KG Article From OC Register

 
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 10:37 am    Post subject: KG Article From OC Register

Pretty good article on the chances of KG demanding and geting traded to another team.

By KEVIN DING
The Orange County Register


Kevin Garnett is stuck on a team that is on course to miss the playoffs again, giving rise to hopes around the league that he might be available in a trade.

KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICES


After getting a break from his exhausting Minnesota reality at the All-Star Game, Kevin Garnett's first game back saw the Timberwolves blow a 19-point lead and lose in Washington.

Garnett moved closer to missing the playoffs for the second consecutive season Friday with a devastating overtime home loss to Denver, dropping Minnesota to 23-31.

Garnett's season shifted from sad to embarrassing at another home game Sunday when he flipped a ball into the stands, hit a fan in the face and got ejected.

As far as countering the politically correct stuff that Garnett offered over the All-Star break about hanging in there with the Timberwolves, those first three games back were an ideal wakeup call for Garnett's ongoing Minnesota hibernation.

Speaking of hot and cold, it's worth noting that Garnett is not oblivious to U.S. weather patterns: He loves to run on the beach in Malibu, where he has a summer home and spends much of his offseason.

And before you can speak the words "Lamar Odom, Kwame Brown and a first-round pick to Minnesota this summer," let's delve into something Lakers coach Phil Jackson said Saturday.

Garnett's name was the first out of Jackson's mouth when he was discussing a superstar player who might be available in trade this summer for the New York Knicks. Obviously, 2003-04 NBA MVP Garnett, who is friendly with Kobe Bryant, also would be ideal for the Lakers to acquire - and become contenders again instantly.

Upon speculating about Garnett, Jackson stopped and said: "Maybe I'll get fined for throwing a name out there." So Jackson threw out the less transfixing name of Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal in a hypothetical situation for the Knicks to trade Stephon Marbury or Steve Francis this summer.

Media reports out of New York have suggested Garnett, O'Neal and Al Harrington as players the Knicks would love to acquire this summer, so Jackson isn't creating the Garnett trade scenario all on his own. But there's little doubt that Jackson has rare respect for Garnett.

It is why Jackson pegged Minnesota to be a certain playoff qualifier before the season when few others were that certain (and the others are turning out to be right). Garnett is basically a superior version of Odom, with the same sort of deferential nature that should work next to Bryant. Jackson always has keyed in on that to the point that he likes to approach games against Garnett with the idea of making him score instead of pass - because that's less natural for him. Dallas coach Avery Johnson actually planned to showcase Garnett's ball-handling skills in the All-Star Game by playing him at point guard in a lineup with Yao Ming, Tim Duncan, Pau Gasol and Dirk Nowtizki but didn't find a good time for it.

We saw a flash of what Garnett could do when paired with skilled veterans in Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell when Minnesota reached the NBA's final four in 2004 before losing to the Lakers. Those were selfish guys who didn't share Garnett's work ethic, yet it worked well - the only time Garnett has made it past the first round in 10 seasons. Clearly, he is not meant to succeed as a one-man team.

The problem for the Lakers, Knicks and everyone else out there is that Garnett has to become clearly available first. And the Timberwolves still are of the mindset to help Garnett, not free him.

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that he has no intention of trading Garnett and - talk about being out of touch - still sort of likes the present and future vision of his team. Just how clueless do you have to be to not understand how clueless Kevin McHale was in giving away Cassell and a No.1 pick to the Clippers' Elgin Baylor for the right to sign Marko Jaric to a $38million contract?

Garnett, who turns turn 30 in May, is not clueless - he's loyal to a fault. Loyalty is why he signed that contract extension in 2003 and took far less money than he could have demanded, too.

To think that Garnett will demand a trade - even though it seems to work for everybody who tries it (Artest, Shaquille O'Neal, Vince Carter even Reggie Evans, of all people, this month) - is asking Garnett to change who he is. This is what he said at the All-Star break: "I'm not the one to give up just because something's rough. That's a coward. That's not even me. I'm in it for the long haul."

Garnett's first clean chance to shorten his haul is 2008, when he can opt out of the final year of his contract (though he'd have to take a big pay cut to sign elsewhere). Assuming Garnett won't ask out before that, the only chance for another team to get him is McHale deciding to trade Garnett. McHale definitely is dumb enough to do it, but don't hold your breath.

Here's the link to the article:
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/sports/pros/article_1020837.php

But you needed to register with the OC Register paper's website first to read the article.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 10:40 am    Post subject:

C'mon KG, tell 'em you want to go to the Lakers! Do it McHale!
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 10:49 am    Post subject:

Hhhmmm...so Jackson is building up KG, and then Bosh before. Is this just his way of putting feelers out there for these players and their agents to take notice of? Any chance he mentions Lebron James in the next article?
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:22 am    Post subject:

Odom, Kwame, and a pick for Garnett? This guy's been hitting the pipe usually reserved for LG posters.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:29 am    Post subject:

pjiddy wrote:
Odom, Kwame, and a pick for Garnett? This guy's been hitting the pipe usually reserved for LG posters.


I agree, doesn't seem possible, but hey, crazier things have happened. KG would basically have to tell Minn. management it's Lakers or bust, or at the very least give them a supremely limited list of potential trading partners. You just can't get equal value for a star of that magnitude - remember the Shaq trade.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:31 am    Post subject:

pjiddy wrote:
Odom, Kwame, and a pick for Garnett? This guy's been hitting the pipe usually reserved for LG posters.


Unless Kwame's third year hasn't bee picked up, then he would ocme off the books as an expiring k after next season.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:43 am    Post subject:

pjiddy wrote:
Odom, Kwame, and a pick for Garnett? This guy's been hitting the pipe usually reserved for LG posters.


I think that is KG is traded, it might surprise us that he doesn't bring as much as we think he will. He is a 10+year vet with a lot of mileage on his legs.

And I wonder if fans in Minny are looking here and thinking that Kobe might miss the playoffs for the second year in a row. Will he ask for a trade to a team that could compete? Maybe Minny could throw some ending contracts, draft picks, and young players at the Lakers for Kobe?
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:52 am    Post subject:

venturalakersfan wrote:


I think that is KG is traded, it might surprise us that he doesn't bring as much as we think he will. He is a 10+year vet with a lot of mileage on his legs.

And I wonder if fans in Minny are looking here and thinking that Kobe might miss the playoffs for the second year in a row. Will he ask for a trade to a team that could compete? Maybe Minny could throw some ending contracts, draft picks, and young players at the Lakers for Kobe?


Point taken Ventura, but I think there are some differences. LA is coming off championships and has a recently enough re-signed Kobe. LA management has committed to building around Kobe and Kobe seems happy with management. KG is upset with Minn. management and has been with a franchise that has not been able to surround him with capable support over his 10+ years (excepting the year they had Cassell and Spree, which of course blew up in their faces). All that said, KG "appears" to be leaving to find success, whereas the perception in LA is that success can be built there with some additional pieces.

Also, yeah it looks like KG is starting to slow down some. That said, he's still relatively young (though you're right, he's got lots of mileage), but it'd be interesting to see if that's the result of having to carry the franchise on his back all this time. A move to a different city and a chance at a championship could spark him all over again.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:55 am    Post subject:

venturalakersfan wrote:
pjiddy wrote:
Odom, Kwame, and a pick for Garnett? This guy's been hitting the pipe usually reserved for LG posters.


I think that is KG is traded, it might surprise us that he doesn't bring as much as we think he will. He is a 10+year vet with a lot of mileage on his legs.

And I wonder if fans in Minny are looking here and thinking that Kobe might miss the playoffs for the second year in a row. Will he ask for a trade to a team that could compete? Maybe Minny could throw some ending contracts, draft picks, and young players at the Lakers for Kobe?


1) Garnett is still in great shape and more than half the teams in this league would seriously pursue him. He would fit in in almost any offense.

2) Mitch Kupchak isn't the GM of the Wolves, so he's not gonna be given away for nothing.

3) Mitch Kupchak is our GM.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 12:02 pm    Post subject:

mihm, odom and andrew bynum for garnett...

hurts so bad to let drew go, but, i think garnett will go down as the better player and has 7 dominating years left
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 12:03 pm    Post subject:

Socks wrote:
venturalakersfan wrote:


I think that is KG is traded, it might surprise us that he doesn't bring as much as we think he will. He is a 10+year vet with a lot of mileage on his legs.

And I wonder if fans in Minny are looking here and thinking that Kobe might miss the playoffs for the second year in a row. Will he ask for a trade to a team that could compete? Maybe Minny could throw some ending contracts, draft picks, and young players at the Lakers for Kobe?


Point taken Ventura, but I think there are some differences.


Of course, namely, there have been many rumors that KG might want out, while none that Kobe might want out. Where there's smoke there's usually fire. Still, I would be surprised if KG asked out before his opt out, at the earliest. More likely, when his contract expires. KG will go down in history as a great NBA player even if he doesn't win a ring.
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