Minnesota Timberwolves billionaire owner Glen Taylor continues to impress me with his vast basketball knowledge. Last week, he imparted a new pearl: Kevin Garnett "tanked it" at the end of the 2007 season.
He's right. Garnett never played hard for the Wolves. Come to think of it, I think he rivals only Michael Olowokandi in pure laziness. I also heard Taylor thinks Dick Butkus was a slacker. The United States' victory over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics? Decent, but Jim Craig still allowed three goals. What a hack.
Taylor also doesn't believe Michael Jordan really had the flu before game 5 in the 1997 NBA finals.
What was your goal here, Mr. Taylor? It couldn't have been to wage a public relations war, considering KG is still the most beloved athlete in state history, while you're about as popular in Minnesota as Todd Bertuzzi is in Colorado. Could it have been to divert attention away from the disastrous team you own? Could it have been simple bitterness? It's clearly great timing - bringing the focus back to the past when the team is finally playing like a real basketball team from time to time. Good thinking.
The timing and overall message of this accusation make no sense whatsoever. Not surprising, though, considering little to nothing has made sense during Taylor's tenure.
Taylor paid Garnett over $200 million, so he has the right to say whatever the hell he wants to say. But from the fans' perspective, the fans who have watched this dysfunctional franchise become the absolute laughingstock of professional sports, I want to hear the criticism of Kevin McHale, who is without question one of the worst GMs in all of sports. I want to hear the criticism for the Joe Smith debacle, which cost the team three first round picks. I want to hear the criticism for drafting Paul Grant, Rasho Nesterovic and William Avery in the first round. I want to hear the criticism for drafting Louis Bullock 15 picks before Manu Ginobli in the 1999 draft. I want to hear the criticism for drafting Ndubi Ebi over ACC Player of the Year Josh Howard. I want to hear the criticism for trading Ray Allen for Stephon Marbury and Brandon Roy for Randy Foye. I want to hear the criticism for signing Marko Jaric, Troy Hudson, Mark Blount and Mike James to enormous long-term contracts.
But we never hear that criticism from Taylor. Instead, he blames the one player worth mentioning in the history of the franchise.
How's that for tanking?
Some of the absolute worst decisions in the history of sports have been made right under Taylor's nose. Yet he continues to stand by the person who's made those decisions for the better part of 15 years. Taylor has never demanded any semblance of accountability from his front office, nor has he ever questioned even some of the many shockingly idiotic moves carried out by his GM.
How's that for tanking?
Some might say, "Well, Taylor was only talking about the last five games of the season." According to former Wolves broadcaster Chad Hartman, at the end of last season it is known that the Wolves front office came to Garnett and expressed the desire to scale back his minutes in the hopes of landing a higher draft pick. Garnett and McHale met, and in what is widely considered to be their last conversation, KG essentially said that he wanted to play to win or not play at all. McHale responded by telling him that he wouldn't play at all, so the front office created the injury.
That's Garnett's fault? You've got to be kidding me. Sorry, Glen, but KG's got the class to not want to be part of that level of absurdity.
Four years ago, the Minnesota Timberwolves won 58 games and earned the no. 1 seed in the Western Conference. They haven't made the postseason since, and while Garnett has led his new team in one of the most remarkable turnarounds in NBA history, the players who replaced him in Minnesota haven't even crossed the line into mediocrity.
Is Garnett to blame for that, too?
The interest in the Wolves is on par with late-night Extenze infomercials. On most nights at the Target Center, someone could safely fire a cannon into the upper-deck. If somehow a random security guard got hit, it'd probably be a blessing in disguise. How do you sell more tickets? How do you recreate the atmosphere that was once singlehandedly created by Garnett?
The marketing slogan to begin the season was "See What They Can Do." When it was revealed that the team couldn't do a damn thing, the slogan was changed to "Let's Build It."
And while there is a decent amount of young talent on the current roster, the team is still a ridiculous 25 games out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the West. How do you sell that to your own players? Potential free agents? Even more importantly, how do you sell it to the fans, who have seen true greatness?
Certainly not by throwing that one great player under the bus.
Criticize Kevin Garnett all you want. Say he's too unselfish. Say he's not a good leader in the fourth quarter. Say he's not physical enough. But never, ever question the guy's effort.
Garnett is too much of a competitor, too proud, too much of a warrior to ever quit on his team, even if that team has decidedly quit on him. Anybody who has watched the NBA over the last decade knows that there is no player in the league who plays with the intensity and emotion with which KG plays each game.
To think anything otherwise is utterly delusional.
Kevin Garnett was never the problem, Glen. You're the problem. Your GM is the problem. Next time you decide to open your big mouth to place blame, take a long look in the mirror.
Ross Marrinson is a senior majoring in international relations. He can be reached at Ross.Marrinson@tufts.edu.
