Yeah, I've been doing a lot of quote posts lately. But it's tough for me to get stuff like press access to training camp and, oh, I don't know, an interview with KG:
FH: "You gave a shout-out to Minnesota, or 'Sota, right after you won it all ..."
KG: "... Absolutely."
FH: "Is there anyone from your years with that team that you wish you could've taken with you on that journey to winning it all?"
KG: "Sam Mitchell. I wish I could've took Sam Mitchell. I wish I could've took Malik (Sealy). I wish I could've took my man Trenton Hassell, Troy Hudson, guys that have been there with me. Tom Hammonds, Terry Porter. I wish I could've had those guys there because those guys imprinted in ... (Pause) Influenced me in a way that, um ... (Pause) To this day, I still apply a lot of the same things ... and I use the influence from those guys every day. For people that were always great to me, I've always tried, in return, to give everything that I have. I've always embraced them with two hands, never 50-50. And I felt like I've always been able to represent (the state of Minnesota) in the way that it should, so it was only fitting that when I won, I felt like I was representing a lot of people that shared a lot of views on how to see things too. That's in my heart. That's not fabricated, so when you're going off raw emotion, that's the real person speaking, and really letting them know that I appreciate the people that have been with me since day one."
FH: "Is it fair to ask you if it would have been sweeter to accomplish winning a title with Minnesota?"
KG: "Absolutely. Absolutely. It would've been great to do it with Steph, it would've been great to do it with Sam Mitchell, it would've been great to do it with Sam Cassell and Spree, but it wasn't meant to be."
FH: "But not winning it all with Minnesota doesn't diminish anything that happened?"
KG: "Not at all. I don't hold grudges, and I don't point at somebody else. I think in certain situations, the obvious is the obvious, and you go with that and I learned through my experiences that you're only responsible for yourself, and as a leader you have to set the tone and be the example. Sometimes the example is labeled, sometimes as a bad example, but if you can look at yourself in the mirror, and can say, 'I gave everything I had tonight' ... For me, I'm not Superman, I'm not perfect, but I am a person who will work 24 hours and get down on the ground if I have to."
Reading that bit about Trenton and Troy lends credence to the idea that KG was a hindrance (intentionally or unintentionally) to personnel decisions. And it's good to hear him say it would've been more special to win a title in Minnesota... it just "wasn't meant to be."