Saturday Playoff Notebook: All-KG Edition
Posted by Zach Lowe on Apr 17, 2010
I’ll have a fuller list of links and previews later today, but there is an overflow of KG coverage that deserves its own post. At the top of the list: KG sat down with Jackie MacMullan, and the result is one of the season’s absolute must-read stories for any serious Celtics fan. I’m going to excerpt a few key paragraphs below, but this is a monster story and you’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t read the whole thing.
Let’s start with KG discussing his recovery from off-season surgery to remove a bone spur the size of his thumb from his right knee:
“They told me when I first got this injury it would take a year,’’ Garnett said. “I’ll be very candid with you. I didn’t believe them.’’
Keep this comment in mind, because we’ll discuss it later.
On whether he waited too long to have the surgery after it became clear last season the pain was not going away:
“You can’t just tell someone who gives a [expletive] about the team to sit down,’’ Garnett retorted.
After the jump, observers talk to MacMullan about KG’s future in the league—to the degree he has one.
• Here’s Wiz assistant Darrell Walker on what he saw when Andray Blatche torched KG or 23 points in a March 7 game:
“I watched and said, ‘Oh, man, he’s done,’ ’’ said Detroit assistant Darrell Walker. “The things Blatche did to him . . . dunking on him like that. If KG was right, it would never happen.”
“I was there for the final days of Michael Jordan. This reminds me of that — exactly. Michael was one of the most competitive people ever. KG, too. But when you don’t have the same explosiveness anymore, it’s over.”
• Here’s Sam Cassell, another Wiz assistant, on that same game:
“I hate what’s happening,’’ said Wizards assistant (and Garnett confidant) Sam Cassell. “I’ve never seen KG get one rebound. One rebound! But if you ask me, would I like to have him on my team, right now? Hell, yeah. He’s the best competitor I’ve ever been around.’’
• Here’s Flip Saunders, KG’s long-time coach in Minnesota, on KG’s future beyond this season:
“It’s a mistake to think he’s done,’’ Saunders said. “People don’t understand his first 10 years he was the best perimeter shooter in the NBA from 12 to 18 feet. His ability to go out there will save him. Defensively, he’s still 7-foot-1 and long. He may not make those spectacular athletic plays anymore, but he’s going to help that team.’’
• And here’s Danny Ainge on the KG trade and contract extension, which will pay KG about $20 million per season over the next two seasons:
“Was he worth it? Absolutely,’’ Ainge said. “He won us a championship. He changed our culture. I don’t know what will happen with Kevin. He’s made a boatload of money. He’s won a title. How hard will he rehab if it takes a year? Or maybe he works as hard as he always has and his body doesn’t respond. We’ll know more next season.’’
• Doc Rivers on what kind of player KG can be going forward:
“I still believe Kevin can be a low-post threat,’’ Rivers said. “It won’t be who he is every night, but he can be a very effective pick-and-pop player.’’
Ok, let’s stop for a second. Look at some of these quotes. Was it worth it? I don’t know what will happen with Kevin. It’s a mistake to think he’s done. We’ll know more next season.
All of these people are talking about KG, but they are talking mostly about his past (the surgery, his past greatness) and his future (whether he can remain relevant in the league, what sort of player he’ll become as he ages, whether he’ll be better next season because of the recovery time associated with his knee injury). There is much less talk about what Kevin Garnett can bring right now, to the Boston Celtics 2010 playoff run.
Sure, any discussion about KG’s health and mental state is relevant to the C’s current playoff performance. But all of this career reflection and anxiety about the future, well, it’s not exactly what I imagined in October we’d be reading about on the eve of the 2010 post-season.
• Scoop Jackson also gives us a whopper “Is Something Wrong With KG?” piece on ESPN.com, though Scoop of course does his own thing, which includes hanging out at bad Boston bars and listening to fans discuss the state of KG.
And here again we read talk of how KG might not be fully recovered until next season. Here’s Doc:
“What people miss when it comes to Kevin is, one, he’s less than a year out from surgery that usually takes a second year [to fully recover].”
And here’s KG talking to Scoop about his recovery:
“Coming off this injury has been sort of psychological,” Garnett says. “Mentally, it’s been one of the hardest years I’ve ever encountered. But for the most part, I’ve played. I’ve played hard and I’ve been enduring, playing on one leg and still being productive. They told me it’s going to be a year of transformation, so I’m dealing with it. I’m good with it.”
• One parting thought on KG’s health from Doc Rivers in Chris Forsberg’s preview of the Miami-Boston series:
“I think this is the best Kevin [Garnett has] been since early in the season.”
Finally, talk about KG that is focused completely on the present—the 2010 playoffs. And if the Celtics are going to do anything of significance in these playoffs, Doc better be right about KG’s current health.
The Ticker