Kevin Garnett: Charles Oakley Hits Nail on the Head Bashing KG's Tough-Guy Act

If there's one thing that's true about sports, it's that people will always love tough guys.

Unless, of course, there's a sense that a particular tough guy isn't actually tough. Nobody likes a faker.

Case in point, Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett. He plays the part of a tough guy, but he goes so far over the top that it has to be fake. 

You don't have to take my word for it. Former NBA enforcer Charles Oakley, appearing on The Jim Rome Show on Tuesday, called out Garnett for being a weakling with delusions of grandeur. 

Via Sports Talk Network:

"

Garnett left Minnesota and hollered and screamed and all that but hes not a tough guy. He’s one of the weakest guys to ever play the game. He’s a complimentary player and went to Paul Pierce’s team and won a championship. I wouldn’t consider him a top 10 tough guy.

"

Boom, boom, boom, boom and boom. All of this is correct.

None of this should come as any real shock. Yes, Garnett does play tougher than his size and his previous reputation suggest he is. Yes, Garnett did become a complementary player when he came to Boston. Yes, it was Pierce's team, even if Garnett did take over as the Celtics' personal fire-starter. And no, Garnett is not a top-10 tough guy.

Garnett is most definitely a great player, mind you. He's one of the most versatile and productive power forwards in the history of the game, and should end up in the Hall of Fame when all is said and done. Let's give him that much credit.

But let's face it. Garnett has rubbed a lot of people the wrong way and has lost a lot of fans since shipping out to Boston in 2007. There's a method to his madness, and it serves a purpose, but it's so ridiculously obvious that none of it is real. Players know how to spot a real tough guy when they see one, and so do fans. As great a player as KG is, he acts more like a tough-guy cartoon character than an actual tough guy.

I'll be honest, the native New Englander and lifelong Celtics fan in me loves it. It's nice to know that nobody's going to mess with KG on a given night, and it's also nice to know that he will retaliate against anybody who messes with him or his teammates. Not every team in the NBA has an enforcer, and it just so happens that KG is the best there is.

However, the objective basketball fan in me knows how insufferable Garnett's antics are. He crosses too many lines too often, and it goes without saying that he's not exactly a paragon of professionalism. The league needs less players like him, not more players like him. He's good for the Celtics, but not for the NBA.

Garnett is not about to change his ways, of course. His maniacal reputation precedes him, and he has no choice but to keep it up, for both his team's sake and his own. Now that he has created the illusion, he can't show weakness.

It's all an act, but the show must go on.