Props for K.G.

Underappreciated Garnett just needs some playoff success

The "proper" ending to Sunday's All-Star Game, I suppose, would've been for the MVP award to have gone to Michael Jordan, which is probably what would've happened had Jermaine O'Neal and referee Ted Bernhard not engaged in the conspiracy of stupidity that sent the contest into a second overtime. (How can both of them be wrong, you might ask? Well, they were. O'Neal should not have taken even the slightest chance that he was going to foul Kobe Bryant on a desperation fling from the corner and Bernhard should've swallowed the whistle because the body foul, however brainless, was not that egregious.) But if Jordan didn't win the honor, then I'm glad it went to Minnesota's Kevin Garnett, who is, in my opinion, the most underappreciated player in the game right now.

Then again, perhaps Garnett's trophy will turn out to be a bad thing for him. If his Timberwolves fail to advance far in this year's playoffs (even their postseason participation is not a sure thing in the brutal Western Conference), I can almost hear the comments already. Sure, he's good enough to be MVP in an exhibition game, but when it really matters he disappears. This is the burden Garnett carries because, alas, in his seven NBA seasons, the T'wolves have won only five of 18 playoff games and have yet to advance beyond the first round.

The argument can be made -- should be made -- that the franchise wouldn't have gotten within sniffing distance of the playoffs without Garnett. In the six seasons that preceded his arrival, Minnesota was 126-366, a winning percentage of .256. The playoffs were but a distant dream. Garnett joined the club in 1995-96 and it took one season for him to become the centerpiece of the franchise; since then, the Timberwolves have gone 257-203 (.558) and made the playoffs every year.

But it has become standard operating procedure in the NBA to judge a player's ultimate worth by how far he is able to take his team in May and June. I don't know whether that concept originated with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, but they are the principal reasons it exists. The notion became official when Jordan won his first title in 1991; it was almost anticlimactic to his greatness when he won five more in two three-peat cycles.

Now, putting Garnett in the Jordan-Magic-Bird company is a leap -- putting almost anyone there is a leap -- but Garnett already belongs on the next tier of forwards, along with (in no particular order): Elgin Baylor, Bob Pettit, Rick Barry, John Havlicek, Bob McAdoo, Elvin Hayes, Julius Erving, James Worthy, Charles Barkley, Dominique Wilkins and three active players, Scottie Pippen, Karl Malone and Tim Duncan. As usual, Garnett is among the leaders in virtually every category on the stat sheet (he and Orlando's Tracy McGrady are the only players leading their team in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals and blocked shots), and I think his all-around game puts him ahead of other frontcourt worthies such as Spencer Haywood, Adrian Dantley, Mark Aguirre, Terry Cummings, Alex English, Bernard King and George McGinnis.

Still, people keep finding fault with K.G. One Western Conference coach said his game is filled with "empty numbers." Pippen (more of a swingman than a true forward, but then, in a way, so is Garnett) says Garnett's numbers are "not measuring to enough wins," and that "he has to take his game to a Magic [Johnson] level." During Minnesota's three-and-out playoff series against Dallas last season, everyone from Barkley to Kenny Smith to ... me ... found fault with Garnett, or at least questioned why his versatility does not translate to playoff victories for his team. See, it's an easy question to raise, but a difficult one to answer. Perhaps Garnett should, as Pippen has suggested, move to shooting guard, though in that case his rebounding numbers would go down and he'd be criticized for that. (And it's not his decision anyway.)

The point is: Fair or not, Garnett won't get his due unless the T'wolves make noise in the playoffs sometime soon. Of the above list of forwards I rank with Garnett, his career is most like Wilkins', who in 15 high-flying seasons played in only 56 playoff games and got only as far as the Eastern semifinals. Was that held against 'Nique? Absolutely. Baylor, sadly, never won a championship with the Lakers, but he sure as heck got close to one, having played in eight Finals and 134 playoff games. Pettit, like his Laker foe, ran up against the Boston Celtics at the height of their dynasty, but the St. Louis Hawks immortal still won one title and played in three NBA Finals. Havlicek won six championships. With the Lakers, Worthy won three as a main player and McAdoo won two as a semi-main player. Barry and Erving each won one. Barkley got his time in the spotlight in a memorable '93 Finals appearance with Phoenix, and Malone made it to the championship series twice with Utah -- Jordan's Bulls having kept both Barkley and Malone from the ultimate prize. Pippen won six rings with Chicago (if memory serves, he had some help with that), while Duncan already has one, and time to win more. But Garnett, like Wilkins, hasn't been close.

One of the most interesting questions in the NBA right now is this: Given the consensus four All-NBA starters right now -- Shaquille O'Neal at center, Duncan at forward, and Bryant and McGrady in the backcourt -- who would you put at the fifth spot? Sacramento's Chris Webber, Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki or Garnett? I'm guessing that from November to April, when K.G. is filling up a stat sheet the way Springsteen fills up an arena, most would choose Garnett. But as the playoffs go on, and Sacramento and Dallas advance and Minnesota goes home, Garnett will be criticized and then forgotten. I just hope that sometime soon his all-around act is still playing far into the spring, and his true worth can be more clearly appreciated.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Jack McCallum covers the NBA for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com. Click here to send a question to his Mailbag.

 

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