I honestly forgot exactly how good Kevin Garnett was until the Celtics ran the highlights from his playing days. It’s easy to remember he was a legend from a skill standpoint and an absolute animal with the way he approached the game, but moments can get lost behind the recycled highlights typically associated with KG’s time in Boston — not to mention he battled injury toward the end of his run in Boston.
What’s easy to remember, though, is the Celtics acquiring him.
As a kid at that time, you could imagine some of your players from around the league joining up with your favorite team. Ray Allen was actually a guy like that for me (which made him leaving for Miami sting a little extra). For those of us who played video games, wishful trades like that could become something of a reality. But in all of that make-believe nonsense, Garnett to Boston never crossed my mind.
Sure, big-time NBA players moved around here and there back then — obviously not at all like they do today. Allen was on his second team by the time Boston looked to add him. Still, KG wasn’t just a big-time player. He may have not had a ring yet, but he was a nine-time All-Star, seven-time All-NBA selection, eight-time NBA All-Defensive selection and an MVP. The man was already a sure-fire Hall of Famer, he’d been with the Timberwolves 12 years and he still had quite a few good years left at 31.
Players like that don’t just up and move — again, especially before this current era of the NBA. And when they do change locations, they don’t always become a franchise great, even if they win a title.
Speaking of which, it’s a shame Allen, Garnett and Paul Pierce didn’t win more than one ring together. (I stand by this: they got robbed in the 2010 NBA Finals.)
The NBA community likes to poke fun at the team for taking as much pride in 2008 as they do, but everyone who followed that team gets it. And KG’s ceremony was a reminder of why those players hold that run near and dear to their heart and why the city still has so much love for that team, be it role players like Eddie House and James Posey or the superstars.
That team was like the Celtics of old, the early Patriots title teams and the 2004 Red Sox. They had talent, but they didn’t rely on talent alone — and they weren’t necessarily respected by everyone else around the league. They worked hard to get what’s theirs and didn’t apologize for it. They were a reflection of the region, the city.
“It’s been real, man” Garnett said to the fans as he closed out the ceremony before raising his number to the rafters. “Would have never thought y’all would love me like this. I love you Boston.”