Jackie Mac: "KG, a 36-year-old toothpick with bone spurs in his foot"

[alley oop]

Imagine is we were getting Tim Duncans production out of Garnett this year. Unfortunately we have the wrong 37 year old.

And "he's to ode" Charles Barkley said last year after the Spurs lost to the Thunder, that he hoped he would retire.

[mmmmm]

This whole season hinged on health. the older players staying healthy and performing. The younger players staying healthy and developing. The unhealthy players getting healthy and eventually contributing.

KG didn't stay healthy.
Rondo didn't stay healthy
Sullinger didn't stay healthy.
Bass, Terry, Lee probably underperformed
Green, Wilcox, Pierce, Bradley did what they were supposed to do.

It has been a tough year.

But KG signed a two year deal and I feel he honors it. Pierce is faltering but he stayed healthy and is still a top SF in this league. I say they return. And if they do, the C's will do what they can to add to this team for one last shot.

That probably means trades of players where we have an excess of talent, the wing area. So I expect a couple of those players and maybe Bass gone and a big that can rebound and score in the post coming back our way and the Celtics trying it again next year.

Then they clean the slate and rebuild with whatever young players they feel they want.

Good summary.

I don't expect anything but incremental roster changes until we get closer to the expiration of all the big contracts that end in 2015 (KG, Bass, Lee, Terry, etc.).   But then, the expiration (or impending expiration) of all those deals will fuel a major roster turnover of some sort.

'Might be a minor deal or two before then.

[Fafnir]

Imagine is we were getting Tim Duncans production out of Garnett this year. Unfortunately we have the wrong 37 year old.

Yes and no, KG/TD have really fluxuated depending on the year and their respective health.

That's the key old guys just aren't likely to be healthy enough to put up Tim Duncan's sort of production.

[mmmmm]

It should be noted that Jackie believed KG might retire last summer. She'll likely believe he'll retire next summer after he plays next year.

Sooner or later, she's gonna be right and he will retire.

LOL - I like Jackie, but you are probably right.

This is a standard tactic of sports talking heads.

Felger is probably the worst offender.   He picks some prediction that is bound to grate on people and keeps on saying it again and again.  Most of it becomes lost in the noise.  Once in a blue moon, one of his predictions comes true (even if only 'sorta' true) and then he spews his "Fact - not opinion" mantra.

[GreenFaith1819]

Personally, I find it Disrespectful, with a capital "D" that she would even think to utter "Toothpick" in describing Kevin Garnett.

I mean, I'm no writer by any means, but I think I can come up with a few.....suitable..substitutes:

1. MVP
2. Defensive Player of the Year
3. Defensive Anchor
4. All Time Great
5. Unselfish
6. Warrior
7. Loyal

I love the vast majority of Jackie's material, but I really wished that she would come up with a better choice of words, here.

When I saw it,I stopped reading, to be honest....and I winced.

I wonder if KG is reconsidering that offer from the Clips...I bet CP3 (or anyone else in LA for that matter), wouldn't refer to KG as a:





Toothpick.

[KGs Knee]

Boston media has a notorious history of being brutal

[GreenFaith1819]

Boston media has a notorious history of being brutal

Yeah, and tossing some players out the window, evidently.

The shame in it all is that Larry Legend was treated with a lot more respect.

Antoine Walker gave this team his heart and soul...he wasn't perfect by any means, but he was all we had for a while.

KG? Being called a toothpick by someone I'd consider one of my favorite writers?

C'mon now!

So I wonder if this is all borne out of the "Disappointments" with "This" group of players:

1. Only one championship

2. Ray bolted for MIA, but had a bit of traitor in him, IMO.

3. Perk being traded for Jeff Green

I just feel that there is an "air" of disappointed, here, with this article...it certainly doesn't say it, but I feel it.

I could be completely wrong, and I'm often are. But for me?

If BOS doesn't win another single playoff game while PP and KG suit it up in BOS, THIS game means the world to me as a Celtics Fan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAyA8BV-cTI

Had just returned from an arduous deployment when I saw this series...meant a lot to me. I made up in my mind that no matter what happened after that, I'd cherish the fact that our Celtics gave our hated rivals Lakers the most lopsided butt-whipping EVER....

This article by Jackie doesn't change anything, for me. I'll still read her stuff, but again I wish there'd be more respect for Kevin Garnett, here.

[the_Bird]

Personally, I find it Disrespectful, with a capital "D" that she would even think to utter "Toothpick" in describing Kevin Garnett.

I mean, I'm no writer by any means, but I think I can come up with a few.....suitable..substitutes:

1. MVP
2. Defensive Player of the Year
3. Defensive Anchor
4. All Time Great
5. Unselfish
6. Warrior
7. Loyal

I love the vast majority of Jackie's material, but I really wished that she would come up with a better choice of words, here.

When I saw it,I stopped reading, to be honest....and I winced.

I wonder if KG is reconsidering that offer from the Clips...I bet CP3 (or anyone else in LA for that matter), wouldn't refer to KG as a:





Toothpick.

Christ, get a grip.  She's talking about his body type, not denigrating his accomplishments.  KG's a toothpick, a beanpole, whatever you want to say - he's very long, very lean, and it's perfectly rational to believe that's going to have an impact on how his body acts to the years and years of beatings it's taken. 

[crimson_stallion]

Yeah, I agree. Ray was looking good tonight, which sucks even more.

Anyway, very curious to know: what do you think will happen in the near future? (i.e. 1-2 years?)

I have a bad feeling the Rondo injury will be used as an excuse to run back pretty much the same group, even if KG does retire.

This ownership group will want to hold onto having a playoff team for as long as possible.  In Boston if you can't at least pretend to be competing for the playoffs nobody pays any attention to you.

If that does happen, next season will be a total waste of time, although at least we'll be able to look forward to seeing Rondo and Sullinger play again.

Two years from now I feel like the entire roster could be completely different.  I don't know if there are any players currently on the roster -- injured or not -- who are a sure thing to be part of the next competitive core for this franchise.

I actually kinda hope that's the case...

Start of the season we were really lacking in 'future' talent when you watched us play.  Jeff Green was struggling horrendously and looked like he was never going to break out, Sullinger looked decent but slow defensively, Barbosa seemed to have a soild game once every 5 or 10 games, Terry wasdecent butis still 35, Collins sucked horrendously...

If you have a look at out team now though a lot has changed.  Towards the last month or two Sullinger developed incredibly quickly into one of our best impact players. Just as he went down Jeff Green emerged as true scoring threat and a lock-down defender at the SF spot, we signed a young volume scorer in Jordan Crawford and a genuinely capable playmaker (and guard with decent size) in Terrence Williams, and even Shavlik Randolf has surprised me with how capable he is. Terry, despite the criticisms, is still a steady veteran who can make the big shot (shootng 37% from three) and who is giving us double figures off the bench.  Bass has slowly returned to his old form again. AB has returned with his greyhound defense.

There's a lot of positive to take out of the season, but as we know AB really struggles as a PG and we've really lacked rebounding and inside scoring...two areas where Rondo and Sullinger make all the difference.

Lee has been, for the most part, useless.  I think he's entirely dispensable now that we have T-Wil and Crawford.

Anyways if I look at next seasons roster I see this:

Kevin Garnett
Brandon Bass
Jeff Green
Paul Pierce
Rajon Rondo
---
Shavlik Randolf
Jared Sullinger
Terrence Williams / Courtney Lee
Jordan Crawford
Jason Terry
Avery Bradley

That's one hell of a deep roster, and I honestly think that's better than anything we will put together if Pierce and KG were to retire.

[GreenFaith1819]

Personally, I find it Disrespectful, with a capital "D" that she would even think to utter "Toothpick" in describing Kevin Garnett.

I mean, I'm no writer by any means, but I think I can come up with a few.....suitable..substitutes:

1. MVP
2. Defensive Player of the Year
3. Defensive Anchor
4. All Time Great
5. Unselfish
6. Warrior
7. Loyal

I love the vast majority of Jackie's material, but I really wished that she would come up with a better choice of words, here.

When I saw it,I stopped reading, to be honest....and I winced.

I wonder if KG is reconsidering that offer from the Clips...I bet CP3 (or anyone else in LA for that matter), wouldn't refer to KG as a:





Toothpick.

Christ, get a grip.  She's talking about his body type, not denigrating his accomplishments.  KG's a toothpick, a beanpole, whatever you want to say - he's very long, very lean, and it's perfectly rational to believe that's going to have an impact on how his body acts to the years and years of beatings it's taken.

I think she could come up with better words to describe his body type, though....

Don't you?