Well, he has won an MVP (and was named to 8 All-NBA defensive teams) Neither did Karl Malone and Charles Barkley...but I would consider them great players as well.
If we don't want to call Pippen and Robinson superstars I am fine with lumping KG there. I agree there is a difference between them and Hakeem, Bird, Magic, and even another tier of superstars in between (Duncan, the Malones, etc). But KG has carried his team farther than Tmac and Kobe (w/o Shaq). If you want to bring up the not taking his team far in the playoffs on his back argument. Besides, I think Lebron is going to get the MVP, not KG. Kobe is in the mix too. The trash talking is a bit irritating, but that cat was out of the bag what 30 years ago? KG is much more likable than Shaq' jockriding, fold on my team with the going gets tough, Kobe.
i dont quite understand the hes not a "superstar". was hakeem a superstar until he won? shaq? was/is barkley/malone not a superstar? KG is an elite player (forget about the "stars") and has had very little supoprting cast his entire career. Look what he did with spreewell and cassell. Look at what hes going this year.
I'm fairly sure in the context of "winning" he was alluding to championships. That's what was ironic that the poster was insulting Yao for not winning inside a Kevin Garnett thread. With the media perception the way it is, you would swear that KG has 3-4 championships by now. As for the Barkley and Malone comparisons. At least those two can go to sleep at night knowing that the greatest player in the history of basketball is what stopped them from winning their titles. KG, on the other hand.....I guess we'll have to wait and see how this Boston, free-pass-to-the-Finals experiment works out for him.
There is only 1 thing I really dislike about KG: When an opposing player takes a shot after a non continuation or a dead ball, he always makes an effort to spring up and goaltend it. Hes the only guy I've ever seen consistently do this. Rubs me the wrong way for some reason. Almost makes you want to see him sprain an ankle.
Heres a simple way to look the "How good is KG" argument, If you put him on the Spurs instead of Duncan would they still won all those Championships? Statistically they almost mirror each other, so what do you guys think? I personally think they would have.
Barkley had Dan Majerle and Kevin Johnson and a bona fide bench. Karl Malone had, arguably, the best point guard in NBA history as his sidekick. So to say that Kevin Garnett should have advanced further than the 1st round like those two is a farce. You give KG the same amount of talent and no doubt Garnett would get further than the first round (e.g. the year he had Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell)
No way in hell. Tim Duncan has played with less talent over his career than KG has. Tim Duncan is a winner. Kevin Garnett isn't. I keep hearing the same excuses I always hear about KG...about how he never played with anyone and all that other crap that isn't true. Kevin Garnett has played with: Chauncey Billups Stephon Marbury Sam Cassell Wally Scerbiack Latrell Sprewell Troy Hudson Those first 5 have all been All Stars in this league. How many all stars has Dirk Nowitski or Tim Duncan played with?
Dirk Nowitzki: Steve Nash Josh Howard Antawn Jamison Antoine Walker Jerry Stackhouse Tim Duncan: David Robinson Manu Ginobili Tony Parker Steve Smith Steven Jackson (not an All-Star)
HAHAHA You had the nerve to put Troy Hudson on an "allstar" list, Oh wait and 35 year old Sam Cassell, Oh! and 35 year old Latrell Sprewell, No! You didnt! Chauncey Billups! Come on man you know Chauncey was not anywhere close to an all-star when he was with the wolves... Stephon Marbury? Thats a giggle.... This is silly....
....and KG owes his only first round advancement to a player that played Nash-like level PG play in Cassell. Cassell and Sprewell were quite the dominating duo in assisting your lovable loser past the first round....finally. But hey, he's still a basketball god, right?
Billups - Billups was a very different player before getting to Detroit. He only played two years in Minny, and averaged double figures once. Marbury - KG was young, and we have seen that Marbury is not conducive to winning. Cassell - WCF Sczerbiak - Not good. Sprewell - WCF Hudson - Why is he even on this list? The fact that this is the list of "good" players that KG has played with is ridiculous. Dirk and Duncan have had severall all-stars who have sustained a high level of play, while KG's teammates have mostly been one-year rentals.
The stats dont lie...... Kevin Garnett/03-04 playoffs 24.3 pts 14.6 rebs 5.1 asts! (Here you go Sammy!)(Thats unheard of for a dominant big) 2.3 blks 1.3 stls You have a problem? Back it up with numbers,not speculation.....KG was the leader of that team, make no mistake, just because Sam is a greedy crunch time(and a great one) player does not mean he was the heart and soul of that team, KG was.... Sam hit many, many clutch shots with the Rockets, but Dream was the heart and soul of that team, just like KG is to his........
WHO???? The only All Stars Dirk has played with are Steve Nash, Finley, and Josh Howard, I will throw in Nick Van Exel because he could also play at a pretty high level. The only All Stars Tim Duncan has played with this decade are Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobli. like Nick Van Exel I willl throw in Stephen Jackson because at times he can play at a very high level. I love how some of you guys bring up the fact that Chauncey Billups and Stephon Marbury became much better players after they weren't playing with KG....and somehow that supports the notion that he never played with anyone. Superstars are supposed to make the other players better. The Timberwolves were a 50 win team for like 5 straight seasons and only one of those did they ever make it out of the first round. If Kevin Garnett is so great why did the Timberwolves (after the one time he made it out of the first round) go immediately back to sucking? Someone suggested that the Spurs would be just as good if they had Garnett and that line of reasoning is complete garbage. Tim Duncan is the most skilled low post player in the NBA, and the second most dominant after Shaq (in his prime) When will people realize that KG's offense is average, not good at anything. When did anyone see him dominate in the low block. Please tell me. Please tell me what low block moves does he have, cause I've watched him for a bunch of years and have yet to see any. He has one, ONE, offensive move, a little turnaround on the left block 10-15 feet away. But it only extends at that. His shooting beyond that range is iffy. What Dirk and Tim Duncan do to opposing defenses is incomparable to Garnett. I never seen any team change their whole philosophy to cover Garnett. Fact is great players take over games by scoring. We have had one player in this league that made a reputation as a all-time great with defense, Bill Russell. And one could argue that he had so much offensive talent around that he never needed to score. The problem with KG is that he is good at every trade, a master at none. Which means in the 4th quarter you can only do so much. That is why Dirk and Duncan have consistently been great 4th quarter scorers and KG hasn't. Thats also why Tim Duncan and Dirk have both led their teams to the Finals and Kevin Garnetts biggest accomplishment is the one year he didn't get bounced in the first round
First of all, you just compared KG to Dream which is enough to make me projectile vomit everywhere. Second, anybody even mildly familiar with that 03/04 team knows despite KG's stellar MVP-caliber season that Cassell and his 20 PPG/7+ APG (there's your numbers, chief) was the real backbone of that team. Hell, i'm pretty sure KG even admitted that in an interview. I don't know where you're going with calling him a "greedy crunch time player" either. I'm not even sure what that means. Most players tend to fold and shy away from the big shots when it comes time to take them. Cassell has never had a problem with stepping up and doing that. He's done it plenty of times and does it well. The best part is he's still got it which is precisely why I wouldn't mind seeing him back on the Rockets again.
