Almost two years ago, Kevin Garnett, a real icon, left the big stage. While Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant won a lot of titles, KG shaped the league in a different way. His playing style was incomparable and breathtaking – but his greatest strength was another. Today Kevin Garnett turns 42.
“I’m losin. I’m losin’.” Again and again, Kevin Garnett repeats these words and struggles for version in an interview with college coach legend John Thompson in 2005, when Garnett was in the league for almost ten years.
He’s got seven play-off slippers in the first round behind him. The biggest success came the summer before, when the Los Angeles Lakers were the first to stop the Wolves’ triumphant advance in the Conference Final. But vanities and disputes over contracts brought disillusionment.
It was probably the hardest time for Garnett in Minnesota. Nevertheless, in an interview with Thompson, he repeatedly stressed: “This is not tennis or golf. This isn’t about me, it’s about us. For us.”
It proves Garnett was different from the normal NBA pro. He was unique.
Even before his career really started, the skinny Big Man dominated the headlines. For over 20 years, no high schooler had switched directly to the NBA. KG opened the door for Kobe Bryant or LeBron James, who explicitly named Garnett as a model for this path.
In the spring of 1995 there was not only a hype about him in KG’s adopted home Chicago. Numerous GMs came to the boy’s workout, including Kevin McHale and Flip Saunders of the Minnesota Timberwolves. “I thought it was a waste of time,” McHale later admitted. But he was proved wrong. The young Garnett, already about 2.10 meters long at that time, showed movements and dribble moves that reminded more of a guard than of a big man. In addition, his jumper fell out of the middle distance with dream-walking certainty.
After this impressive performance McHale only wanted the “Kid”. And what did he do? After all the officials had left the hall, he locked up, lay down on the field and slept for a few hours. He had put everything, everything he had into that workout.
It should be worth it. With the fifth pick in the draft KG the T-Wolves fell into the lap. Through hard work and sheer boundless will, he realized his first great dream. He made up for doubts about his narrow physique with passion and commitment, even though his first season was still a bit bumpy.
But Garnett continued to work on himself. Despite his youth, he was quickly accepted by the team. His later coach in Minnesota and then mentor Sam Mitchell later recalled: “We had all read about him. But we didn’t know how hard he was on himself and how motivated he was to become a big player.”
Over the years KG established itself in the league and developed into one of the most exciting players in the league. This aroused desires and had to be rewarded accordingly. At 21, Garnett signed for six years and $126 million after rejecting an offer of over $100 million.
There was a big clash between the management of the NBA and the players’ union. The first lockout in NBA history was perfect. Again Garnett had made history, this time not a pleasant one. Rookie contracts were now re-staggered and tightened, contracts could be for a maximum of five years.
The person Garnett was now more critically eyed – but he delivered. Impeccable as a team, The Big Ticket put itself completely into the service of the team. 25 points, 15 rebounds and 6 assists were not uncommon, but in the playoffs it went into round one seven years in a row.
The climax of the 2004 Conference Finals and the MVP trophy was followed by difficult years. The team in Sota disintegrated and often it was called “Kevin alone at home”. Nevertheless, Garnett wanted success – and that in Minnesota. He was one of the few players to have a say in the event of a trade.
Three times in a row the Wolves missed the postseason, only then Garnett pulled the rip cord. He was too proud to flee, but it was also an admission of personal defeat. A friendly turn from GM McHale to his Boston Celtics then shifted the balance of power of the NBA in 2007, making the Celts the Contender in no time at all. The blueprint of a super team of the modern era was born.
The glorious Celtics, which had represented grey mediocrity before the trade, were back on the map. The Big Three around Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen plowed through the league right away. Garnett’s reputation as a maniac on the court had long been cemented.
Throws after a whistle were blocked on principle, rookies and Europeans got the full load of trash talk. Even Dirk Nowitzki made unpleasant acquaintance with KG at the beginning of his career: “In my first season he had it in for me. He was talking trash the whole time. No one had ever talked to me like that before.”
KG did not back down from established players like Chris Webber either, as he confirmed: “He and I agreed that we would never be cool on the field. He didn’t play that. It’s not possible to pretend like that.”
That toughness made the Celtics a conspiratorial bunch. Youngsters like Rajon Rondo or Kendrick Perkins looked up to a Kevin Garnett. He drove them to peak performance, while he never spared himself. Chris Paul summed it up in his resignation statement: “I hated playing against no one more than Garnett. “At the same time, I’ve always wanted to be on a team with him.”
KG finally put the stamp of losing in the 2008 finals. Although the focus of the attack was no longer on him, he was able to devote himself to his favourite hobbyhorse, defense.
The Lakers around Kobe, Pau Gasol and Co. lost to the record champion. Garnett’s dams all broke. The pressure that dropped off him there must have been gigantic. “Anything is possible”, this outburst of emotion in the victory interview went down in the history of the finals. The Big Ticket arrived after 13 long years and many setbacks.
One could sympathize with this ambitious person. Despite all this, the human component has never been neglected during Garnett’s long career. The picture of KG in front of the deceased coach’s parking lot after Saunders’ death said more than 1000 words. In honor of a deceased friend, Garnett wore the number two jersey in Brooklyn.
All this made him a great leader who was tougher than anyone to himself and at the same time made his companions do the same. Criticism of the coach was a taboo subject, and he always stood in front of his own team like a shield. Garnett was a superstar, an outstanding character, in a league full of colourful birds. Nevertheless, the definition of a model professional applied to hardly any other player as much as it did to him.
Already in 2013, he was already 37, KG thought of his resignation. At that time the trade with Paul Pierce to Brooklyn to the Nets was imminent. “I want to end my career as a Celtic,” Garnett made clear. He changed his mind, but the ravages of time gnawed at the slag.
With 1462 games, only five players played more games than he did. With over 50,000 minutes only Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, Karl Malone and Nowitzki stood longer on the field. KG was All-Star 15 times, four nominations for the All First Team, best defender of 2008, just an excerpt from the list of successes and milestones of the future Hall of Famers.
In 2021 he will probably be accepted into this illustrious circle in Springfield together with Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan. Garnett may have won only one title, but in retrospect he was a similarly important figure of this generation who changed the rules of a whole league.
KG was the cross between The Big Fundamental and Black Mamba. A showman who, however, put his own interests back for team success. How he prepared Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns for the big tasks last year shows this wonderfully. When KG left, the Wolves mutated into a weak defensive team, also because Garnett was missing as a communicator. “I know what to do. I will take over from now on,” Towns announced directly to his mentor’s resignation, “but KAT is still not an above-average defender.
Garnett had dedicated himself to the game, but above all he has deciphered the Secret of Basketball, the essence much conjured up by Bill Simmons. Even at the moment of defeat, KG was always aware: “It’s not about me. It’s about us.”