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Kevin Garnett Trade: Semi-Organized Thoughts

By Ben Beecken

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There are so many layers to today’s Kevin Garnett trade that I’m not quite sure where to begin.

I’ll start by saying that if you didn’t see this coming from a mile away, and by a mile, I mean when Flip Saunders returned as the boss in Minnesota in June of 2013, then you aren’t familiar with Saunders, Glen Taylor, and the Wolves’ front office. And that’s not a good thing.

From Garnett’s own quotes regarding his interest in ownership of the Wolves to random leaks from Minnesota’s front office, it seemed clear that a reunion would happen eventually. Everyone knows that Saunders and Garnett have an outstanding relationship, and as soon as Flip named himself the head coach, it seemed almost inevitable that somehow, someway, he’d ultimately be coaching his favorite player at some point before Garnett called it quits.

In a vacuum, the addition of Garnett actually makes some sense. He’s still worthy of a rotation spot on a playoff team, even if it it’s only a 15-20 minute per game role. Garnett remains a fantastic team defender and is without question the perfect player to quarterback a defense.

The Wolves defense is atrocious, and Saunders and Rick Adelman‘s comments from a year ago about Ronny Turiaf‘s huge impact on the defensive end of the floor highlight the distinct lack of communication that Minnesota has had on defense. Garnett is an upgrade from not only that perspective, but he’s also tangibly a solid defender, even at 38 years of age.

The idea of a defensive-minded, hard-nosed leader joining a big man rotation that is short on exactly that makes sense. Garnett is not in the same stratosphere as he was the first time around in Minnesota, but he is absolutely still a viable NBA player, and will add value in the minutes he plays.

From an asset allocation standpoint, there’s no question that the Wolves messed up. It’s nothing new, and that’s probably a big part of why I can’t get too worked up about this trade. A perfect microcosm of the Wolves’ perpetual ineptitude, if you will.

Flipping a mid-first-round pick for Young was curious, although I defended the move here at DWW. The Wolves were short on power forwards, Young was a good fit with Ricky Rubio, and the Wolves thought they had a shot at being a decent team in 2014-15.

The biggest question mark for the Wolves was Young’s contract. If Young would have opted in for 2015-16, the Wolves would be on the hook for nearly $10 million. Again, in a vacuum, that’s not horrible value for a pretty good combo forward. Throw in the fact that it would have expired before the 2016 off-season (much more exciting then the upcoming 2015 off-season), and having it on the books wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world.

Nobody is really sure if the Wolves were afraid that Young would opt in as they didn’t think he was worth $10 million next season, or if they were nervous that he would opt out and leave with no compensation for Minnesota.

If Young was indeed opting out, then this trade makes a bit more sense. It makes trading the first-round pick for him over the off-season even worse, but it makes the Garnett trade more palatable. (AP’s Jon Krawczynski went on KFAN in the Twin Cities and apparently mentioned that the Wolves a) expected Young to opt-out, and b) his trade market wasn’t very good league-wide because of the uncertainty of next year.)

Also, this could be good or bad, as terms are vital to that verdict:

A 39-40-year old Garnett is probably worth something like $3 million per year, but certainly no more than that. A two-year, $6-7 million is probably something I could stomach, but anything north of that is scary.

And because the sentimental side of things simply cannot be ignored, let’s just say that I grew up when Garnett was in his prime, and I vividly remember the run to the 2004 Western Conference Finals. Garnett was why I became a basketball fan, an NBA fan, and a Wolves fan.

When he left, I went through a two or three year period where I was wholly apathetic about the Wolves. Watching basketball without Garnett on the floor simply wasn’t…basketball. I was devestated to see him in Celtics green.

But I was also ecstatic to see him win a championship. He deserved it. He wanted it so badly, and even though he had to go somewhere else to win, well, that was okay.

So that side of me is irrational, emotional, and completely on-board with this move. While Garnett may not play on Friday night, I simply cannot wait for the first time he’s introduced to the Target Center crowd as a Timberwolf for the first time in 7 1/2 seasons.

After all, anything is possible.

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