6.

The Celtics are having their least successful season since Garnett and Boston won the world championship in 2008.  Boston’s record of 27-22 scares no one.  This team will be an improbable bet to march to another league title in the playoffs, not with a big three of Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce who are 35, 36 and 34 years old.

Garnett’s place in Wolves, Celtics and NBA history was long ago secured, though.  Kevin Love might be the franchise wannabe, but for now Garnett is the greatest player in Wolves history.  Garnett carried a sorry team for many years and a couple of years had enough support to threaten the league’s elite.  He won the league MVP award in 2004 with the Wolves as they almost made the NBA finals.

In Boston he was the second best player (to Pierce) on the 2008 NBA championship Celtics.  He taught teammates to care about defense and was a shot blocking intimidator who averaged 18.8 points and 9.2 rebounds.  He was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2008.

For nine years Garnett was first team all-NBA defense.  He led the league in rebounding four times.  He has an effective 15 to 20 foot jump shot and could go inside to score, too.  His single season best average of 24.2 came in 2003-04 when he also averaged 13.9 rebounds.

During an interview with Sports Headliners, Flip Saunders, Garnett’s Timberwolves coach for most of his career in Minneapolis, praised Garnett’s durability and multiple skill set that includes passing, ball handling, defense, shot blocking, rebounding and scoring inside and outside.  With the Wolves Garnett typically played 38 minutes or more per game, and he was on the court in all 82 regular season games, or close to it.

At times Saunders even had Garnett bring the ball up the floor and start the offense.  “He will go down (in history) as the most versatile player ever to play,” Saunders said.

It’s probably fair to say that for most basketball authorities Garnett has earned a place among the NBA’s top 30 players ever.  Author Bill Simmons, for example, writing in his 2009 publication The Book of Basketball, details the top 100 NBA players of all-time.  Checking in at No. 22 is Garnett.

As soon as he’s eligible (five years after retirement), Garnett will be checking in, too, at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

 

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Timberwolves forward Derrick Williams told Sports Headliners he saw Ricky Rubio’s left knee give out before the rookie point guard collided with the Lakers Kobe Bryant last week.  With a torn ACL, Rubio might not play again for the Wolves until October or November, and Williams acknowledged that the compacted NBA schedule caused by the labor dispute is hard on young and still maturing bodies.

“I think there are a lot of injuries this year that are caused by that with the lockout thing,” said Williams, a rookie like Rubio.  “ … More injuries are going to occur because there’s more games in less time.  I am not going to say that’s the reason why it happened (the Rubio injury), because everything happens for a reason.  You never know about that situation.  It’s just one hard cut.  It happens like that sometimes.”

Wolves assistant coach T.R. Dunn, a former NBA guard, said last weekend he’s confident the 21-year-old Rubio will make a “100 percent” recovery.  “He’s a tough kid.  He’s a smart kid.  He’ll do everything possible to get back and to be even bigger and better next year.”

Dunn said Rubio, a slender 6-4, can use his rehab time and the years beyond 2012 to strengthen his body. “He’s just gonna get stronger and be better without compromising anything as far his quickness and flexibility,” Dunn said.

Rubio was a candidate for Rookie of the Year before he was injured.  His playmaking had a major impact on the Wolves becoming a .500 team after years of struggling.

“You don’t have a ceiling on him,” Dunn said.  “He’s a bright young star. It’s just his first season and he’s made tremendous strides.  I just see a lot of good things for him.”

 

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