Sun-Times: Noah right—nice 'kid' Garnett has turned thug

[BleedGopher]

I've been thinking this for a while now...KG certainly isn't the fun-loving "Big Ticket/Da' Kid" that we traded a few years back...his personality has dramatically changed:

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/2174424,kevin-garnett-dirty-player-19.article

Howl Wolves!!

[UpnorthGo4]

Kevin Garnett: A History Of Racism
b/r bleacher report
by Robert Misovic
May 07, 2009

While Kevin Garnett has cemented his name in the NBA ranks as perhaps one of the greatest players to ever play the game, his antics over the last 14 years should raise some eyebrows as to exactly who he is and what he's about.

Minnesota and Boston may be among the first two NBA franchises which come to mind when discussing Caucasian fan bases or locations. Ironically they also happen to be the only two teams Garnett has ever played for. For his sake, perhaps a trade to Atlanta is in order.

It's no secret that Caucasian players represent a minority in the NBA, which makes the altercations Garnett has been involved in all the more troubling.

He's certainly had his troubles with players like LaMarcus Aldridge, elbowing him in the head, Tim Duncan, slapping him in the back of the head, and Antonio McDyess, as Mcdyess chased a retreating Garnett around the court as the two were separated by team mates. Who could forget Garnett getting absolutely abused with an elbow to the face by former teammate Anthony Peeler, as Garnett failed to react.

But if you're asking Zaza Pachulia, Jose Calderon, Marco Belinelli, Matt Bonner, Rick Rickert, Andrew Bogut, Wally Szczcerbiak or Rasho Nestervic, you'd probably discover that Garnett takes an issue with white players.

Against the Hawks, Garnett did just that with Zaza Pachulia on two different occasions, first elbowing the Georgian, and in the other altercation, laying him out with an illegal screen in a blowout Celtics victory.

Against the Raptors, Garnett hounded Jose Calderon up and down the court waving his finger in the Spaniard's face, pestering the guard on defense. What business does a guy like Garnett have guarding a point guard like Calderon on the perimeter? The altercation ended with Calderon complaining to the referees and then yelling at Garnett as he walked to the bench.

In a meeting with the Golden State Warriors, Garnett laid Marco Belinelli out with an illegal screen, elbowing the Italian as he fell to the floor. The commentators then stated that it seemed like "Garnett had taken a personal animosity towards Marco Belinelli".

In a meeting between the Raptors and Timberwolves in 2004, Garnett was taken down to the floor in what was simply a hard foul by Matt Bonner. When Garnett saw that Bonner was standing and pointing to the crowd, Garnett charged at him attempting to punch him, and Sprewell followed suit by taking a cheap shot at Bonner.

Garnett had an altercation with Bucks center, Croatian Aussie-born Andrew Bogut, in which Garnett was suspended one game for striking Bogut in the face as the two were battling for a rebound.

However, Garnett saved the best for his own team mates. While in Minnesota, he constantly pestered Nesterovic about not being able to match his intensity, and while the situation never resulted in a physical confrontation, it mirrored Jordan and Cartwright in Chicago far too well.

Also in Minnesota, Garnett took offense to team mate Wally Szczerbiak yelling at him to call out screens by barking back that he needed to play better defense. Garnett followed by punching Szczerbiak in the face.

Nothing has been a greater example of Garnett's racism than his striking Rick Rickert. Rickert scored a few times on Garnett in a scrimmage and his teammates started getting on him about it. The next time Rickert scored, Garnett punched him badly enough that Rickert required six stitches.

While it has been Ron Artest and Rasheed Wallace who've drawn the heat for being the resident headcases in the NBA for the past decade, it's Garnett who's quietly been a menace to opposing teams and even to his own teammates.

It was Celtic legend Larry Bird who once stated that he took issue with seeing white defenders on him because he found it to be insulting. Bill Russell was another player who clearly came out and admitted that he had an issue with white people in general and that it was a fuel for the intensity with which he played the game.

Today Garnett is possibly the most glaring example of this mentality. Ironically, between Garnett, Russell, and Bird, they represent arguably three of the five or six greatest Celtics in NBA history.

One can't help but remark at the irony which this presents, considering that the Celtics-Lakers rivalry was once a way for fans to discreetly pledge their allegiance to one race or the other, and that it was the Celtics which represented the Caucasians with Bird, Walton, Ainge, and Kevin Mchale and the Lakers who represented the other side with Magic Johnson, James Worthy, and Kareem Abdul-Jabar.

Ironic that today, Boston's still largely Caucasian fan base cheers for Garnett and the Celtics unlike any other fan base in the league, despite the contents of this article. I'll say to them what I said to the Asian girl I saw wearing an Abercrombie and Fitch shirt a few months after they were sued for their shirt design which read "two Wongs don't make a White"; knowledge is power, and cheering for racist players or global icons is problematic regardless of if they're for you or against you.

[tikited]

Garnett has always been a punk, but he was our punk.

[coolhandgopher]

He might be a jackass, might have always been one, but that Bleacher Report article is so freaking ridiculous I don't know how it can be advanced in this argument. Let's see. . .

* The author, while advancing his argument that KG is racist towards whites, lumps Jose Calderon in with other "white" players; last I checked, Calderon hails from Spain and would be identified as Hispanic.

* Just a paragraph before advancing this theory, the author gives examples of four incidents with black players; he then lists eight incidents with white players (including Calderon in this bunch). Just off of those numbers, a 1/3 of the incidents happened with black players, which seems pretty statistically significant to me.

* No mention of the public excoriating of Glen "Big Baby" Davis which caused his teammate to cry on the bench or any other incident behind the scenes with the Celtics, yet the author gives three examples from his T-Wolves days. Certainly as KG has advanced towards lunatic status, he's had his fair share of incidents in Boston?

I'm not saying that KG doesn't have a grudge against white players or white people in general; I'm just saying that this shoddy piece of "journalism" does little to substantiate any claims and instead is easily ridiculed.

I think more than anything KG is a bully; I'll include this youtube clip which pretty much spells it out-he's more than happy to go after guards and bench guys, but when someone matches his size or steps up to him (such as Peeler), KG's bark goes away:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FASClJTnJ4I

[Pewterschmidt]

What does one expect from a Bleacher Report article?

The premise may be true but he does a lousy job proving his point.

[SmokeyGopher]

The Twolves staff had to work remarkably hard to keep KG's image up when he was with the Wolves. He was a complete piece of work for most of his time here, especially after he signed the new deal and just before that. He wouldn't help the organization with anything related to public relations and told his teammates not to help out either.

Just watch the language he uses during the game if you can read lips. Not the language or image of a team leader in my opinion. Wolves fans wanted to like him so much because the team struggled for so long that they looked past his behavior.

There was an article that Glen Taylor did right after KG left that was very critical of Garnett and all his shortcomings. It wasn't done by the Strib or the PP but a smaller media outlet and it was a good read. The mainstream media in the Twin Cities never really picked up on as much of they should. KG = complete D-bag in my book.

[Costa Rican Gopher]

Paul Pierce was medi-vaced to Johns Hopkins for emergency vaginal rejuvenation surgery.

[NDGopher]

I love KG, so I can't read any of this bad stuff

[tikited]

Paul Pierce was medi-vaced to Johns Hopkins for emergency vaginal rejuvenation surgery.

Pierce is the biggest flopper of all time and that is saying a lot.

[Gopher4Life]

Bigger than some of the posters around here?

[UpnorthGo4]

Bigger than some of the posters around here?

Frick, how did you miss the opportunity to take another shot at Obama? If you had thought about it (I know that is a stretch for you), you could have gone after both Obama and the liberal posters in GopherHole at the same time. The elections are just around the corner. You really need to raise your game.

[z-stein]

However, Garnett saved the best for his own team mates. While in Minnesota, he constantly pestered Nesterovic about not being able to match his intensity, and while the situation never resulted in a physical confrontation, it mirrored Jordan and Cartwright in Chicago far too well.

Also in Minnesota, Garnett took offense to team mate Wally Szczerbiak yelling at him to call out screens by barking back that he needed to play better defense. Garnett followed by punching Szczerbiak in the face.

Nothing has been a greater example of Garnett's racism than his striking Rick Rickert. Rickert scored a few times on Garnett in a scrimmage and his teammates started getting on him about it. The next time Rickert scored, Garnett punched him badly enough that Rickert required six stitches.


Are all of these stories true? I don't remember hearing about any of these when he was with us.

I was wanted to mention the thrown elbow that got him suspended. How come no one is talking about how big of a complete fool Quentin Richardson was during that incident? What compels you to go up and talk trash to an injured player and his teammate checking on him? He should have also been ejected and suspended.

[Schlic Daddy]

Are all of these stories true? I don't remember hearing about any of these when he was with us.

I was wanted to mention the thrown elbow that got him suspended. How come no one is talking about how big of a complete fool Quentin Richardson was during that incident? What compels you to go up and talk trash to an injured player and his teammate checking on him? He should have also been ejected and suspended.

Yes...I remember all of those. And KG was my favorite player, so I looked past them at the time. But those are definitely true stories and that was the reason Wally got shipped out. And, not that Rickert had the talent, but that was a reason he didn't make the team. I remember him bad-mouthing Rasho too.

[Frink]

Rasho in general had a hard time here. When he left it was mentioned by the Wolves beat writer that Wally, Sam Mitchell and Laphonso Ellis were the only ones who actually made an effort to help him out adjusting to the NBA.

And yes, I too remember all the KG incidents, though I fail to see how he is to blame for the Peeler incident and the run ins with Duncan were a different matter. On the one hand, KG often tried to talk trash and rile up Timmy. It almost never worked and Duncan and the Spurs usually won.