2008 Woodie Awards
The Fitzsimmons Files: Garnett, Iverson, Martin packing their bags?
Brian Fitzsimmons
Issue date: 2/15/06 Section: Sports
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This is the part of the season when the general managers of every team in the NBA actually have to think so they don't ruin their franchise for an extended period of time and end up like the New York Knicks.
The trading deadline is looming, and there are some marquee names that have been circulating around the trade rumor mill. Which ones should go? Which ones will stay? Only the owners who are fixated on making their squads better know for sure, but I'll tell you three all-stars who may be moved because it is best for their current team's future.
Are you sitting down for this? If not, you better find a seat because realizing that the Minnesota Timberwolves may trade the best player in the NBA might startle you for a second. Kevin Garnett has been rumored to go elsewhere, such as New Jersey, but it's very unlikely. I would be thoroughly surprised if he is sent packing, but I wouldn't exactly blame the Wolves. Garnett has always been a dominant force, and the main focus of the opponent's defense. The 6'11 forward came out of the 1995 NBA Draft and people predicted he would be the cornerstone to a franchise, an honorary label that he has lived up to. A career 20 point, 11 rebound, 1.7 blocks per game monster, KG clearly put Minnesota in a position to win every year for over a decade now. Eleven years since he was a lanky and raw 18 year-old, he sure has accomplished a lot, but he needs to move on.
He makes too much money, and that cripples a team's ability to sign a sidekick to get that Shaq-Wade effect. In recent history, he had Wally Szczerbiak to play with, and now has Ricky Davis. Not to knock either of them, but they are not number two options on a good team. If the Wolves toyed with the idea of trading Garnett, they would find that they could land a solid role player, a young athletic gunner, and two first-round picks. The only way the Wolves would trade him was if those two draft picks were almost guaranteed to be in the lottery, which means he would have to go to a terrible team. Trading KG would hurt the team for three or four years, but eventually it could work out where those draft picks and young players acquired would pan out to be all-stars. Not going past the first round in the playoffs in eleven years is not exactly wearing out a welcome, but it does mean the management needs to start thinking of solutions for the future.
The trading deadline is looming, and there are some marquee names that have been circulating around the trade rumor mill. Which ones should go? Which ones will stay? Only the owners who are fixated on making their squads better know for sure, but I'll tell you three all-stars who may be moved because it is best for their current team's future.
Are you sitting down for this? If not, you better find a seat because realizing that the Minnesota Timberwolves may trade the best player in the NBA might startle you for a second. Kevin Garnett has been rumored to go elsewhere, such as New Jersey, but it's very unlikely. I would be thoroughly surprised if he is sent packing, but I wouldn't exactly blame the Wolves. Garnett has always been a dominant force, and the main focus of the opponent's defense. The 6'11 forward came out of the 1995 NBA Draft and people predicted he would be the cornerstone to a franchise, an honorary label that he has lived up to. A career 20 point, 11 rebound, 1.7 blocks per game monster, KG clearly put Minnesota in a position to win every year for over a decade now. Eleven years since he was a lanky and raw 18 year-old, he sure has accomplished a lot, but he needs to move on.
He makes too much money, and that cripples a team's ability to sign a sidekick to get that Shaq-Wade effect. In recent history, he had Wally Szczerbiak to play with, and now has Ricky Davis. Not to knock either of them, but they are not number two options on a good team. If the Wolves toyed with the idea of trading Garnett, they would find that they could land a solid role player, a young athletic gunner, and two first-round picks. The only way the Wolves would trade him was if those two draft picks were almost guaranteed to be in the lottery, which means he would have to go to a terrible team. Trading KG would hurt the team for three or four years, but eventually it could work out where those draft picks and young players acquired would pan out to be all-stars. Not going past the first round in the playoffs in eleven years is not exactly wearing out a welcome, but it does mean the management needs to start thinking of solutions for the future.