On the John
Oh, to have KG…
Completed on November 30, 2006
I’ve grown quite mad for Kevin Garnett.
This should not come as much of a surprise. After all, we’re talking about a seven foot forward who, after 11 NBA seasons and 30 years on Earth, still plays ball like he’s from the future.
Are power forwards supposed to have handles like Scottie and post moves like Hakeem? Are they supposed to use Kobe’s first step to propel themselves to Ewing’s tomahawk? Should they have the ability to score like the Mailman (when necessary), rebound like Charles, and fling passes around the paint like Vlade Dadi…all while defending the rim like the Admiral?
To quote Mrs. Seinfeld: how could anyone not like him?
Now, it should be known that I believe strongly in John Paxson. I loved him as a player. I enjoyed him as an announcer. And I nearly revere him as a GM. On top of that, I met him once during a Bulls pregame shoot-around at the Stadium when I was 9, and he came over to me when I waved, said hello, and shook my hand. Needless to say, I’m a fan.
It could be argued (and I would) that from his hiring in April of 2oo3 through the end of the 2oo5-2oo6 season, Pax was the best GM in the NBA. Only Pat Riley comes close during that time, and that’s only because he had the players to trade for Shaq and the opportunity to draft Wade. But Pax has been outstanding; he has put together the entire roster and the coaching staff, lowering his team’s payroll while leaving them significantly improved. That’s a task and a half.
But the Bulls have reached a slippery point here in this young season of 2006-07, and it has nothing to do with their record (5-9 heading into December). After all, these Bulls have been a second half team: in their two playoff runs they’ve gone 40-42 in the first half of the season against 48-34 in the second half. No, the slippery point comes from our lack of two kinds of scorers: go-to and post.
So what now? Wait on Ben Gordon to shoot better than 42% from the field? Or perhaps Skiles should hint to the rook Ty Thomas that it would be more beneficial to the team if he were dropping in 15 points a night rather than 2.4. Paxson’s failure to address these two areas this summer—either through the draft or free agency/trades—has put the Bulls in danger of peaking before they’ve reached their potential. It happened to Joe D’s Pistons, who would have won at least one more title had Dumars not drained their bench without making an effort to refill it. And now it could happen to the Bulls. Might not, mind you, but could. We certainly appear to be closer to it than we did two years ago. Our tremendous young nucleus has yet to produce a go-to guy; we are a team of very good number two and number three starters. All we need is an ace to make it all line up. Somebody who can score about 22 a night, can be counted on in the clutch, and is not a defensive liability.
And this is where we came in.
Oh, how I would love to see KG decked out in a Bulls uni. Imagine it. Close your eyes and imagine it. Duhon brings the ball up. Steady. He gets past mid-court. Captain Kirk and Luol are in constant motion—keep moving, keep moving—looking for an opening. Big Ben stands under the basket, always looming. And on the low left block, earning the opposition’s top interior defender, is Kevin Garnett, who sails his hand up into the air, calling for the ball. Du swings it to Kirk, who dribbles to his left before bouncing it inside to Garnett.
Freeze.
Can you see it? The floor is spread. Shooters and slashers all around. Garnett is underneath, ball in his hands and back to the basket. His defender leans, taking a step back. Cautious. And then it happens. KG...
…kicks it out to an open shooter for a three.
…turns suddenly—fast—and rises up for a turn-around J, MJ-style.
…takes one dribble towards the middle of the court before spinning hard towards the baseline and ripping off a vicious two-handed dunk that shakes the court.
…faces up square to the basket, and with his man nervous and backing Garnett stutter-steps to his left before taking one mondo-dribble right and then raising up one-handed, exploding into the lane and up to the rim like Dominique in ’87.
(You can pick. I’ll wait here.)
See? See how fun and useful he is? With Garnett, everything’s better. Your starting front court is five inches taller. Your offense has a focal point. Ben Wallace no longer feels pressure to be The Star. Ben Gordon is now free to be without worrying about his shooting percentage. Suddenly, this team has a definitive starting lineup. Suddenly, this team has a much deeper bench.
Suddenly, this team is complete.
How will opposing teams score? Get past the million miles of outstretched arms from Hinrich, Duhon, Deng, and Nocioni, and you get Garnett, Wallace, and Thomas. What about trying to defend this team when Wallace sits, Garnett slides to the middle Amare-style, and Noce comes in at the four. Who do you leave open if you want to double Garnett? And can you imagine trying to keep both Garnett and Wallace off the glass?
A fella could go loony thinking about all that.
And yes, adding Garnett means the team is getting older, which means that our window for winning a championship is smaller. But when we decided to place a 32-year-old center at the center of our lineup, well, we closed the window on our own.
But the window was closing even without Wallace. Pax had already paid Hinrich and Chandler. Nocioni is coming up on a new contract after this season, with Ben, Luol, and Duhon following in 2008. Not good. It’s doubtful that we will be able to resign all four of them, and of course if we don’t trade for Garnett (or do anything else to improve our scoring), we’re going to need big contributions from all four, not to mention Hinrich and a few others, in order to win a title.
So how do we get him? Well, it seems we have plenty of plausible trade bate, including five notables I could handle losing: Gordon, Thomas, Sweetney, P.J. Brown, and next year’s 1st rounder, the Knick-switch included. Some combination of that (along with some money to balance out KG’s contract, since our biggest one other than Wallace is Brown at 8 mil a year) should be enough to pull Garnett away from Minnesota.
Garnett is the perfect player for this team. His game is this team, just to a higher level. Talented as hell, and by all accounts a team-oriented player. I won’t lie: I’m a big Tyson Chandler fan. He’s gone, and fans are still fuzzy on Ben Wallace. But Garnett would pull everybody—the team and the fans—together. He’s always felt like a Chicago guy even though he was only in school here one season. There’s gotta be a reason for that.
And now it’s May, and now the Bulls and Cavaliers are battling away in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. It’s Game 6 at the United Center, and the Bulls are trying to close out the Cavs and advance to the Conference Finals for the first time since 1998. It’s been a series that, from Ben Gordon’s game-winner in Game 1, has been blessed by That Special Feeling. Even Michael and Scottie are in attendance tonight. LeBron has been brilliant throughout, but it’s been Garnett (26.2, 11.6, 2 blocked shots per) who has been the difference maker.
Cleveland up one. Duhon brings the ball up. His eyes glance over, checking the clock. 19 seconds. Plenty of time. The Bulls’ bench is buzzing. Wallace (8 points, 13 boards, 3 blocks, 5 fouls) is focused, as if he can intimidate even from his chair, and Gordon (17 on 6-19 shooting) is waving on his backcourt-mate Duhon. Cleveland doubles, and Du flips the ball over to Captain Kirk, who squares up to the basket. Twelve seconds. In a flash, Nocioni shoots to the top of the key to screen LeBron, and Kirk steps around him. The defense collapses around Kirk, but he’s too quick, and he bounces one inside to Garnett. Eight seconds, and now Garnett is underneath, ball in his hands and back to the basket. His defender leans, taking a step back. Cautious.
And then it happens.
Copyright 2006, jm silverstein