The NBA has seen its fair share of passionate players. Michael Jordan was as competitive as they come. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson wouldn't give or take any quarters under any circumstances. What those three legends had in common was that they established their legacy with one team.
Today, another legend has announced his retirement, and he stands shoulder to shoulder with the greatest players to ever play the game by any quantifiable metric or hyperbole. And only the fact that his legacy is divided among two teams and that he was not a class act diminish his legacy a bit.
Although, the Wolves do have a rightful claim on him:
A word association test using Michael Jordan would conjure an image of him gliding, tongue extended, hand cocked back to slam the ball home with authority. Magic Johnson invokes an image of him smiling with all 72 teeth while he spins a pass defying the laws of physics on a Showtime fastbreak.
There is no image invoked by the name of Kevin Garnett on the basketball court which does not involve him screaming. His relentless motor helped propel him to having one of the greatest careers of all time in the NBA. Here's a look at what made him so unforgettable:
Intense master of all trades
Some years ago I wrote about how Garnett is a statistical anomaly when he became the only player in NBA history to amass over 25,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, 5,000 assists, 1,500 steals and 1,500 blocks. He now ends his 21 year career in rarefied company, finishing in either top 50 or top 100 in every major statistical category. Kevin Garnett will go down as among the greatest players to ever play the game in part because his numbers speak for themselves. Take a look at the rungs he's climbed:
3rd in minutes played- 504184th in value over replacement player- 945th in games played- 14629th in total rebounds- 1466212th in field goals made- 1050514th in +/- - 5.417th in points scored- 2607119th in blocks- 203747th in assists- 54Garnett won the MVP in the 2003-04 season by leading the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 58 win season which was a franchise record. In his MVP season, Garnett averaged 24.2 points, 13.9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2.2 blocks and 1.5 steals. Sam Cassell, Wally Szczerbiak and Latrell Spreewell were his best teammates at that time, both capable players in their own right.
Owing to his large contract which, in fact brought about the new CBA made sure the Timberwolves were unable to surround him with a stronger supporting cast.
The 'Big Ticket' won the Defensive Player of the Year award in the 2007-08 season, the same year he won a championship with the Boston Celtics. He was voted into 15 All-star games, tying him for 4th all time in All-star selections. Garnett also made 12 All-Defensive teams, including 9 first team selections.
Throughout his career, Garnett earned upwards of $330 million from his contracts.
The first of me
Kevin Garnett helped establish three precedents in the league with his dominant play. Here's a look at those:
There used to be a time not long ago when YouTube was not even a figment of imagination, and editing videos meant going through VHS tapes and physically editing them. Had Kevin Garnett come up in 2003 like LeBron James, maybe his coming would have been heralded with more fanfare. As it was, Garnett was drafted fifth overall in the 1995 NBA Draft after Joe Smith, Antonio McDyess, Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace.
The last time a NBA player came into the NBA draft from high school was in 1975 when Darryl Dawkins and Bill Willoughby did it. The Washington Bullets walked away from Garnett's pre-draft workout suitably impressed but trying to talk themselves out of taking a gamble on a high school prospect when a proven talent like Rasheed Wallace was available for the taking.
Garnett became only the fourth NBA player to jump from high school straight to the NBA. Kobe Bryant did the same after him, and over 30 other players followed in their wake including LeBron James and Tracy McGrady. There were also a number of other players who failed to live up to the expectations of making an early leap, and this helped lead to the One-and-done rule requiring high school players to spend at least one year in high school before being eligible for the NBA Draft.
While Garnett helped open the floodgates for players to come into the league early in the 90s, he also contributed towards the rising pay scale of the NBA star. The 1999 NBA Lockout was precipitated in part because of the then humongous contract Garnett signed with the Wolves in 1997.
A six-year, $126 million contract after being in the league for just three years might seem to be on the high side, and the owners certainly thought so. The then Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor had bought the franchise two years prior for $40 million lesser than what the Wolves signed Garnett to.
This led in part to the 1999 NBA Lockout, where the owners felt that the existing salary cap regulations did not work out too well for them. The Wolves did reap the benefits of the superstar, as he helped them make the playoffs eight consecutive times.
Garnett was also the first player of his size who could move that well and have a game which stretched out to the perimeter on both ends of the floor. Big players were seen as lumbering towers, good for staying in the paint. Garnett came into the league in an era of prominent big men, and he established his own niche with panache. He was crossing over big men before it became a thing.
When you see Giannis Antetokounmpo playing point guard, remember that Kevin Garnett made it fashionable for the big man to rack up assists and be a playmaker. The next time Kevin Durant takes long loping strides on the court and plays the game on the perimeter while downplaying his size, remember that Kevin Garnett listed his own height below 7 feet so as not to be typecast while he was actually 7’1”.
In a lesser way, he was also responsible for bringing back the practice of swatting shots after a blown whistle.
Insanely competitive
Garnett's personal trainer Joe Abunassar recalled the time when Garnett forgot to wear his socks and played a pickup game with other NBA players for hours. By the end of it, parts of his feet and toes were bleeding.
Some competitors can't tolerate it when their teammates fail to measure up to their standard. For context about how livid Garnett would take it, take a look at him relaxing at his home and watching TV at home.
Tyronn Lue recalls being with Garnett at his home and watching the show Making the Band. On the show, a few newcomers came in and tried to compete. Garnett was none too pleased at what he saw as a lack of competitiveness.
What happened next seems too bizarre to be true. Garnett got all riled up, shouted, "Motherf----r, you've got to stand up for yours! You've got to fight! Motherf----r, you've got to come together!" Going on like that, he worked himself into a sweat and head butted a hole in a wall in his home.
Garnett wasn't a fluffy angel whom you'd idolise and lionise. He had a mean streak which cut deep and bordered on malicious. Garnett allegedly wished Tim Duncan Happy Mother's Day Mother****** on Mother's day because Duncan lost his mother when he was 14, resulting in an altercation. Duncan is a class act through and through, and Garnett has been taunting, hitting, and poking him for years.
He called Charlie Villanueva a Cancer, while the latter was suffering from a condition called alopecia unversalis, which rendered him unable to grow hair.
If an opponent came up to him with starry eyes saying he was an idol and an inspiration growing up, Garnett was quick to dispel the hero-worship. Joakim Noah is one such example. As a rookie, when Noah went up against KG, Garnett asked him if he could rub his hair. Noah told him "Man, KG, I had your poster on my wall, I looked up to you, man." Garnett's response was along the lines of "Procreate you" to Noah.
He provoked Carmelo Anthony so bad that Anthony even went to confront Garnett after a game in which the two players went at it hard.
Intensely scary defence
Garnett has a claim to be one of the greatest defensive players of all time. Garnett is one of the few players who has guarded every position, 1 through 5. He's matched up with Michael Jordan, Shaq, Karl Malone, Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, and on occasion, he's guarded every position in one game.
He was strong enough to deal with players trying to back him down, agile enough to front players in the post, quick enough to stick with perimeter players, energetic enough to block or alter shots, and loud enough to rattle you if there's a tiny vulnerability in your makeup.
He would often block shots with vengeance hard on the floor. Some players knock balls into the stand when they go for blocks, with the side effect of hitting the ball out of bounds. Other players would keep the ball in possession by tapping it lightly. Garnett preferred to go hard, so he'd hit the ball on the floor to keep the possession alive.
Garnett could probably author several profanity-laced tomes as sequels to Art of War by Sun Tzu. Perhaps no other sport allows a player to be in the face of his opponent as much as basketball does, and Garnett made the most of it to mess with the heads of his opponents.
He'd point, glare, cackle, yell, scream, curse, spit, howl, growl, crawl, bark, taunt, hop-skip-and-jump, flex, meander menacingly, push, shove, punch, kick, wrestle, and do everything within the realm of possibility, rules and his vivid and twisted imagination to get an edge over his opponent.
Don't mean a thing without a ring
Garnett set the standard for competitiveness and effort for himself and dared his teammates to not live up to it. When Garnett joined the Boston Celtics, his new teammates didn't know what to make of him. They'd try to get him to calm down through various ways, before resigning to the fact that his motor is always cranked up to maximum be it a scrimmage or a Game 7 in the NBA Finals.
While Garnett was a hostile pest to his opponents and a terror to teammates whose level of effort failed to match up to his high standards. Cue clip of Glenn Davis bawling on the bench after Garnett ripped into him. In a match against Portland, the Celtics had a 25 point lead over the Trail Blazers, which was cut down to 13, which in turn resulted in Garnett going off on Davis.
He set the tone for the team early, and the team responded. They stormed out of the gate with an 8-0 record, going on to put up two more nine game winning streaks which put their record at 29-3 before finishing the magical season with 66 wins. It is extremely rare to see a team welcoming two integral pieces to gel so well in the first season and go on to win a title.
The Celtics powered their way to the NBA Finals where they met the Los Angles Lakers in a historic showdown, reviving the Lakers-Celtics rivalry. Throughout the Finals, Garnett averaged 18.2 points, 13 rebounds, three assists, 1.7 steals and one block per game.
Even though Paul Pierce won the Finals MVP, the Celtics could not have made it without Garnett manning the fort on defense. Earlier in the season, Garnett took Kendrick Perkins under his wing and helped the surly bruiser be a terror on defense.
Coach Doc Rivers recalls that he didn't have to be the voice which got on the players to be on time or hold them accountable. Garnett made sure everyone toed the line.
Coming back full circle
Kevin Garnett retires from the NBA at the age of 40, having played 21 seasons in the league. He spent twelve years with the Timberwolves before being traded to Boston where he won a ring.
Garnett was traded to the Boston Celtics in 2007, with whom he forged the Celtics into a formidable power in the Eastern Conference, one which wrecked LeBron James' Finals aspirations time and time again. In 2013, he went to the Brooklyn Nets for another shot at terrorising the East. With the Brooklyn Nets, Garnett averaged just 6.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists over the course of two seasons.
In 2015, Garnett came back to Minnesota and played 43 games for the franchise which had drafted him. While he battled knee issues, his primary contribution lay towards establishing a winning culture for the younger Wolves.
The rapid ascent of Karl-Anthony Towns reflects the hard work put in by Towns himself, and there's a not insignificant contribution by Garnett in mentoring the young superstar.
Guess the Lakers players!
