This Giannis is better than any version of Garnett I've ever seen. And KG Living Legend is the name.
I’d still take Prime KG over Giannis. In the 2001-2002 Playoffs Garnett averaged 24ppg, 18.7reb, 5ast and was the best defensive player in the NBA. Playoffs the following year He averaged 27ppg, 15.7reb, 5.2ast. KG played against much better competition, the game was more physical than it is today and guys were actually allowed to play defense. Who was the best player that KG had to play with in Minnesota, Wally Szczerbiak? He never had a Kris Middleton or Jrue Holiday caliber teammate while he was there.
KG is the most talented PF of all time. Too bad he wasted so much of his career with the Timberwolves.
In 2001-2002, Minnesota played 3 playoff games getting swept in the 1st round by the Mavericks. That Minnesota team had Chauncey Billups and Wally Szczerbiak, who collectively had 8 All Star Appearances and Billups also had 3 All NBA Team appearances. That Wolves team also had former #1 overall pick Joe Smith coming off the bench, Rasho Nesterovic (who started at center for a NBA champion), Anthony Peeler, Gary Trent, and Sam Mitchell. And the reason the Wolves got swept was because KG couldn't stop Dirk, who went off for 33.3 ppg and 15.7 rpg with 3 spg while shooting a mind boggling 72.7% from 3 and 52.6% from the field.
For the record, Middleton and Holiday have 3 All Star games and 0 All NBA Team appearances (Lopez also has appeared in 1 all star game). The reality is the Bucks supporting cast has always failed Giannis. Even this year, Giannis had so much of the work load, because his #2 guy just isn't consistently good enough (Middleton obviously can have games where he looks like the best player in the world, they are just few and far between). Giannis basically had to be prime-Shaq for the Bucks to win, and he was, which makes it all the more impressive.
KG's teammates were always better than people realized, the real problem those Wolves had is KG wasn't a true #1 scoring option. He was always much better served as a secondary or tertiary offensive player. It is why his only real success in Minnesota is when he had Spreewell and why he worked so well with Pierce and Allen. KG needed someone else to be the offensive engine. Those guys weren't as good overall as KG, but he just couldn't handle that load.