My favorite player of all-time is Kevin Garnett. I’ve been saying it for 26 years. I started watching him play when he came to Chicago for his senior year of high school at Farragut Academy. At 6’11” he was as smooth as silk and was always the most intense person in the building.
When has was drafted right out of high school in 1995 to the Minnesota Timberwolves that intensity went up 10 fold and he stayed there until he retired. I loved his game because he never short changed his effort. He played a Tuesday night in February like it was the NBA Finals. He left it all on the court every night.
In other words, he was the realest cat in the league because you got every bit of him every night. He was dominant and told you that he would be before he dominated you. He kept it real. I respected that.
Fast forward 26 years after he was first drafted. In an interview with the New York Times on Monday he continued to keep it 100 without stumbling over a single word. When asked what his take on the current state of the NBA game he didn’t hesitate to keep it 100. Most old heads would try to make some foolishness up to make their time in the league better by lying to your face about how terrible the new players are and why their generation of players was better. Not KG. He was as honest as his eyes could see it.
“I don’t think guys from 20 years ago could play in this game. Twenty years ago, guys used their hands to control players. Now you can’t use your hands. That makes defense damn near impossible. Can you imagine not hand-checking Michael Jordan? Naw. The fact that you can’t touch players gives the offensive player so much flexibility. Defensive players have to take angles away and stuff like that.”
He goes on to say, “I don’t know if even the guards from 20 or 30 years ago could play in this time right here. It’s creative. It’s competitive. It’s saucy. You’ll get dropped! A [expletive] will cross you over and break your A.C.L. these days. The game is in a great place.”
For him to say what was real further proves my point in him being such a real cat. He’s watching the same game that everybody else is watching. He sees this foolishness of position-less basketball going on right now. He sees cats that are 6’11” and 7′ tall handling the rock and shooting from darn near anywhere on the court. He sees the athleticism at every position regardless of their height.
He sees big guards not just on one team but on every team. When Magic came into the league in 1979 playing guard at 6’9″ he was the only person in the league at that size that could handle the ball. Now EVERYBODY in the league handles the ball and can shoot it to boot.
Magic wasn’t near as athletic as these guys are now and he was killing boyz because he was simply taller not to mention one of the greatest passers and floor generals we’ve ever seen. However, the game is full of overly athletic long players at every position.
When Jordan was dominating the game there were literally only two other players as athletic as he was. They were Dominique Wilkins and Clyde Drexler and that was it. Now there are 7 guys on every team in league that are as athletic as Jordan was.
The game has completely changed and KG is man enough and G enough to admit it. That’s why he’s always been my favorite player. He’s a real one. Stop me when I start lyin’!