BleedGopher
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Interesting read, per Alex:
Steve Fisher wanted Kevin Garnett to come to Michigan. Garnett wanted him to come to the park.
It was the summer of 1993 and Garnett had already established himself as one of the nation’s top recruits. Fisher, then the coach at Michigan, wanted to watch Garnett play in person, so he phoned the 6-foot-10 forward. The 17-year-old Garnett proposed that Fisher come watch him play pickup hoops in Mauldin, S.C.
“I have a routine,” Garnett told him over the phone.
Fisher didn’t typically evaluate recruits from pickup games, but in the 10 hours he spent watching Garnett play that day, the message was clear: The tall, lanky stretch-forward could hold his own against almost anyone.
“I went to the park at 10 a.m. and he played with the little kids 10, 11, 12 (years old),” Fisher told The Athletic. “He was the pied-piper. After lunch, he came back and played with kids his age and dominated. Then after dinner, he came back and played with the old men.”
Fisher was locked in a heated recruiting battle for Garnett, along with Maryland, South Carolina and DePaul later on. Of course, Garnett spurned them all for the pros and became the first player in 20 years to declare for the NBA Draft out of high school.
Garnett, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year, has publicly and privately gone back and forth over the years as to whether he would have played for Maryland or Michigan had he gone to college. South Carolina fell off Garnett’s radar when he moved to Chicago and was replaced by DePaul, which quickly concluded the future Hall of Famer wasn’t going to college. Still, 25 years after Garnett turned pro, his hotly contested recruitment appears to have stuck with him — and the college coaches who remain adamant he was coming to play for them.
theathletic.com
Go Gophers!!
Steve Fisher wanted Kevin Garnett to come to Michigan. Garnett wanted him to come to the park.
It was the summer of 1993 and Garnett had already established himself as one of the nation’s top recruits. Fisher, then the coach at Michigan, wanted to watch Garnett play in person, so he phoned the 6-foot-10 forward. The 17-year-old Garnett proposed that Fisher come watch him play pickup hoops in Mauldin, S.C.
“I have a routine,” Garnett told him over the phone.
Fisher didn’t typically evaluate recruits from pickup games, but in the 10 hours he spent watching Garnett play that day, the message was clear: The tall, lanky stretch-forward could hold his own against almost anyone.
“I went to the park at 10 a.m. and he played with the little kids 10, 11, 12 (years old),” Fisher told The Athletic. “He was the pied-piper. After lunch, he came back and played with kids his age and dominated. Then after dinner, he came back and played with the old men.”
Fisher was locked in a heated recruiting battle for Garnett, along with Maryland, South Carolina and DePaul later on. Of course, Garnett spurned them all for the pros and became the first player in 20 years to declare for the NBA Draft out of high school.
Garnett, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year, has publicly and privately gone back and forth over the years as to whether he would have played for Maryland or Michigan had he gone to college. South Carolina fell off Garnett’s radar when he moved to Chicago and was replaced by DePaul, which quickly concluded the future Hall of Famer wasn’t going to college. Still, 25 years after Garnett turned pro, his hotly contested recruitment appears to have stuck with him — and the college coaches who remain adamant he was coming to play for them.
‘We would have got him’: Tales from Kevin Garnett's heated college recruitment
Both Steve Fisher, former Michigan coach and Gary Williams, former Maryland coach, remained convinced Garnett would've played for them.
theathletic.com
Go Gophers!!