FanPost

Should KG "Have Nothing Positive to Say"? (With Poll)

You've probably read it by now. The majority seem to be criticizing him and saying how Kevin Love is better. But I'd rather not assume that quality responses are best found on Twitter or the Strib boards.

I'm often curious what % of commenters watched KG's entire Wolves career. As someone who did, this topic is of interest to me because it was pretty clear that mistakes were made by all parties involved. KG was financially fortunate enough to play when rookie contracts were 3 years with no RFA or option years and no max salaries, which made him very rich very young and grandfathered him into being one of the highest-paid players for decades (he, Duncan, and, um, Rashard Lewis are basically tied for second behind Kobe as highest-paid this season). The Wolves were fortunate enough to be at the forefront of the preps-to-pros movement that left GMs just skeptical enough of KG that he was there at #5. From there, the new CBA, often said to be caused by KG and Glen Taylor, led to their decade-plus of basketball purgatory.

Let's look at both sides:

KG's case: the team did a below-average job of providing a supporting cast, he left $ on the table when he extended his deal in '03 and the team got him enough help for 1 year, he played hard every night and was rarely injured, his effect on defense was probably underrated given how Boston's D has been so dominant since he was traded, he focused on what would help the team win (assists, rebounds, moving to PF), the team never won less than 32 games (full season) with him (despite tanking the end of the '05-'06 and '06-'07 seasons) and has never won more than 29 without him, Glen Taylor said he tanked at the end of the '06-07 season when his teammates were much worse culprits

The franchise's case: he rejected a $103 million deal before signing for $125, his high salary affected their ability to improve the team, he wanted input on personnel decisions and wasn't good at it, he never developed his offensive game enough to be a reliable clutch player, "thank god for opt outs," his reluctance to adapt to Dwane Casey's new offense led them to scrap it and use old Flip Saunders plays, he shows no gratitude toward McHale for drafting him or Taylor for paying him

If I'm missing anything, feel free to suggest it in the comments. FWIW, I'm not surprised he's angry because he seems like a guy who wouldn't forget and has problems trusting people (for good reason, if you think about what happened to him in his hometown in high school). I'm okay with him having the comments that he did; he made a clear distinction between the fans/area and the franchise, and the franchise hasn't necessarily been competent or noble. I don't see a need to compare him to Kevin Love or pit them against each other in the hearts of fans (there are too few great Wolves players to not appreciate both). What say you?