Garnett won't be center of attention (bostonherald.com)
"I never once thought that I was bigger than the team," he said. "No one should be. I think we're going to be what we're going to be because of the three of us (Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, as well) setting an example for everybody else. It's going to be James Posey. It's going to be Eddie House. It's going to be Tony Allen. It's going to be Glen Davis. It's going to be Kendrick Perkins. It's going to be Paul Pierce. It's going to be Kevin Garnett. It's going to be Brandon Wallace. It's going to be Ray Allen.
"That's what it's going to be. It's not going to be one person to make it. You just might have one guy DJ-ing, spinning the right records. You might have one guy who can do a move that somebody else can't do. But it's not just going to be one person where you say, 'Man, this is a (dull) party because such-and-such ain't here.' Don't work like that. I'm making sure that we all understand that. It feels good to be a part of something for everybody. I've always enjoyed being with everybody and in the middle, rather than being by myself."
And while Garnett doesn’t always enjoy the predictions for his new club, he added, "Our expectations for ourselves are higher than you guys or whoever writes. Everybody's entitled to an opinion. We relish it."
'Basketball is my spine' (boston.com)
Scanning the crowd of NBA representatives awaiting his predraft workout at the University of Illinois-Chicago, Kevin Garnett saw a group of men holding lottery picks for the 1995 draft with better places to be. Garnett leans back and feigns glassy-eyed boredom to reenact what he remembers most about the invited audience on that fateful June day. He stares blankly into the distance for more than a minute, making his dramatic point.
"I'll never forget they all came in and they were looking like this," said Garnett. "They were thinking, 'Man, we're coming in here to watch this [expletive], wasting our time.' When I saw that there, that irked me."
Minnesota vice president of basketball operations Kevin McHale was among the group of skeptical NBA representatives gathered at UIC, wondering if Garnett would be the first high school player in two decades to go straight to the NBA. It took an hour to convince the gathering that Garnett was the future. In a gym McHale recalled as "beastly hot," a sweat-drenched Garnett did everything that was asked of him during the workout by NBA executives and coaches shouting instructions.
Let's see him dribble down the court righthanded. Lefthanded. Let's see him pull up for a jump shot at the elbow. Step farther back and shoot again. Let's see him jump and reach as high as he can on the backboard. Again. Again. Again.
"They were just yelling stuff out and I was going and going," said Garnett. "Man, what do you want? Let's see him chili sauce. Let's see him break dance. Let's see him do the salsa. That's how it was.
"Then, Bill Fitch [then coaching the LA Clippers] was like, 'You need a break? I felt he was looking at me like, 'Hey, boy, you need a break?' Even though he didn't say it like that, I took it like he was looking at me like, 'Are you tired? Are you tired?' I was like, 'Hell, no. I don't need no break.' But I was about to faint."
Garnett threw down a show-stopping dunk and released whatever aggression remained with an emphatic yell directed toward the duly impressed scouts, then walked off the court. The NBA crowd left wanting more from the high school kid.
A fresh coat (sports.espn.go.com)
Kevin Garnett has always been the crazy one, the one who looks as if he's hopped into the shower in full gear and sneakers. His workout sessions are legendary, causing trainers to marvel and onlookers to gawk. Rookies in Minnesota have been awed. Vets working out in Vegas this summer were humbled. The force of his focused glare has made arena attendants afraid of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. You know, stuff like "You okay?" or "Want some Gatorade?"
It's the kind of crazy that helped make the 31-year-old Garnett the biggest thing to hit the Celtics since Larry Legend himself. Which is why, when KG first stepped into the Celtics' training facility in Waltham, Mass., he came brandishing what was sure to be a fresh ethos: Prepare as intensely as you play.
Instead, KG was the one who got the lesson.
It was 8 a.m. in early September, and Garnett was ... late? Usually the first one in the gym, he walked in and found Paul Pierce, who already had been there long enough to work up a thick sweat. Pierce was too busy doing sit-ups and pounding the treadmill to offer a drawn-out hug. When KG looked through the window at the indoor court, he realized he wasn't even the second Celtic to have started his day. Ray Allen, also dripping, bolted around the floor, launching jumpers at a feverish pace.
Garnett looked back at Pierce, now grunting on the pull-up bar, then once again at Allen, now walking into the weight room to pick up some dumbbells. And that's when it hit the 12-year pro: He was with kindred spirits.
"When I'm in the gym, I see mugs looking at me like, What's wrong with him?" KG says, clenching his fists while his voice rises with each word. "I was looking at Ray and P the same way. But inside I was like, Yeah! This is what I'm talking about! That right there told me a lot about how we are going into this year."
Garnett is the Nature Boy, WOOOOOO! (dimemag.com)
"Lemmee tell you what I'm good at. As a kid, didn't have a lot of toys, so ... I would take shoes, um, my little sister used to have, like, a lotta stuffed animals. And I used to take some of the stuffed animals, and I would play 'cars' or I would play 'wrestling'. And, I wouldn't necessarily see that it was a shoe, you know. If it was Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes wrestling, it was Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes wrestling, you know? If it was supposed to be He-Man versus Thundercats, then that's what it was! I was forming Voltron with a pair of shoes, and that's what it was.
"And I'm really good at, if you give me direction, and I can see it, I'm really good at ... I think I'm pretty good at working hard to give you what you're asking of me. So, he was giving really really good direction, to the point to where I could see it. So I just got in the mode like I was actually speaking to a rookie, and he was in front of me.
"And I don't know, people say, 'Hey you should go into acting', but I can't act! Can't act at all! Not into doing lines, and remembering lines, and that makes me nervous. But, I do know how to be me. I do know how to talk to a rookie, and if a rookie's messing up, I do know what I would say to him. So, you wanna call that entertaining, or you wanna call that a sense of acting, then so be it. That's what I'm good at."
[Interviewer]: What would it take to get you to do a little Ric Flair for me right now?
"I would have to stand up to give you the full effect of Ric Flair ... but when you walk the line, and the Horsemen, and you see them Four Horsemen jump in the ring, waddaya gonna do?"
"WOOOO! The Nature Boy!"[Interviewer starts laughing]
"I love wrestling, dog! It's kinda crazy now, 'cause I can't keep up with everybody, and who, what they do and all this, but y'know, I watch when I can, but I ... "
[Interviewer]: Ric Flair ...
"NWA used to be my thing! Dusty Rhodes! Magnum T.A.! Kabuki, y'all remember Kabuki? Yeahhh ... Nikita Koloff! Y'all remember Ni-ki-ta? Yeah, yeah."
Garnett's even generating buzz in Israel (sportingo.com)
It's true that the Celtics gave the Minnesota Timberwolves everything but the kitchen sink to acquire Kevin Garnett. To be exact, five players and two first round draft picks. However, history tells us the trade was well worth the risk.
In 1992, the Phoenix Suns acquired Charles Barkley from Philadelphia 76ers for Jeff Hornacek, Andrew Lang, and Tim Perry. As a result, Barkley led the Suns to a 62-20 record, and a trip to the NBA Finals, while being judged the league's Most Valuable Player. Philadelphia, meanwhile, was awarded the second pick of the 1993 draft. What does that tell you? What's worse is that they selected Shawn Bradley. Enough said.
Garnett's move East could boost his fantasy numbers (nba.com)
If you ask Jon Loomer, the senior manager of fantasy games for NBA.com, Garnett's move from struggling Minnesota in the powerful Western Conference to veteran-laden Boston in the weaker East should translate to a banner fantasy season.
So much so that Loomer has Garnett ranked as No. 1 on his fantasy board. That "The Big Ticket'' is high on the fantasy list is nothing new. His combination of scoring, rebounding, blocks, shooting percentage and assists makes for a fantasy monster.
Now, with Pierce and Allen wearing the same colors to prevent some of the double- and triple-teaming he saw his entire career in Minnesota, Loomer sees even bigger things for Garnett.
"It was a debate for quite a while,'' Loomer said. "But if I had the No. 1 pick in a draft, he would be that guy. The more I thought about it, this is really a good thing for him.''
After Garnett, Loomer goes with Gilbert Arenas, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Shawn Marion, Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki and Atlanta's Josh Smith for his top 10.
In his final season with the Timberwolves last year, Garnett averaged 22.4 points, 12.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.7 blocks per game, the kind of all-around numbers that Wolves fans came to take for granted and fantasy owners drooled over.
When it comes to success in fantasy basketball, it's all about who can put up the biggest numbers in the most categories. Not just points and rebounds, but blocks, steals, field goal percentage, 3-point shooting, and on and on and on.
With two All-Stars on the court with him this year in Beantown, Garnett's statistics will improving, Loomer predicts.
Then there's the competition? His move to Boston means he won't be facing the likes of Tim Duncan, Amare Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer and Elton Brand on a nightly basis in the talent-laden West.
"He should have a better time dominating in the East versus in the West,'' Loomer said.
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