nice Mark Madsen post about KG

[mark at 10thumbs.org]

This is from Mark Madsen's blog <http://tinyurl.com/2vflzf>

I have a real feeling that regardless of who else we add to this team
we're gonna have something real special between Pierce, Allen and KG...
real special. Simmons was right, they fit each other perfectly.

(the other) mark

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Saying Goodbye to a good friend: Kevin Garnett

Today I got the unimaginable news that Kevin Garnett was traded to the
Boston Celtics.  Being out here in Minnesota and hearing this news was
interesting because it is the most talked about thing in almost every
circle in which I move.   Friends from out of state are emailing me about
it.  A non-sports radio station "wished Kevin safe travels to Boston"
tonight at 10pm while I was driving home.

Here are a few memories of the Kevin Garnett that I know.  This is the
side that the public doesn't see every day.

One Cardinal rule in our locker room is this: Never wear gear from another
NBA team.  So when our new assistant trainer from Oklahoma had a Dallas
Mavericks screensaver on his cellphone, Kevin Garnett found it and
enforced the penalty.  When I say penalty, Kevin made him sprint two
hundred yards from our team bus to a pickup truck parked in the distance
and then yell out “I love the Timberwolves!” three times.

When Craig Smith came into practice wearing some Golden State Warriors
practice shorts, Kevin brought out the entire team and had Craig go to
center court and hold up the shorts and say “I will never wear these
shorts again,” while he held the shorts up and walked around three times. 
 Everyone was laughing.  Craig was laughing too.  KG loves Craig on and
off the court.  I’ve never seen a rookie big man like Craig come in and
win over the trust and confidence of Kevin so quickly.

Our offense calls for two “big men” to be on the court at the same time
and it takes quite a while to learn all of the defensive rotations.  
Kevin Garnett expects nothing short of perfection on defense. Mark Blount
is one of the smartest veteran centers in the NBA and he and Kevin read
each other all the time.  Where I have been impressed with Craig is that
he's beyond his years on defense.  On offense, he’s been tearing up the
other team’s interior and scoring in bunches.  But in some ways he’s been
even better on defense.

But getting back to the theme of this blog.  I never thought Kevin Garnett
would be apprehended by our own locker room fashion police.  But it did
happen a few months ago.  It all started after practice one day when a few
of us got into the locker room to shower and get ready to go home.  KG was
still down in the weight room lifting weights.   Rashad McCants went over
to Kevin’s locker and pulled out his shoes and put them out for everyone
to see.  “What the heck are these?” Rashad said as he pointed to Kevin’s
shoes.  As everyone looked down to Kevin’s locker we were shocked to see
that his shoes had the words “Portland Trailblazers” alongside the
Trailblazers logo!  All of this was of course in Trailblazer red and black
colors!

I’ve never seen so many guys so excited to bust Kevin’s chops.  When Kevin
finally got up to the locker room he walked in and saw his shoes out for
everyone to see.  Kevin busted out smiling and yelled out, “Who was in my
locker!  I don’t know who was in my locker!”  Rashad stood up and called
out, “I peeped it out when you walked in here this morning!”  Trenton
Hassell was having a field day.  “Throw those shoes in the trash” he
yelled out.  It was my job to take the shoes and stomp on them and then
take them to the garbage can.  Kevin was laughing so hard.  I guess Adidas
had sent out a bunch of walking shoes to Kevin and the shoes all had logos
of different NBA teams.

Kevin told us how he had gotten up that morning and tried on the Portland
shoes and that they had looked good.  So he asked his wife “What do you
think?  Can I wear these in to practice?”

“Well Kevin, I don’t think so.  I mean, the Trailblazers are in your
conference and you play against them, right?....”  she said.

Kevin decided to wear the shoes in anyway and explained how he “had pushed
his jeans down over the Trailblazers logo and walked into the locker room
really quickly.”  He even showed us how he had pushed his shoes way to the
back of his locker area under his chair so that none of us would see the
shoes.  Well, nothing gets past Rashad fashion wise.  We had a good laugh
that day.  But the story didn’t end there.  Trenton Hassell called out:

“Man I’m going to use those shoes
..I’m getting them out of the garbage
can.  I’ve got my guy in Chattangooga Tennesse and he’s 6’10” and wears
size fourteen too!”

-----------

Back to a serious note.  Kevin Garnett is one of the mot loyal individuals
I have ever met in my life.  We're all gong to miss him and we all wish
him well.