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6 days ago

Terrence Williams Arrested on Gun Charges, Following Domestic Dispute

Terrence Williams was on the verge of coming back to the Boston Celtics next season after being one of the few bright spots of the Celtics’ postseason. Now, that journey is just an afterthought. According to a report from the Kent Reporter, a newspaper in Williams’ home state of Washington, the point guard was arrested yesterday [...]

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7 days ago

Kevin Garnett Will Avoid Foot Surgery

As we await Kevin Garnett’s decision about whether or not he will play a 7th season with the Boston Celtics, an important physical limitation has been avoided for the big man. After laboring through the last couple months of the season with a foot/ankle injury, which caused him to miss much of the regular season, [...]

9
9 days ago

Danny Ainge is Waiting on Talking Future with Kevin Garnett

Yesterday was a good day in Boston. We found out Doc Rivers would definitely be coming back as a head coach, the Bruins won in overtime, and the Sox had a big comeback as well. As the first big decision of the Celtics offseason came in though, a brighter light begins to shine down now [...]

15
10 days ago

Jeff Green’s 2012-13 Final Grade

Unless we’re discussing the eight or nine best players in the world, it’s impossible to separate a contract’s price from a player’s expectations, value, and overall performance. Jeff Green is the manifestation of this theory. In August he was guaranteed $36 million over four years, even though he didn’t play a single game during the [...]

20
10 days ago

Painful Reminders (Part I): The Celtics Drafted JaJuan Johnson Instead of Jimmy Butler

On June 23rd, 2011, Brian Robb and I stood around a high top bar table in Tommy Doyle’s in Kendall Square.  Before us lay one of the biggest mounds of buffalo chicken wings I had ever endeavor to make disappear.  These 25 cent flappers- one of the few indulgences afforded to the participants of our [...]

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11 days ago

Chris Wilcox: 2012-13 Final Grade

There are a number of contextually-appropriate ways to craft this post. One would be to forgo words entirely, and represent Chris Wilcox’s entire season with a series of videos. That would involve one part of this: For every eight parts of this: Note the headline on that second clip. Someone was so amused/enraged by Wilcox’s [...]

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The Best Defender of the Decade…and Ever?

There might not be a human being alive who watches more NBA basketball than Kelly Dwyer, so it means something when he says a certain player is the best at something. And today, he anointed KG the best defensive player of the last ten years.

Here’s Dwyer:

1. Kevin Garnett(notes)

KG stands alone because he pitches nearly as many perfect games, while combining Tim Duncan’s length and frame with a guard’s ability to move his feet. Garnett has become a bit more showy about things after getting traded to the Boston Celtics, but his time spent toiling for those awful Minnesota teams prior to that, and his years spent dominating on some solid-to-great Timberwolves teams prior to that were the work of a defensive genius. He just guarded everyone, every play, every feint, every drive, everything. And then he’d get the rebound. Pity that nobody seemed to be paying attention.

Like all of Kelly’s top 10 lists this week, the whole thing is a must read. And he’s right about KG.

It might be time to ask the question: Is Kevin Garnett the greatest defensive player in NBA history? Is that blasphemous to ask, given that this is a Celtics-themed Web site, and a certain Celtics center with more rings than hand digits is widely considered the greatest ever?

I’d contend it’s a fair question, given KG’s incredible versatility. And Dwyer is right to throw in the “and then he’d get the rebound” bit at the end of his post. Because, in addition to all the feet-moving and feint-giving, all the jostling in the post and showing on screen-rolls, KG has been the best defensive rebounder of the last decade. He led the league in DRB percentage for four consecutive seasons (2003-04 through 2006-07), and he is still a top five DRB man even as his minutes climb toward the 40,000 mark.

Is he the best defender ever? I think it’s a fair question.

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