Kevin Garnett was a monster. Those Timberwolves rosters were often horrible. Garnett was such a defensive savant & his midrange jump shot was viciously deadly. The PFs in the 2000s were amazing & they almost all played in the West. Tim Duncan, Chris Webber, Dirk, KG, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Rasheed Wallace, Pau Gasol, Amar'e Stoudamire, & Shawn Marion were all great versatile players. Man those were there days.
Reading your comment just nade me realize something. The nba has had an interesting descending history. First the league was dominated by centers for about majority of its existence, then as you mentioned, the PFs started taking over around the 2000s, then at some point I think the SF briefly took over before SGs and PGs exploded in the 2010s, and now I feel like bigs are trying to take that spot again with Giannis and jokic winning the finals, Joel becoming an mvp, and the young prospects in players like wenbenyama, chet holmgren, Anthony Davis (when HEALTHY) is absolutely dominant, kristaps (also WHEN HEALTHY) makes Hella noise too, Ben Simmons before he completely fell out. I feel like the age of big men are coming back and I love it lol
Best peak ever is 2003 Tim Duncan: all nba, all defense, MVP, finals mvp, went 60-22 regular season and DESTROYED( none of these series were close) the Dirk mavs, Kobe-Shaq lakers, and Jason kidd nets, while averaging like 27pts/15rebs/5ast/3blk in the post season. Man went crazy that year in the post season.
KG is my favorite player all time. Even as a kid born and raised in Cleveland, my favorite player wasn't Bron (a very close #2 though). His ability to just do everything on the court offensively, while arguably being a top 5 defender all time still leaves me in awe. He's locking down the 4 in my personal "one game to save the planet" type starting lineup. I see a lot of shades of his game in Evan Mobley, hoping he can ball out and take the spot as my favorite all time
KG didn’t have enough to win in his timberwolf days he was a defensive monster and pretty good offensively if he was on a better team his career could’ve been looked at very differently
yes. Even though i clowned them for winning only 1, Doc chokes, i really believe this too. If he was with the Kings here instead of Webber, he could have multiple Finals trip
I think the issue is he wasn’t dominant league wide at any point in his peak pre Celtics so his peak turned into a you had to be there thing. Something Like Paul George might be to kids who wasn’t watching basketball pre clippers PG
@@dimelo58it's nasty how yall change the narrative you act like KG wasn't dominated by Dirk for years in the playoffs and Garrett was overrated he struggled to get out the first round and couldn't win finals MVP over paul pierce. Yall hate KD for leaving okc and going to a winning team 😊
I find it really interesting that you can say something similar about his teammate, Ray Allen. I’d bet a lot of people’s first thought of Ray is him on the Celtics/Heat where he had a lesser role on championship teams. Not to say Ray’s peak was on the same level as KG’s, but I think a lot of newer fans see them both for what they were on those teams.
I feel like the main reason why KG's peak is often glossed over is the fact that the Timberwolves front office pretty much screwed any attempts of of having a contender team surrounding KG. They were caught in a drafting scandal that pretty much limited the caliber of players they can sign during KG's entire tenure and pretty much his prime with Minnesota. If KG was surrounded by actual good players, he might have won a championship with rhat team.
I think the reason his peak was passed over was that he was a defensive player who couldn’t stop Shaq, my main complaint with that was no one could stop expecting him to.
@@isaiahwilliams2332 from what I remember it wasn’t a drafting scandal, it was a contract scandal. I forget who, but they signed him as a free agent to a small deal, when he was expected to get a much larger deal. That contract came with the under the table promise that they’d give him a large contract the year after. I believe the wolves signed him to another 1 year deal for 2 mil or something the year after, and the NBA investigated, found out about the under the table deal, and took a bunch of picks from the Wolves. I obviously don’t remember much so I’m just giving you the basic outline😭, but hope it helps
In a career spanning 20 years Kevin Garnett only had 7 playoff games that he ever scored over 30 points. This is the real reason he rarely won in the post season. KG offensive game was average for a supposed superstar player. Simply put…..he didn’t score enough points.
Kg is in my opinion the third best defender of all time, and that with him being (in my opinion) in the wrong era. He was built to be a defender in this day and age where his incredible communication, off ball defense, and 1-5 switch ability would be best utilized. Thinking Basketball has a great video on just how monstrous he was on defense.
@@sheyarjames4904that’s actually scary asf😭😭 he’d definitely have the 3 ball too.. im hoping evan mobley can turn into something like that, but KGs mentality will never be replicated
KG is a top 4. He could play the 5 today, but he was too lanky to start ar Center in his prime. I think he was better at his peak than Giannis is now. He, along with Chris Webber changed the game as power forwards who had a "bag" where they could cross, hesi, tween tween and break your ankles.
I just rewatched that Sacramento game recently, given how it's the off season haha KG is my all-time favorite player, and as 14 yo high schooler in 04, i can remember how i dealt with my first (and hardest) sports heartbreak when the Twolves lost in the WCF against the Shaq-Kobe-Malone-Payton Lakers -- unaware that that run would've been the furthest KG would have had in Minny. Thinking Basketball also has a video on KG's peak as one of the greatest. Subbed and thanking the yt algo for sending this my way!
Even though he's not the greatest Celtic pf all time; that would be McHale. I consider him the greatest pf to play for that franchise. Just like even though Kawhi is not the greatest Raptor all time, he's the greatest to play for them prime wise.
My Elementary school had a full size cutout of KG in the lunch room circa 1998-99. Every day I would grab my milk and shitty school lunch in absolute awe at the size of that thing...
I was a huge KG fan in his Timberwolves days. Not a Minnesota fan, but always kept an eye of them because of him. He always kept them a playoff team, they just never had enough to make a real post season push.
KG was a freaking beast. His ability and impact on the defensive end was ridiculous, like legit all time. And on the offensive side of things? Dude was multifaceted and could get u buckets at a really great efficiency. Def one of those "love him on ur team, hate him when hes on the opposing team" type of player, but he was also a leader. Genuinely one of those guys where u can legit question how much he couldve/wouldve achieved had he had the same level of support as his compatriots all those years.
Talent wise Kg is the best PF of all time. Fact is that He was relying on the jumper way too much and was not using left hand,spins in the post almost at all. Wolves back then had a slow paced spirit when it comes to the half court offense and you could fell asleep watching them like that. Garnett had a great game vs Lakers in his last season in Minneapolis and in this game he played like he supposed to but other than that,his talent was not used properly,by him,coaches,the organization-you name it.
People still trying to raise KG's career long after he isn't in the league anymore, just like KG himself is trying to raise the Boston team from one title to a dynasty by talking.
77-78 David Thompson 1+ blocks and 5 rebounds from a SG? Not talked about in most all time great conversations because of duration but he had some amazing single seasons.
Aaa yea my favourite nbaer of all time . This guy and pierce mademe an nba fan in 2008 . After that i have watched an unhealthy amount of hours of kg highlights and stats . He was a gem of a player
It isnt, maybe be casuals, but i consistently hear people say that Kg doesnt just have a top 10 peek, but a better peek than tim Duncan and kobe. Thats not underrated, at least to me
As a kid growing up around there having him show up in Minnesota made being a Timberwolves fan a lot more fun but also really frustrating watching them never put enough decent players around him.
@@brandonhagin3 game sample size. KG still averaged 24/19/5 while triple teamed cuz he plays with plumbers. By your logic, Jason Terry is better than Lebron all time? Head to head stats across 40 games, KG clears Dirk overall tho
@@kingdinodragonite3470 bro dirk swept him in the f playoffs you idiot had nothing to do with he's teammates dirk killed him 33 points 16 boards 3 block 3 steals with great shooting way better than brick machine kg stop being bias do kg have a finals mvp how about a unstoppable shot, plus 30 k plus lead two teams to the championship as the main guy kg has never done none of that
In Serbia we pronounce Divac with that c kind of like a c in city but more hard. It's pretty hard to explain. If you heard of Vasilije Micic than the same way you say the first c.
I agree, but it’s also why I think Kareem is underrated (peaking in a trash team he was good enough to drag into contention) and why it confuses my Jacob is always dissing Kareem.
The reason why Kareem doesn’t stand out as much to him is because he argues that the era Kareem dominated wasn’t very good (in general the 70’s is not looked back at very fondly admittedly). He also argues that the MVP Kareem won where he missed the playoffs shouldn’t have gone to him. Not to put words in his mouth, but I’m pretty sure he’d say those two things.
@@fortynights1513 I've heard both of those views before, and I think they're both a bit short-sighted. Kareem was still *the* dominant force in the league after the ABA merger, so it's not like he didn't prove he was excellent at the time. There's also the fact that you can't simply say an era was weak, as it's kind of a self-defeating argument. If it's so easy to be that dominant, then how come no one else was able to to do it? Kareem was the absolute #1 in his College days, which is about as even as you can get in terms of competitive balance, and was still elite in the mid-80s. The idea that MVPs shouldn't go to players who miss the playoffs is a flaw with the award even today, not something that should be held against him. For instance: is anyone *really* gonna argue that Garnett was only at an MVP level the years the Timberwolves were high in the standings? The point of this exact video is that he was elite most of his career.
KG was in Boston for 5 years. He played 14 seasons. Thinking of him as a Celtic is pretty weird in my eyes. KG was a machine in MN in the early 2000s. Fans need to stop this ignorant thinking that the NBA started when a specific fan started watching it. Or not factoring in rules, pace, possessions, defense, and average ppg when comparing eras. This idea that 50-75 threes being jacked up in today's game is somehow peak basketball is flat out ignorant. When are fans going to figure out that it's much easier to score now vs 10-20-30 yrs ago? Shooting 1-2 threes a game vs shooting 8-10, pace of play and spacing, rule changes, and no defense. Go look at the average ppg of teams in the 2000s vs now. Look at pace and possessions in the 2000s vs now. When you factor in the differences in how the game is played you should, as an example, easily see Lebron averaging 30 ppg in 2022 is the same as Jordan averaging 20 ppg in 2003. They were both scoring 25% of their team points in those seasons. But the average fan seems incapable of understanding basketball these days.
My favorite question to identify a casual instantly is if they think KG does not have a top 10 peak all time ( I have KG's peak as top 5 all time but advanced stats say he is top 3 but Im gonna get clowned for it even tho numbers do not lie). Fun fact: In 2003, the Wolves are -15 without him (on pace to a 9-73 record). With him? They are a +19. He is the main reason that atrocious team in 2003 still won 51 games! Kobe and Shaq TOGETHER only won 50 games. That's how good he is.
Yes, honestly I find his entire career is underrated. He’s 9th on my top 10 players and I keep being told I’m an idiot for that. Tim Duncan’s and Garnett’s career’s are so similar the only difference being Tim Duncan had so much help (I have Tim Duncan 8th). I also have his defence as the 3rd best of all time (Bill Russell, Hakeem, Garnett, Duncan if I have to have a 5th it would be Wilt Chamberlin who has a very overrated offensive but an underrated defence).
Wilt Chamberlain was not overrated offensively. He took would've won significantly more had he not played against the Celtics so many times. His defense is arguably the most underrated all-time, specifically because his offense was so insane.
How people who weren’t around at the time have managed to revise history to make it seem like Dirk is better than KG baffles me. Prime KG was in competition with Duncan for best PF. That’s it. Got the biggest basketball contract in history at the time for a reason. He was the REAL DEAL.
Nice to see someone else mention KGs peak since most people do remember him while in Boston and he wasn't even half the player he was in Minnesota...His best player throughout his prime was Wally Swerbiak who is more suited as a 6th man not your teams secondary star...KG wanted to compete, he played defense, he put up points, had insane court vision he was the complete package he just never had a team around him...Cassell and Spree are ok but just think KG was so dominate that having slightly above average starters was considered "help"...What a waste of a talent he was better than Tim Duncan in their peaks obv not career due to situation but when i used to see KG move David Robinson while posting up you can see how strong KG was he was wire strong...Mind blowing that someone would have Dirk above KG those are mainly the people who never seen Minnesota KG cause ain't no way any GM was taking Dirk over KG NOT ONE.
It's videos like these that make me so sad Flip Saunders died. KG probably owns the Timberwolves these days if Flip was around to keep him and Glenn Taylor on speaking terms.
Biggest thing that hurt his time in Minnesota is they lost 7 years worth of draft picks in the Joe Smith fiasco. That killed the roster. The team selfishly held onto him because he was all they had but either he should have forced a trade sooner or they should have got him out of there a few years sooner .
KG could have won more MVP, DPOY and Championships if he had played with another Superstar or more. He could have easily joined the Lakers or Build a big 3 anywhere and win right away. That's how crazy good was Kevin Garnett. He will always be in my top five NBA all time great. Jordan and Garnett with Kobe and Mcgrady or Giannis Antetokounmpo and Hakeem Olajuwon.
I think KG’s seasons In Minnesota get overlooked because of his lack of overall success there. He was in a ridiculous western conference and he often got overshadowed by the players and teams that were winning all the time ( lakers, spurs). People forget that he was runner up in MVP voting to both Shaq and Duncan and was even a DPOY runner up all before his own MVP season. Winning is what gets noticed the most and unfortunately that doesn’t always speak to the talent of an individual player or how good they really are. It takes a real to win.
He cared about winning every game and that is what made me a fan since The TV wolves were so bad an KG got screwed out of some prime years with the tampering . I am from Wisconsin so The Bucks are my team and so to later on have Ray Allen and KG on the same team was I started watching Basketball more then Football. KG was the first "big man" that could and would do things a SG would do that I remember , I am sure there were others but yeah.
Yoo good ish my man he really is jus as good as Duncan and is more skilled better shooter, ball handler , playmaker, and little better at defending on the perimeter
The debate of Dirk vs KG for me is one of the most confusing debate im basketball: KG: better two way player, clearly better defender, been the best player in the world, and have terrible team in his peak, slightly better head to head stats, leadong the USA to 2000 olympic gold, have MVP caliber season in 2003 and have MVP stats 2005, robbed finals MVP, bad and choke specialist coaches but while, Dirk: destroyed KG in the 2002 playoff, has better head to head record, most valuable championship ever, while KG has the most overated chanpionship, playoff MVP, better in advanced analytic stats, better offensive player, top 8 scorer, have peak that he could should have won 3 straight MVP (over Nash and Shaq in 2005 and over Kobe, Lebron and Nash in 2006) and international success as the best player in 2002 fiba world cup, also not have elite chanpionship contender supporting cast, only play with 2 all star during his prime, while lead Dallas to almost 10 50+ seasons and 2 finals.
