What is with all the KG hatred?

[housecall]

Since when did professional basketball become a gentleman's sport.This is not cricket,sailing,tennis or golf.I never heard anyone complaing when Mchale clotheslined K.Rambis but K.Kurt Rambis but i don't feel Kevin McHale's legacy has been tarnished from it.There are other instances by star players in the past were ok then but by today's standards are looked on as dirty plays because the league has been watered down a lot over the years.
KG plays like he was taught to play in the 90's.If he wasn't  a little edgy on the court he probably wouldn't have survived in the league.The league is changing yrly and KG isn't.

I agree with this and imagine what it must have been like for KG when he was the 1st player in quite some time to come right out of high school. Some of the bios on him like 'Beyond the Glory' go into it a bit. If he had acted in the way some players are acting today when KG is apparently 'mean' to them he would have been laughed right out of the league.

Exactly,imagine KG making the kind of outcry to the public the way J.Noah made thru the media he would've gotten beaten down in every NBA city the Wolves played.Remember he weighed probably 30pds less than what he weighs now.Even though some people are complaining about him now but when he retires they will be the first to say in a down season,man we could use a player like KG.Im sure if Alvin Gentry or any other team that don't have a decent pf wouldn't make him a role player(bench)if he were on their team.

[shookones99]

If you are expecting sports figures to be good sports, examples of behavior, or saintly   you will most always be disappointed.  They all have some questionable facets to their own lives to deal with, and have done things that others wouldn't find exemplary.  

Danny Ainge was a scrapper who once bit Tree Rollins finger.  Kevin McHale clothes-lined Kurt Rambis.  Larry Bird, himself, was one of the biggest trash talkers ever...and in his personal life he left his wife  and daughter, refusing to have anything to do with them.  These are our "heroes"...and Kevin Garnett is the same...a flawed man.  

So are the opponents.  I do not believe for a minute that KG is that much worse than most of his opponents.  Is Dwight Howard really so obtuse that he thinks his elbows are not "offensive" weapons?  Does LBJ really believe the things that come out of his mouth?  I know when I have gotten away with something, so don't tell me they don't know when they have (I often see a player laugh when he knows that a ref has called a foul the wrong way and that he has gotten away with something).

All we really know about these guys is that their teams love them (or use them) and vice versa; that we love the game of basketball (and our chosen team) and the excitement that they bring to it. I love the good "team" play that the Celtics have developed because of the particular players that we have...and Kevin Garnett is a huge part of that.





  

Agree with all of this.  TP

[Eja117]

I just have to say that I am sick of all the negative comments and the negative image that Garnett has been getting lately. I don’t think the problem is KG at all, he may talk trash and give some nudges here and there but so what? I think this hatred on KG is another example of how this country is being populated by wussies and men that act like females. So what if he swears up and down the court and is physical, man up and take it, where is the thick skin? He hasn’t tried to rape anyone (Bryant, Roethlisberger) hasn’t hit his wife (Wade) never was accused of murder (Lewis) didn’t run a dog fighting ring (Vick) and he isn’t a egocentric tool that totally slapped a city in the face (James) yet most of those guys have a better image then Garnett. I just don’t get it people like Noah and Frye and whoever else cant take his foul mouth really needs to grow a pair…..

That's an awesome first post, but I totally don't buy it.

1.  There is a difference between a tough guy and a reckless/dangerous guy.  Perk is tough. KG gets accused of recklessness. It's all fun and games till KG decides to smash a defenseless dude who gets a concussion or worse and can't play.  I know I know. McHale.  The diff is that in McHale's era he knew he was risking having it done to him. KG knows he's not for the most part.  And McHale would do it in retaliation or to make a point. KG is the kind of guy that might do it because you served him tuna fish or something and then people say "Oh he's so intense".   McHale was a fighter. KG is earning a rep as a bully. There's a difference.

2. I can only take it so seriously when for all his intensity I keep coming to the conclusion "He'd last two weeks in the 80s"

3. This whole "There are worse guys than him" thing is absurd. I am so tired of that. You know what? There were worse guys than Hitler. Maybe people just need to man up and deal with Hitler. People are just jealous of how much success this guy had. People have been really unfair to his rep.

4. KG comes off as trashy. Admit it. Maybe he didn't say 'You look like a cancer patient" but you and I know it's within the spectrum of his behavior. And then you have to ask what else he has said that you haven't heard. What is the big difference between that and using racial slurs against Yao or Kevin Love?  If I turn on the TV tomorrow and hear about something totally totally inappropriate the first thing I'm thinking is "Please don't be KG".  I shouldn't have think that way.

5. I'm not even buying this intensity stuff.  TimTebow is intense. Doug Flutie is intense. Just because KG likes to scream after a routine play or slap some powder in the air doesn't make him intense. I didn't like it when he was with the T Wolves. I have mixed feelings about it now. You won't hear about Tebow telling anyone he's a cancer patient.

6. People need to stop with the revisionism about former trash talkers. Yes. Bird was a great trash talker. Totally different. Just last week Jackie McMullen said "Bird was like this. He'd walk up to you in warm ups and say. "I'm going to drop 40 on you tonight. Not only that but in the third quarter I'm going to get the ball in the right corner, pump fake it on you, you will bite, then I will drive you baseline, get to the basket where I'll pump again, you'll bite again, then I will go up and under on the other side, turn around and wink at you" and then he'd do it.  He wouldn't say absurd things about you or your circumstances. KG could never do that and wouldn't even think to.

[BballTim]

If you are expecting sports figures to be good sports, examples of behavior, or saintly   you will most always be disappointed.  They all have some questionable facets to their own lives to deal with, and have done things that others wouldn't find exemplary.  

Danny Ainge was a scrapper who once bit Tree Rollins finger.  Kevin McHale clothes-lined Kurt Rambis.  Larry Bird, himself, was one of the biggest trash talkers ever...and in his personal life he left his wife  and daughter, refusing to have anything to do with them.  These are our "heroes"...and Kevin Garnett is the same...a flawed man.  

So are the opponents.  I do not believe for a minute that KG is that much worse than most of his opponents.  Is Dwight Howard really so obtuse that he thinks his elbows are not "offensive" weapons?  Does LBJ really believe the things that come out of his mouth?  I know when I have gotten away with something, so don't tell me they don't know when they have (I often see a player laugh when he knows that a ref has called a foul the wrong way and that he has gotten away with something).

All we really know about these guys is that their teams love them (or use them) and vice versa; that we love the game of basketball (and our chosen team) and the excitement that they bring to it. I love the good "team" play that the Celtics have developed because of the particular players that we have...and Kevin Garnett is a huge part of that.





  

Agree with all of this.  TP

  Can't agree with the "Ainge bit Tree Rollins" part...

[NoraG1]

I just have to say that I am sick of all the negative comments and the negative image that Garnett has been getting lately. I don’t think the problem is KG at all, he may talk trash and give some nudges here and there but so what? I think this hatred on KG is another example of how this country is being populated by wussies and men that act like females. So what if he swears up and down the court and is physical, man up and take it, where is the thick skin? He hasn’t tried to rape anyone (Bryant, Roethlisberger) hasn’t hit his wife (Wade) never was accused of murder (Lewis) didn’t run a dog fighting ring (Vick) and he isn’t a egocentric tool that totally slapped a city in the face (James) yet most of those guys have a better image then Garnett. I just don’t get it people like Noah and Frye and whoever else cant take his foul mouth really needs to grow a pair…..

That's an awesome first post, but I totally don't buy it.

1.  There is a difference between a tough guy and a reckless/dangerous guy.  Perk is tough. KG gets accused of recklessness. It's all fun and games till KG decides to smash a defenseless dude who gets a concussion or worse and can't play.  I know I know. McHale.  The diff is that in McHale's era he knew he was risking having it done to him. KG knows he's not for the most part.  And McHale would do it in retaliation or to make a point. KG is the kind of guy that might do it because you served him tuna fish or something and then people say "Oh he's so intense".   McHale was a fighter. KG is earning a rep as a bully. There's a difference.

2. I can only take it so seriously when for all his intensity I keep coming to the conclusion "He'd last two weeks in the 80s"

3. This whole "There are worse guys than him" thing is absurd. I am so tired of that. You know what? There were worse guys than Hitler. Maybe people just need to man up and deal with Hitler. People are just jealous of how much success this guy had. People have been really unfair to his rep.

4. KG comes off as trashy. Admit it. Maybe he didn't say 'You look like a cancer patient" but you and I know it's within the spectrum of his behavior. And then you have to ask what else he has said that you haven't heard. What is the big difference between that and using racial slurs against Yao or Kevin Love?  If I turn on the TV tomorrow and hear about something totally totally inappropriate the first thing I'm thinking is "Please don't be KG".  I shouldn't have think that way.

5. I'm not even buying this intensity stuff.  TimTebow is intense. Doug Flutie is intense. Just because KG likes to scream after a routine play or slap some powder in the air doesn't make him intense. I didn't like it when he was with the T Wolves. I have mixed feelings about it now. You won't hear about Tebow telling anyone he's a cancer patient.

6. People need to stop with the revisionism about former trash talkers. Yes. Bird was a great trash talker. Totally different. Just last week Jackie McMullen said "Bird was like this. He'd walk up to you in warm ups and say. "I'm going to drop 40 on you tonight. Not only that but in the third quarter I'm going to get the ball in the right corner, pump fake it on you, you will bite, then I will drive you baseline, get to the basket where I'll pump again, you'll bite again, then I will go up and under on the other side, turn around and wink at you" and then he'd do it.  He wouldn't say absurd things about you or your circumstances. KG could never do that and wouldn't even think to.

People need to stop with the overreaction. Some people act as if everything he does is a federal crime. Kg is not the only one who needs to 'tone it down sometimes' 

[Eja117]

I just have to say that I am sick of all the negative comments and the negative image that Garnett has been getting lately. I don’t think the problem is KG at all, he may talk trash and give some nudges here and there but so what? I think this hatred on KG is another example of how this country is being populated by wussies and men that act like females. So what if he swears up and down the court and is physical, man up and take it, where is the thick skin? He hasn’t tried to rape anyone (Bryant, Roethlisberger) hasn’t hit his wife (Wade) never was accused of murder (Lewis) didn’t run a dog fighting ring (Vick) and he isn’t a egocentric tool that totally slapped a city in the face (James) yet most of those guys have a better image then Garnett. I just don’t get it people like Noah and Frye and whoever else cant take his foul mouth really needs to grow a pair…..

That's an awesome first post, but I totally don't buy it.

1.  There is a difference between a tough guy and a reckless/dangerous guy.  Perk is tough. KG gets accused of recklessness. It's all fun and games till KG decides to smash a defenseless dude who gets a concussion or worse and can't play.  I know I know. McHale.  The diff is that in McHale's era he knew he was risking having it done to him. KG knows he's not for the most part.  And McHale would do it in retaliation or to make a point. KG is the kind of guy that might do it because you served him tuna fish or something and then people say "Oh he's so intense".   McHale was a fighter. KG is earning a rep as a bully. There's a difference.

2. I can only take it so seriously when for all his intensity I keep coming to the conclusion "He'd last two weeks in the 80s"

3. This whole "There are worse guys than him" thing is absurd. I am so tired of that. You know what? There were worse guys than Hitler. Maybe people just need to man up and deal with Hitler. People are just jealous of how much success this guy had. People have been really unfair to his rep.

4. KG comes off as trashy. Admit it. Maybe he didn't say 'You look like a cancer patient" but you and I know it's within the spectrum of his behavior. And then you have to ask what else he has said that you haven't heard. What is the big difference between that and using racial slurs against Yao or Kevin Love?  If I turn on the TV tomorrow and hear about something totally totally inappropriate the first thing I'm thinking is "Please don't be KG".  I shouldn't have think that way.

5. I'm not even buying this intensity stuff.  TimTebow is intense. Doug Flutie is intense. Just because KG likes to scream after a routine play or slap some powder in the air doesn't make him intense. I didn't like it when he was with the T Wolves. I have mixed feelings about it now. You won't hear about Tebow telling anyone he's a cancer patient.

6. People need to stop with the revisionism about former trash talkers. Yes. Bird was a great trash talker. Totally different. Just last week Jackie McMullen said "Bird was like this. He'd walk up to you in warm ups and say. "I'm going to drop 40 on you tonight. Not only that but in the third quarter I'm going to get the ball in the right corner, pump fake it on you, you will bite, then I will drive you baseline, get to the basket where I'll pump again, you'll bite again, then I will go up and under on the other side, turn around and wink at you" and then he'd do it.  He wouldn't say absurd things about you or your circumstances. KG could never do that and wouldn't even think to.

People need to stop with the overreaction. Some people act as if everything he does is a federal crime. Kg is not the only one who needs to 'tone it down sometimes' 

Ok fine.

Abridged version

Not really that intense.  A trashy bully who needs to stop the "I'm misunderstood act". Not comparable to guys from the past. Might get himself in trouble at the rate he's going.  Yes he's not a criminal like Rothlisburger. He's just a total jerk. Needs to grow up and people need to stop excusing him.

[Eja117]

Sometimes I don't get how KG has a reputation of intensity.  He's a 7 footer who's big go to move his whole career was a jumper. It's a little like saying Toine was intense.

[NoraG1]

I like watching athletes who actually passionate about what they do that they can't contain it all the time. It bugs me when I see athletes look like they are bored. These guys make millions I like to see the kind of drive KG has and I wish there were more like him. The guy is not perfect or flawless as none of us are (something I think some of his critics ought to think about) but I will never see him act bored on the court or take it for granted.

[Eja117]

I like watching athletes who actually passionate about what they do that they can't contain it all the time. It bugs me when I see athletes look like they are bored. These guys make millions I like to see the kind of drive KG has and I wish there were more like him. The guy is not perfect or flawless as none of us are (something I think some of his critics ought to think about) but I will never see him act bored on the court or take it for granted.

I totally agree.

Though this is another thing that gets me. Sometimes people will say "I love KG. He's so intense. He never looks bored"

Then they might go over to a different thread and say "We need Sheed"

I don't get that

[housecall]

Doesn't it all boils down to is wins by any means necessary...just the other day a famous sports reporter and several of his colleagues were discussing the Lakers winning the championship last season.They all agreed if it wasn't for Ron Artest the Lakers probably would not have won it all.I thought at that time,i remembered of several different instances during that series where Ron made some dirty plays and got away with them.He almost took Ray Allen out of the series with a hard cheap shot to his thighs.He also gave Rondo a few unnecessary hard shots that slammed him to the deck.
Not once did i remember KG pulling a dirty play that would possibly cause injury to any player on the Lakers.I can't remember KG ever making a dirty play in a playoff series since being a Celtics.
 But somehow now he's being viewed as the most violent and dirtiest player in the NBA.Ive never felt the full support for KG on this board since he joined the C's so im not shocked when people find fault with his way of approaching the game.

[NoraG1]

Sometimes I don't get how KG has a reputation of intensity.  He's a 7 footer who's big go to move his whole career was a jumper. It's a little like saying Toine was intense.

So you can only be intense if you are down low and dunking. That is absurd!

[barefacedmonk]

[NoraG1]

I like watching athletes who actually passionate about what they do that they can't contain it all the time. It bugs me when I see athletes look like they are bored. These guys make millions I like to see the kind of drive KG has and I wish there were more like him. The guy is not perfect or flawless as none of us are (something I think some of his critics ought to think about) but I will never see him act bored on the court or take it for granted.

I totally agree.

Though this is another thing that gets me. Sometimes people will say "I love KG. He's so intense. He never looks bored"

Then they might go over to a different thread and say "We need Sheed"

I don't get that

Clearly you don't get it. You would rather watch the player who is lifeless and bored I guess. To each his own. This is fine but there is nothing wrong with people liking KG for his intensity.

[Eja117]

Sometimes I don't get how KG has a reputation of intensity.  He's a 7 footer who's big go to move his whole career was a jumper. It's a little like saying Toine was intense.

So you can only be intense if you are down low and dunking. That is absurd!

No. I think of Reggie Miller as intense. I think of John Stockton as intense. I mean KG likes what he does.  He plays hard. Plays good defense.  I just think his intensity is tremendously overrated.  What's the difference between his intensity and say Tyler Hansbrough's? Tyler shoots it. Goes to the whole against bigger guys. Tries defense. Does a lot of yelling?  I just think KG's intensity is overrated and always has been

[Eja117]

I like watching athletes who actually passionate about what they do that they can't contain it all the time. It bugs me when I see athletes look like they are bored. These guys make millions I like to see the kind of drive KG has and I wish there were more like him. The guy is not perfect or flawless as none of us are (something I think some of his critics ought to think about) but I will never see him act bored on the court or take it for granted.

I totally agree.

Though this is another thing that gets me. Sometimes people will say "I love KG. He's so intense. He never looks bored"

Then they might go over to a different thread and say "We need Sheed"

I don't get that

Clearly you don't get it. You would rather watch the player who is lifeless and bored I guess. To each his own. This is fine but there is nothing wrong with people liking KG for his intensity.

No. I totally prefer KG to Sheed every day of the week.  But I prefer a winner like Duncan over an actor like KG. Wasn't Wilt Chamberlin louder than Russell?  Isn't KG a lot louder than Russell?  I can't say I'd prefer to watch them play necessarily. Just that maybe I prefer them. Maybe