kingkung
Bench
Before everyone jumps on me and the mods lock this thread for being another "Trade for KG!" post, hear me out first... I'd like to think that I have a little more to offer by way of reason than the stereotypical "Trade Garnett for Jason Hart and bag of rhino poop" threads.
Seeing Ron Artest pressure the hell out of Paul Pierce, as well as his point diffs (53-43 w/Artest in, 19-41 w/Artest out) gave me a lot of hope for the future of the Kings. We have a legit superstar, crazy as he is. However, I think everyone would agree that we are still one star away from being a true championship contender. And so comes the all-too-predictable push for Garnett. But this time it's legit... at least moreso than before. Unlike before, where we thought trading for Garnett would solve ALL of our problems, even if we had a lineup of Scot Pollard and a haven of midgets, right now we currently have a team in which Garnett, a PF that rebounds, passes, and blocks, really would be the missing piece to a team with a super-clutch PG, a tough-as-nails SF, and a legitimate C. A lot of teams could say that Garnett would kick *** for their team, but not many teams could feasibly say that realistically having KG would make them a championship favorite.
By now, it's abhorrently obvious that the Minnesota Timberwolves are going nowhere. Garnett knows it, McHale knows it, every team in the NBA knows it. Trading Szczerbiak for Ricky Davis was like trading a Toyota Camry for a Honda Accord... sure you get an improved player, but it's a very minor improvement at best. As far as I'm concerned, Minnesota's done. Finished. They've been given 11 years to build a solid team around Kevin Garnett, and, with exception to 2003-04, every year has ended in mediocrity and/or miserable failure. They need to look to the future and start anew, and not squander the talents of the amazing KG the way the Detroit Lions squandered the talents of Barry Sanders back in the day.
I'm not saying we even have a beggar's chance of landing KG. But whatever slimslimslimslim chance we've been given, I'm saying we should damn well try the hell out of that chance. I would be willing to give ANY of our first-round draft picks for at the next seven years, plus ANY combination of players outside of our core (Bibby, Artest, Brad) to make the salaries match. We have a slew of young talent, and in the best-case scenario, the Timberwolves would be willing to trade Garnett the way the Phoenix Suns did with Charles Barkley back in 95... for a host of talented non-superstars who don't add up to the superstar they're being traded for, but are a good young group of players to start a new team with.
If we can't land Garnett, then we should land a player like him (but obviously not of his caliber). A versatile PF who can swat shots and dominate defensively in the lane the way Artest dominates the perimeter. I like Shareef, but he's not a player that really fits into our system. I would say Ben Wallace, but there's no way in heck that he leaves the amazing Detroit Pistons. Marcus Camby would also be an interesting alternative, though he's too much of an injury liability (something the Kings certainly don't need). But the grand prize, of course, would be The Man himself. And if we have any chance whatsoever to reel him in, even if it means jeopardizing the future of our franchise, I say now is the time to do it.
Seeing Ron Artest pressure the hell out of Paul Pierce, as well as his point diffs (53-43 w/Artest in, 19-41 w/Artest out) gave me a lot of hope for the future of the Kings. We have a legit superstar, crazy as he is. However, I think everyone would agree that we are still one star away from being a true championship contender. And so comes the all-too-predictable push for Garnett. But this time it's legit... at least moreso than before. Unlike before, where we thought trading for Garnett would solve ALL of our problems, even if we had a lineup of Scot Pollard and a haven of midgets, right now we currently have a team in which Garnett, a PF that rebounds, passes, and blocks, really would be the missing piece to a team with a super-clutch PG, a tough-as-nails SF, and a legitimate C. A lot of teams could say that Garnett would kick *** for their team, but not many teams could feasibly say that realistically having KG would make them a championship favorite.
By now, it's abhorrently obvious that the Minnesota Timberwolves are going nowhere. Garnett knows it, McHale knows it, every team in the NBA knows it. Trading Szczerbiak for Ricky Davis was like trading a Toyota Camry for a Honda Accord... sure you get an improved player, but it's a very minor improvement at best. As far as I'm concerned, Minnesota's done. Finished. They've been given 11 years to build a solid team around Kevin Garnett, and, with exception to 2003-04, every year has ended in mediocrity and/or miserable failure. They need to look to the future and start anew, and not squander the talents of the amazing KG the way the Detroit Lions squandered the talents of Barry Sanders back in the day.
I'm not saying we even have a beggar's chance of landing KG. But whatever slimslimslimslim chance we've been given, I'm saying we should damn well try the hell out of that chance. I would be willing to give ANY of our first-round draft picks for at the next seven years, plus ANY combination of players outside of our core (Bibby, Artest, Brad) to make the salaries match. We have a slew of young talent, and in the best-case scenario, the Timberwolves would be willing to trade Garnett the way the Phoenix Suns did with Charles Barkley back in 95... for a host of talented non-superstars who don't add up to the superstar they're being traded for, but are a good young group of players to start a new team with.
If we can't land Garnett, then we should land a player like him (but obviously not of his caliber). A versatile PF who can swat shots and dominate defensively in the lane the way Artest dominates the perimeter. I like Shareef, but he's not a player that really fits into our system. I would say Ben Wallace, but there's no way in heck that he leaves the amazing Detroit Pistons. Marcus Camby would also be an interesting alternative, though he's too much of an injury liability (something the Kings certainly don't need). But the grand prize, of course, would be The Man himself. And if we have any chance whatsoever to reel him in, even if it means jeopardizing the future of our franchise, I say now is the time to do it.
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) of Big Ben coming here was ruined because of Artest. They can't stand each other on the court, and who knows what would happen off.
