A 37-year-old Kevin Garnett has still got it.
Age won’t extinguish the competitive fire he has left, and it most certainly won’t deter him from being honest. That’s not how it was with the Minnesota Timberwolves, that’s not how it was with the Boston Celtics and that most certainly isn’t going to be how it is with the Brooklyn Nets.
Garnett plays hard. That’s what he does. Some would even argue he plays too hard, that his effort is more dirty than it is a display of due diligence. But he doesn’t care.
“I just play hard,” Garnett said, according to Newsday‘s Rod Boone. “I don’t take any sh*t.”
Few, if any, could counter that stance. I’m sure as hell not going to. I don’t want to be any of that brown-colored substance Garnett isn’t going to take.
The man has an insane work ethic, and that’s just a fact. You don’t make it through nearly two decades of professional basketball without having one; you don’t establish yourself as an inevitable first-ballot Hall of Famer without having one.
Which is why Jason Kidd’s desire to rest him on back-to-backs isn’t going over too well. Kidd, 40, is just three years Garnett’s senior and fresh off a season during which he averaged 26.9 minutes through 76 games. According to the New York Daily News’ Stefan Bondy, his preference is to sit Garnett for one game of back-to-backs. And when Kidd approached Garnett about it, Bondy writes that both sides admit it “didn’t go too well.”
Shocker. Only it’s not.
Since joining the Nets, Garnett has already indicated on numerous occasions that he’s only in Brooklyn to contend for, and hopefully win, his second NBA title. The prospect of sitting out isn’t going to sit well with a fiery competitor like himself, who has averaged 30 or more minutes per game in 15 of his 18 years in the Association, and who has missed more than 20 games just once in a single season.
Brooklyn will play 19 back-to-backs this season, meaning Garnett would voluntarily be sitting out at least 19 games. That’s almost a quarter of the season. For someone like Garnett, that’s insane to suggest. And it’s probably torture for KG himself to think about.
“I’ve sat there before,” Kidd said of Garnett, via Bondy. “And so just to get him out and understand that getting out of a rep or two doesn’t mean that you’re tired.”
Something tells me Garnett doesn’t see it that way. He wants to be on the floor as much as possible. Missing a quarter of the season just to gain some rest and relaxation isn’t going to fly with a player who has spent his entire career being present. Restricting his minutes is one thing, but asking him to sit out entire games is another thing entirely.
How’s this going to play out? We’re not quite sure. Someone’s will is going to be done. Garnett is going to rest or Kidd will concede to letting him make his own decisions. Or perhaps they’ll compromise; meet in the middle.
Knowing Garnett, and knowing how he’ll feel watching from the sidelines as Paul Pierce, Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and the rest of his teammates wage battle without him, I’d bet he plays in all 82 games before I would that he agree to Kidd’s rest-and-relaxation methodology.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com. Follow @danfavale on Twitter for his latest posts and all things NBA.
