Finals Thoughts: Loving KG, Re-evaluating Gasol
Last night, watching the Celtics’ 131-92 dismantling of the Lakers and its deliriously entertaining aftermath, I think I was as happy as I’d ever been witnessing a sporting event.
I’ve never been a particularly traditional sports fan. Sure, I have teams that I root for, but in almost all cases, I care more about the sports themselves than individual teams. I don’t live and die by the fates of my teams and I don’t idealize athletes. Not just now, but even as a kid.
But Kevin Garnett is different. Just like Scoop Jackson, I go way back with KG. I was a student at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, when the Minnesota Timberwolves drafted Garnett, so I’ve watched his career closely from day one.
I saw a scrawny, unknown teenager emerge as a seven-foot basketball ballet dancer, a performer with astounding grace, strength, and fluidity. And I saw him emerge as a magnificently charismatic and magnanimous presence, on-court and off.
I’ve lived in two cities in my life: Minneapolis-St. Paul, where Garnett was the best ever player for the community’s long-suffering NBA franchise and was traded to the Celtics last year; and Memphis, where Pau Gasol was the best ever player for the community’s long-suffering NBA franchise and was traded to the Lakers early this year.
During last night’s game and again today, I’ve gotten calls and texts and e-mails from old Minnesota friends who are now scattered around the country. Every Timberwolves fan I know was rooting for Garnett to win a title — in a Celtics uniform — as if he were a member of their family. And they are overjoyed on his behalf today.
By contrast, most Grizzlies fans I know were either conflicted about Pau Gasol’s title bid with the Lakers or were aggressively rooting for Gasol to be exposed and for his performance to force a rebuttal to the extreme, negative national reaction to the Gasol trade.
I’ve defended Gasol plenty, in print and on the radio, against his most vocal and vituperative local detractors, and I still like and respect the guy, but I think this difference is instructive.
I thought the Celtics were the more talented team. I picked them to win the East when the season started, to win the title when the playoffs started, and to take the Lakers in six on the eve of the Finals. But, watching that series, talent wasn’t the key difference: It was heart, chemistry, and mental and physical toughness.
Garnett has his flaws, which were also exposed in the series, but he is a leader, not only beloved by fans from ’Sota and Boston, but by his own teammates. The Celtics loved each other and played with cohesion and passion.
The Lakers, by contrast, were led by Kobe Bryant, an unlikable presence and poor teammate. Their second-banana, Gasol, is a nice guy and admirable person in many ways, but he’s no leader. He’s never inspired the respect and dedication of his teammates.
A rationalist in all things, I tend to focus on the tangible — what players can and can’t do. But this series makes me think that I put too little emphasis on those less tangible qualities equally important to forging a winning player or team. I tend to distrust proclamations about players’ on-court character because such things are difficult to judge and easy to exaggerate.
But the reasons Minnesota fans adore Kevin Garnett even as he wins a title in another city are essentially the same as the reasons Memphis fans never really embraced Gasol even in a Grizzlies’ uniform. I always thought Gasol got too much flack from certain segments of the Grizzlies fan base — I still do. But there are qualities Garnett has that Gasol lacks that have nothing to do with basketball skill. And those qualities are the reason Garnett inspires fans and teammates and Gasol doesn’t.
Now, about the trade: This morning, at a rather negligible draft workout, someone mentioned to Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace that the Lakers were going to be on the hook for $45 million for Gasol over the next three seasons.
Wallace smiled slightly and offered a swift correction: “48.”
I still wouldn’t say this was a bad deal for the Lakers: They did make the Finals. And, as the second-highest revenue team in the league, they can afford to pay nearly $50 million over three years to someone best suited to be a third-best player on a title team. The Grizzlies couldn’t afford to do that and still be successful — most teams couldn’t.
I was never a fan of the Gasol trade, but as someone who’d watched Gasol up close for years and thought intensely about the team’s long-range planning, I understood it. I thought it was rational. Most commentators nationally — who had never watched Gasol play closely and never thought much about the details of team-building from a Memphis perspective — couldn’t be bothered to try to understand it.
Now that these people have had their assumptions about Gasol confronted by the reality of Gasol, that deal will continue to be re-evaluated. I’m happy about that, even if I harbor no ill will towards Pau.
Today, I’m no hater. It’s a happy day for me and everyone I know who has grown to love and admire Kevin Garnett for the past decade-plus. We’re certified. WE MADE IT, MA. TOP OF THE WORLD!
