How Good Was Kevin Garnett Actually?

kevin garnett is a hall of fame power forward a hall of fame trash talker and an nba champion in this video we'll talk about how good was garnett actually where he ranks among all time greats and could he have done more if he played with better teammates before the nba kevin garnett was born in the countryside in rural south carolina where segregation was still an everyday thing after a racial incident he wasn't a part of kevin was accused by association so he moved to chicago for his senior year to avoid further problems there the already super talented garnett further improved his skills and got on the map of every scout in america he led the farragut academy to a 28-2 record with 25.2 points 17.9 rebounds 6.7 assists and 6.5 blocks on 67 shooting he was named the national high school player of the year by usa today illinois mr basketball and was also the mvp of the mcdonald's all-american game his speed agility athleticism and coordination were mesmerizing for a 611 forward and with an enormous seven foot five wingspan kevin looked like an alien on the court he was also tough as nails and his passion for the game could be seen from afar chicago shaped me as a player i went on all the best courts places where you're not afraid of losing basketball but life no one got fouls in those circumstances i realized for the first time that there was no mercy on the court and you have to be a beast kevin didn't really want to go directly to the nba league as daryl dawkins and moses malone did before him he wanted to play in big college games and packed arenas where he would be one of the best players the biggest obstacle was the insufficient number of points on the s.a.t test so kevin had only one choice to go directly to the nba and play with the best players in the world when he was supposed to make a decision on an agent he was seven hours late to a meeting on purpose many agents called me played games made promises now it's my turn i'm the one playing the game i'm a player not them i don't let them have an advantage over me i'd rather kill you than let you have an advantage over me said the guy who was finishing high school at the time and that's exactly how he played if you wanted to get the better of him you better be on your a-game because you knew that kg was trying to kill you the agent who didn't mind his tardiness was eric fleisher and it was fleischer who set up a workout in front of 13 teams who had the lottery picks in the 1995 draft on his way back from garnett's workout timberwolves general manager kevin mchale talked in the car with the head coach flip saunders this kid is fantastic his energy is something i haven't seen before we are taking him in the first rounds they both agreed just an hour before the 1995 nba draft garnett received a call from his high school coach who read him the results of the s.a.t you passed kevin it's too late for that now garnett replied shortly one hour later he was selected with the fifth pick by the timberwolves where he'd spend the next 12 years of his career minnesota and the largest contract in history as a rookie it didn't take long for kevin to establish his presence he became a starter after a few months one of the best pound-for-pound young players in the league defensively he was long and quick enough to hold off guards and wings and yet wiry and strong enough to fight behemoths in the post in his second season garnett was already named an all-star and because of his age he got nicknamed the kid minnesota also traded for the draft rights of stefan marbury a star point guard from new york and this duo was supposed to be the future backbone of the team after eight years of existing as a franchise the 20-year-old garnett pushed the timberwolves to their first playoff appearance where they'd get swept by the rockets in the first round despite the loss kevin garnett had plenty of reasons to be happy 126 million to be exact in the 1997 offseason kevin's manager agreed to a six-year 126 million dollar deal the largest contract in the history of american team sports at the time the media went crazy that the 21 year old with two years of experience got such a deal some players like charles barkley were also furious what did i play for when unproven kids get this kind of money garnet's contracts was one of the main culprits of the nba lockout next season after the contract extension garnett did what he had always done trained maniacally and watched cartoons in the breaks between practices in his third season he averaged 1910 and four and was among the league leaders in blocks and steals minnesota would once again lose in the first round of the playoffs and there was a problem with stefan marbury the original steph wanted the spotlight for himself and didn't want to adhere to garnett or take a pay cut due to kevin's humongous deal starbury requested a trade and got shipped to new jersey leaving garnett as the lone star on the team in the next several years the timberwolves tried to link garnett with quality players but have failed miserably even when they had good seasons their ceiling was always the first round where minnesota finished their season for seven years in a row putting together a good team around garnett remained the center ideology for the timberwolves ownership they gave money under the table to joe smith and got caught lost future draft picks which left him stuck in the mud garnett was desperate during an interview with john thompson garnett cried with frustration and helplessness i care so much about winning that's my obsession 2004 mvp year the 2003-2004 season was the best year in the timberwolves franchise history kg already by default had the pedal to the metal playing both sides of the court with maximum intensity but the difference was that this time he had sam cassell and mattrell sprewell by his side the wolves finished with the best record in the western conference and garnett deservedly won the mvp award with the averages of 24.2 points league leading 13.9 rebounds five assists 1.5 steals and 2.2 blocks kg was the swiss army knife who could do everything on the floor and this was arguably the most versatile season by anyone ever the timberwolves finally broke the curse of the first rounds where they beat the nuggets in five games in the next round they faced an all-star power forward chris webber and his sacramento kings the series would be decided in game seven where kg blew up sacramento with 32 points and 21 rebounds along with a monstrous five blocks four steals and two assists the timberwolves would proceed to their first ever conference finals where they'd meet the shaq and kobe la lakers however the all-star point guard sam cassell got injured during the series and his absence swung this series in the lakers favor despite the stellar play from garnett the lakers proceeded to the finals with four games to two next year spree will turn down a 21 million dollar deal with the famous phrase that he can't feed his children with that kind of money minnesota ownership had no idea what to do next the best team in the west fell apart after just one season and garnett was left alone again for the second time in his career kg signed for 100 plus million but it brought him nothing but money because he was loyal to a fault kevin didn't want to leave the timberwolves even though he completely stopped communicating with kevin mchale and team owner glenn taylor in the end mikhail helped garnett and did a favor to his friend danny ainge jam of the celtics even though he had better offers mikhail traded garnett to boston for seven players which was the biggest trade ever for one individual boston and anything is possible in boston kg teamed up with paul the truth pierce and one of the best shooters in nba history ray allen garnett's character charisma and work ethic permeated the team from the start and it was clear that the celtics had instant chemistry neither member of the big three had won the title and everything was being done for that common goal kg sacrificed the most on offense or he'd let pearce and allen take the majority of the shots he was in charge of the defense for the first time in his career he didn't have to carry the team both offensively and defensively it resulted in the defensive player of the year award for garnett who put up a masterpiece on that side of the court he patched every hole on defense with his extraordinary long limbs patrolled the paints and yelled out coverages the celtics finished with the best record in the league which secured them home-court advantage throughout the playoffs they needed it too defeating the hawks and lebron's cavs in seven games in the first two rounds after they dealt with the pistons in six they had a date with kobe and the lakers in the finals garnett's intensity was through the roof and even if you never watched basketball in your life you could have seen how hyped up he was in these playoffs and that his madness was inflated to the maximum boston's defense smothered kobe in the finals and the celtics were celebrating their 17th nba title and the first after 1986 paul pierce had won the finals mvp but it could have easily gone to both garnett and ray allen in his post-game interview garnett shouted which became one of the most famous sayings in finals history finals loss and the late years the celtics had a good enough team to repeat his champions in 2009 but a knee injury knocked garnett out of the playoffs leaving him only to yell insults at jokim noah and dwight howard while the celtics struggled without him on the court after that injury arnett lost some of his ability and athleticism doc rivers had to put him on a minutes restriction that would last until his last game in the nba however the celtics were able to reach the finals in 2010 but they would again be met by kobe and the lakers after a hard-fought series the lakers prevailed in the pivotal game seven and the celtics dynasty was slowly starting to fade as garnet's highest gear wasn't as fast as before there was some serious mileage on his odometer but kg still mustered two more all-star years in boston however lebron had gotten too strong and the celtics have had to break apart garnett and pierce moved to brooklyn to form another super team but they only played one season there and were again defeated by lebron in the playoffs kevin ended his career where he started it with the minnesota timberwolves where he retired in 2016 and he was just the same competitive madman then as when he was just starting out as a 19 year old kid legacy it's difficult to find a player who played basketball with more emotion intensity desire to compete and obsession with basketball than kevin and everything was visible on his face if you were his teammate he loved you to death he bought you suits and paid for dinners if you were against him he would be your worst nemesis garnett was an a-hole to his opponents especially rookies whom he often destroyed with his trash talk which had no boundaries as a player he was a master of the pick-and-roll defense and in his prime he could guard every opposing player one on one offensively he moved and handled the ball like a guard at 6 11. he was skilled in the post and a capable shooter kg is the only nba player to reach at least 25 000 points 10 000 rebounds 5 000 assists 1500 steals and 1500 blocks he retired as a 15-time all-star with 9 all nba selections and he made 12 all-defensive teams he was arguably the most versatile player in nba history other than maybe lebron garnett could really do it all on the basketball court and if he was drafted in san antonio instead of minnesota he would probably be considered the greatest power forward ever instead of tim duncan

Channel: Nonstop

Views: 745,503

Keywords: NBA, Kevin Garnett, Nonstop Sports

Id: TaNVO2THA58

Length: 10min 39sec (639 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 13 2022