Report: Owner Taylor says he's sticking with Garnett

[Warhawk]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2939327

The Big Ticket is off the market, according to the man who signs his paychecks.
In his first comments since before the NBA draft, Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor told the St. Paul Pioneer Press on Monday that Kevin Garnett doesn't want to be traded and that any trade discussions his team is involved in for the rest of the offseason won't involve Garnett.
"His preference was that we not trade him," Taylor told the Pioneer Press.
Garnett was linked in trade rumors involving the Suns, Lakers, Celtics and Warriors before the draft.
"In the past, teams had asked me, and I just said, 'No, we're not interested,' " Taylor told the newspaper. "But this time, I was going to be more involved and said we probably should just see if something makes sense for us.
"I talked to K.G. about it; I said, 'You're going to hear a lot of [rumors] stuff, but I'll call you if something really happens.' I just asked him [about a trade], and he'd say, 'No, I haven't changed my mind.' "
However, one rival executive told ESPN.com's Marc Stein that he knows "for a fact" that Minnesota remains intent on trading Garnett before the coming season starts.
Garnett can opt out of his contract after the 2007-08 season, meaning the Timberwolves run the risk of losing him without compensation if they don't trade him before then and he tires of not playing on a competitive team. That has ramped up speculation that he could be on the move.
ESPN.com first reported on June 18 that Minnesota general manager Kevin McHale was finally listening to trade offers for Garnett and was talking to the Boston Celtics. Shortly after that, Garnett's agent said Garnett would opt out of his contract if he were traded to Boston.

 

[Diabeticwonder]

If this is legit and they are not going to trade him then perhaps they will try to get Ron from us as a few reports some weeks ago alluded to, but to do so Brewer has to be part of the package.

 

[tyrant]

garnett is the biggest loser ive ever seen. he's one of the best 50 players of all-time, but yet he does nothing. is it money he's so in love with? is that why he wont leave? he'll probably be the best player to ever play the game without a championship.

 

[TaxMan]

If this is legit and they are not going to trade him then perhaps they will try to get Ron from us as a few reports some weeks ago alluded to, but to do so Brewer has to be part of the package.

If we could pry Brewer plus say one of their bad contracts for Artest, I think we'd be all over it. However, in general I think it's always harder to get a rookie prior to the season. There's some psychology to the situation. A team has just drafted some guy a month ago, and everyone starts picturing him in their uniform. Maybe he'll be a superstar. There's an element of the unknown, and a good amount of hope pinned on this player. You don't know if you've struck gold until you actually see the guy play. Usually those type of trades seem to happen either prior to the draft, on draft day, or after the rookie has played some games and crushed any thought of him being an all-star.

 

[kingzzzfan4ever]

KG is going nowhere.

 

[greypoupon]

If this is legit and they are not going to trade him then perhaps they will try to get Ron from us as a few reports some weeks ago alluded to, but to do so Brewer has to be part of the package.

If they refused to trade Foye for Iverson last year, they're not trading their prized lotto pick this year who they are very high on for Artest.

Nobody is offering their recent lotto pick for Artest. You're going to get about 20 cents on the dollar for Artest.

 

[acisking]

The fact that they didn't pull the trigger last year on the Iverson trade proved to me that the Wolves would always over-burden Garnett for the rest of his career. What a waste of incredible talent.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

garnett is the biggest loser ive ever seen. he's one of the best 50 players of all-time, but yet he does nothing. is it money he's so in love with? is that why he wont leave? he'll probably be the best player to ever play the game without a championship.

As a basketball fan, I am very happy to hear that Garnett is likely staying in Minnesota; it makes me sick to my stomach to see players who spend their entire career with one team pick up and go elsewhere to chase a ring, most especially when that player and the franchise have become synonymous as Garnett has with Minnesota.

 

[jacobdrj]

As a basketball fan, I am very happy to hear that Garnett is likely staying in Minnesota; it makes me sick to my stomach to see players who spend their entire career with one team pick up and go elsewhere to chase a ring, most especially when that player and the franchise have become synonymous as Garnett has with Minnesota.

I will never be able to understand this viewpoint. Not in the era of Free Agency.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

:: shrugs ::

Consider me an anachronism, then. It's one thing if you've been repeatedly traded, like a Jason Kidd or a Chris Webber, or someone who has repeatedly gone where the money was, like a Steve Nash. If you've played ten or more years with one franchise, I don't want to see you leave that franchise. It is more important to me personally to see Garnett win a title in Minnesota than it is for me to see him win a title in general.

I don't want to see Duncan leave San Antonio, I don't want to see Bryant leave Los Angeles, and I don't want to see Garnett leave Minnesota... and once they pass the 6-7 year mark, I'm not going to want to see James, Anthony or Wade leave their respective teams, either.

 

[tyrant]

its feels weird to see someone thats been playing for a team for so long move to another. but its all about the ring. get it however you can.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Perhaps if you're a player, but I'm not; it's certainly not "all about the ring" for me... like I said, call me an anachronism if you like, but I'd rather see a player/team do it the right way and fail than win doing it any other way. And part of doing it the right way, to me, is sticking with the franchise that you made, and which made you.

 

[Rookie]

Perhaps if you're a player, but I'm not; it's certainly not "all about the ring" for me... like I said, call me an anachronism if you like, but I'd rather see a player/team do it the right way and fail than win doing it any other way. And part of doing it the right way, to me, is sticking with the franchise that you made, and which made you.

I'm with you Slim.

I have no idea how could anyone see it any other way.

The right way is not always the easy way but it has to be the path if you expect for anyone to respect you.

 

[hoopsfan]

I remember when it was the norm that players spent their entire career, or the majority of it, with one team. I wish it could go back to that...but I know it never will.

 

[JayBird]

Perhaps if you're a player, but I'm not; it's certainly not "all about the ring" for me... like I said, call me an anachronism if you like, but I'd rather see a player/team do it the right way and fail than win doing it any other way. And part of doing it the right way, to me, is sticking with the franchise that you made, and which made you.

So if you were stuck in a dead end job that paid really good money, but felt you had hit your ceiling with the company and had no further chance to escalate through the ranks, you would say "oh well, screw my dream, it's all about loyalty." Doubtful.

This is these guys' jobs, and they have their own goals. If Garnett's goal is to win a ring, and his owners don't put the necessary pieces around him, then he has the right to do what he feels is required to obtain that goal.

Yes, it's selfish, but I don't think one person in here would show that kind of loyalty and devotion to their job if they felt their ultimate goal was not obtainable. Loyolty shmoyalty.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

It's not about loyalty to me, it's about pride and principle.

First of all, a "dead end" job that pays good money is as close to a "dream job" as I'm capable of understanding the concept.

I don't have a "dream job." My idea of a dream job is to not have to work. If I could retire at thirty-three without having to work particularly hard to get there, I'd be all over it... I work to pay bills; "dream job" returns build errors from the compiler.

I'm probably the wrong person to ask, anyway: if I were Garnett, I would have went to college for four years, because the notion of having an indelible legacy in college carries a lot of weight with me. Secondly, if I were in his situation in the pros, I absolutely would stay... You are operating under the assumption that the ultimate goal were to win a championship. I'm a proud man, and would rather lead a franchise to a championship than go somewhere else and "help" some other, already-established team win one/another one. I don't speak for anyone other than myself, but if I had Garnett's talent, and I reached the point in my career where I realized that I was never going to win a title on my own, I would be too proud to go crawling to somebody else's team and essentially beg him to win me one.

 

[Gargamel]

Taylor said that KG would prefer not to be traded. He didn't say that he wasn't considering trades for him.

If KG gets traded, Taylor will say something to the effect of, "We didn't want to see KG go. KG didn't want to leave. However, we did something as an organization that we felt was best for both parties' interests. (Taylor turns to Kevin...) Kevin...you did so much for our franchise (sobs) (hugs)."

Now if a trade doesn't happen, Taylor looks like he wanted that outcome all along even though it flies in the face of reality that age incrementally lowers trade value.

Double talk. Depends on what the meaning of "is" is.

 

[sono]

It's not about loyalty to me, it's about pride and principle.

First of all, a "dead end" job that pays good money is as close to a "dream job" as I'm capable of understanding the concept.

I don't have a "dream job." My idea of a dream job is to not have to work. If I could retire at thirty-three without having to work particularly hard to get there, I'd be all over it... I work to pay bills; "dream job" returns build errors from the compiler.

I'm probably the wrong person to ask, anyway: if I were Garnett, I would have went to college for four years, because the notion of having an indelible legacy in college carries a lot of weight with me. Secondly, if I were in his situation in the pros, I absolutely would stay... You are operating under the assumption that the ultimate goal were to win a championship. I'm a proud man, and would rather lead a franchise to a championship than go somewhere else and "help" some other, already-established team win one/another one. I don't speak for anyone other than myself, but if I had Garnett's talent, and I reached the point in my career where I realized that I was never going to win a title on my own, I would be too proud to go crawling to somebody else's team and essentially beg him to win me one.

the difference is somebody else's team would beg him to lead and win for them not vise versa. He doesn't have to play in someone's shadow, there's still enough left in his tank to turn around a franchise.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

No they wouldn't; there isn't a team in the league that's a Kevin Garnett away from a championship, that isn't good enough to get to the Finals without him.

 

[kyo2002]

Same thing every year with Garnett it seems.

 

[Big Cuz 15]

if i was KG i woulda left these suckers a long time ago. KG is a top 10 player. the boneheads up there can't put any decent talent around the guy to succeed and lost 3 draft picks for some stupid stuff over joe smith.

 

[Gargamel]

Taylor said that KG would prefer not to be traded. He didn't say that he wasn't considering trades for him.

If KG gets traded, Taylor will say something to the effect of, "We didn't want to see KG go. KG didn't want to leave. However, we did something as an organization that we felt was best for both parties' interests. (Taylor turns to Kevin...) Kevin...you did so much for our franchise (sobs) (hugs)."

"If he could have had his druthers and everything would have worked out, he preferred to stay here," Taylor said. "He always assumed, as I did, that we would be together. That was his goal and that's what he wanted. He was a little emotional when he talked to me. Sort of like you're parting with good friends, but you have to get on with your journey." -- Glen Taylor

I overstated Taylor's emotions a lil bit, but I wasn't too far off on the rest.

 

[hoopsfan]

gargy..what are the numbers for lotto this week?