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NBA, Player News / Analysis, Al Jefferson

TWolves-Celtics: How Does the Kevin Garnett Trade Look Now?

2/8/08 in NBA   |   CriticalFanatic   |   respect



Tonight was supposed to be Kevin Garnett's emotional return to the court in Minnesota. Instead, KG will be mentioned briefly before the game from Boston's bench before retreating to his special place to watch the game.

In response to this disappointing news, the Timberwolves ticket office will be giving all fans in attendance a free voucher to be used at another Minnesota home game (having a hard time selling tickets, aren't they?).

I assume the majority of T-Wolves fans will give KG a standing ovation, but he lost a few fans with his over the top chest pounding after Boston beat the team with the worst record in the Association at the time.

The general reaction has been that the Garnett to Boston trade should be listed among the worst of all-time. Not so fast my friends.

It's clearly worked out for the Celtics as they'll head into All-Star break with the best record in the league. On Kevin McHale's end, judgement won't come for 2-3 more years. But even at this stage, I'm willing to say the Timberwolves will not come out on the losing side.

How's that? Al.Jefferson.

Stats are never the best basis for evaluation, but at least consider these numbers.

Kevin Garnett - 19.2 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 3.8 apg and 1.4 bpg (55% FG)

Al Jefferson - 21.5 ppg, 12.3 rpg - Garnered All-Star consideration
Ryan Gomes - 11.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg,
Gerald Green - 5.0 ppg
Sebastian Telfair - 9.5 ppg, 6.0 apg
Theo Ratliff 8.6 ppg, 2.83 bpg

If you're going to trade away one of the game's best players, that's not an awful return. Next year, Jefferson will begin a very long streak of All-Star games and become the core of a team that in 2 years will be back in the playoffs. Considering that was even rare when Kevin Garnett was on the roster, this trade remains a win for both teams. Too often we evaluate these transactions after just one season. Dare I say ... nice work, McHale.

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2/8/08   |   kantwistaye   |   3954 respect

As long as Boston doesn't win the title this year, I think Minnesota won this trade.  Jefferson is putting up better numbers than KG this year (on a much worse team though) and will only get better, and Gomes is an ideal role player.  I still don't get why Minnesota declined Gerald Green's option though.  High school players take a while longer to develop and if you can keep him on a year longer for cheap, why wouldn't you?