Kevin Garnett is Good!

One of the advantages of living outside of Wisconsin is the opportunity to watch teams that you would normally not follow and develop a better understanding of the fan bases and appreciation for some of the players. Kansas City was a mess. KU Basketball choked every year and their fans could never see it coming. I was also there for most of the Quinn Snyder era at Mizzou. Mizzou fans (those with teeth) were ashamed to be associated with the program. Royals fans are a hearty bunch. They still love their team no matter how terrible the present was and the future looked. Beltran was fun to watch though. A definite 5-tool guy. The Chiefs were always mediocre. I always thought they needed a wide out (hey, I heard they tried out Charles Rodgers this week. That will end well!). However, it was fun to watch Priest Holmes and LJ every week. In Minnesota, I was fortunate enough to arrive this summer as the Twins started catching fire. They tanked in the playoffs, but it was a fun team to watch and a bunch of guys who appeared to play the game hard and do the little things right. The Twin Cities loved this team.
This leads me to the Timberwolves. Honestly, I think that half of the people in the Twin Cities don't even know they exist. I went to a Sat night game a few weeks back and the place was about 60% full. In Minnesota, the ranking of winter sports teams goes like this:

• Vikings
• Gophers Hockey
• Wild
• Gophers Basketball
• Sticking your tongue to a frozen pole
• Timberwolves

I find this to be a shame because Kevin Garnett is damn good. I was fortunate enough to watch most of the game against the Suns last night. KG was huge in every facet of the game in the 4th Quarter. He was nailing 15-foot turnaround jumpers and hitting nothing but net. How can you defend that? He came up big on D as well with some tips, blocks and steals. He is a 6'11 point forward. The only think I wish he would do a little more of is drive hard to the hoop. Seems like he takes it to the hole about as often as Big Dog did.

Anyhow, it seems like he is wasting away in Minnesota. The locals don't give a crap about the Wolves. He rarely has a supporting cast. McHale wins the Sal Bando Award for worst GM in any sport. Look who he has around him this year. Rickey Davis, Mark Madson? Pure crap. Foye will be good, but that will be in another year or two. The only time he had good players around him, 2004, the Wolves went to the Western Conference Finals. The next year Sam Cassell went back to his team killing ways and Spree started beating people who were vomiting on his yacht in Milwaukee's Harbor. Good Times. Outside of that his #2 guys have included:

• Tom Gugliotta
• Stephon Marbury (has he ever made the playoffs?)
• Terrell Brandon
• Joe Smith
• Wally Szczerbiak

Look at KGs stats. He's good for 23 points, 14 boards and 5 assists per game. Great offensive player, good defender and extremely competitive. Kevin Garnett, I salute you, not only because you are a great NBA player and that you graduated high school the same year I did and are now a 12-year NBA veteran. No, KG, in my mind your crowning moment was when you drilled Rick Rickert in the face causing him to lose some teeth and get some stitches. For that KG, I salute you!