Kevin Garnett Has Returned from Timberwolves' Past to Shape Franchise's Future
A future this bright feels like a dream for the Minnesota Timberwolves, and it's up to Kevin Garnett to ensure it becomes a reality.
Times have been tough lately for a franchise whose short history features an inordinate number of long years. There were botched drafts, free-agent signings gone bad and Garnett's would-be heir, Kevin Love, leaving the team after a brief period of relative prosperity. There were plenty of mistakes during Garnett's tenure, but his presence always helped mask them.
When he left, the Timberwolves' gaffes lost their superstar elixir.
Garnett won a championship with the Boston Celtics upon his 2007 exit, so the mutual decision to split worked out better for one side than the other. The Timberwolves did him a favor by letting him go, and now KG is back to return it.
At 39, he's far from the dominant two-way superstar he once was. But Garnett's 20 years of experience and still-unquenchable competitive fire make him invaluable to a team that needs to get this rebuild right.
Talent on Deck
The two most important pillars of Minnesota's rebuild are Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns, the top overall picks in the last two drafts. Wiggins hauled in last season's Rookie of the Year Award, becoming just the fourth player in league history to score at least 1,300 points in his age-19 season. The other three: Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James and Kevin Durant, according to Basketball-Reference.com.
And Wiggins' effective field-goal percentage of 45.4 percent topped all three of those future Hall of Famers' accuracy rates.
Towns, who won't turn 20 until the first month of the season, should get every opportunity to follow suit with an award-winning effort of his own. The Kentucky product was born, by the way, two weeks after Garnett made his NBA debut.
He did not exist when this happened:
Towns isn't the supreme athlete or position-blurring talent a young Garnett was, but his broad skill set is similarly versatile. If he follows KG's lead in the intensity department, it may be Towns (and not Wiggins) who serves as the real bridge from past to future.
The big man performed well in summer league, posting averages of 12.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.8 blocks through his first five summer league games.
Minnesota's two youthful cornerstones aren't alone. They're surrounded by a bevy of budding skill.
Garnett will preside over Zach LaVine, Shabazz Muhammad, Gorgui Dieng and Adreian Payne, all of whom are 25 or younger.
Don't forget point guard Ricky Rubio, still just 24 years old after logging four seasons in the league. Behind him is 19-year-old national champion Tyus Jones from Duke.
Superstars in waiting, a half-dozen rotation-quality talents with high ceilings, a passing savant—if ever there were a collection of promising talent in need of guidance, this is it.
The Impressionable Youth
Garnett's return to the T-Wolves last year was somewhat ceremonial. It was a feel-good story, a goose-bump inducer for anyone who saw the Target Center erupt in welcoming back the guy who built it.
Waves of applause and good vibes aside, Garnett made a tangible impact on Minnesota's young players last season—even though a knee injury kept him off the court for all but five games.
Wiggins' numbers trended up in the final three months of the season, coinciding with Garnett's arrival at the deadline.
Stats aside, firsthand observers noticed there was something different about his intensity level as well.
"Once the trade happened, Wiggins did seem to be shot out of a cannon for defensive rebounds and loose balls," Andy Greder of the St. Paul Pioneer Press told Bleacher Report. "It seemed to me that he was trying to make a good first impression on the greatest Timberwolf of all time."
Minnesota's star on the wing wasn't the only one affected by Garnett's presence.
"Talking to guys like LaVine, Payne, etc., they came across as genuine when it came to KG's locker room impact," Darren Wolfson of ESPN 1500 in Minneapolis told B/R. "That his mere presence alone, a Hall of Famer, can automatically elevate your play. Then you put on top of that his personality, and I can see how guys gravitated toward him."
Towns hasn't had many opportunities yet, but based on what he told Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated, he'll lean on Garnett as a resource, too: "When you have a legend on your team, it makes all the difference. It allows me to get experience I couldn't get from anyone but him. I'm picking his brain and educating myself."
Critical as he is to the project of turning things around in Minnesota, Garnett isn't the only force at work. The Timberwolves recently opened a sparkling new practice facility in June that prompted NBA commissioner Adam Silver to tell reporters: "I've never seen anything like this. ...These are how championships are built."
New facility. New talent. New era.
Old leader.
Next Steps
This is not a farewell tour for Garnett. It's part of a transition that will utilize his on-court and locker room value before he shifts into another, perhaps even more influential role.
Minnesota can use the time it has left with Garnett (he signed a two-year deal in July) to instill his intensity, focus and drive into the franchise's culture.
He can use these next two years to become the organizational conscience. That way, long after he's done shouting for real, Garnett's voice will echo in the heads of the next generation.
For these young Timberwolves groomed under KG, there will be no room for half-stepping, no such thing as off days.
Garnett is psyched for his new role, according to what head coach and team president Flip Saunders told reporters: "The last time I saw him this excited entering into a summertime was when we had the ability to get Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell back in (2003). He's very committed."
How committed?
Committed enough that both Greder and Wolfson mentioned Garnett's taking on an ownership role after he's done playing—which KG discussed in 2014 and Silver echoed in June, via Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune: "We love to see former players coming into ownership, and I would welcome, with open arms, Kevin Garnett becoming an owner one day as well."
If everything goes according to plan, when players like Wiggins and Towns hear the echoes of Garnett's voice years down the line, they may not just be memories of the past.
They may be coming from the owner's box.
Back to the Future
Garnett returns to the NBA home from his past at the perfect time to ensure the success of its future. The team he joins now has more young talent than any roster in franchise history.
"I can't wait to build something special with this group of guys," Garnett said in an official statement. "Hopefully, I can help, teach and also continue to grow and learn from the young guys. It should be great. I'm looking forward to it all. The process to greatness starts now!"
That last part's actually not true.
The process started in 1995, when Garnett showed up the first time, and it's been on hiatus for a while.
His return means it's time to resume that process in earnest.
Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise indicated.
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