Celtics Title Town

I get it that you really love KG, GeeZee, or so it appears to me, and there are lots of good reasons to love the guy, but here's the thing: you seem to agree with KG when he tells people like me that we should shut up. See, what I think is that people should stop worshipping KG. I think the dude could stand to face a little criticism. I think it's about damn time folks stopped fawning on him.

And let me say this about KG and Grit and Balls: that dude had an absolutely delicious mismatch all playoffs long. If he had brought Grit and Balls every night, like he should have, we would have breezed past the Hawks and the Sixers, and we would have beaten the Heat most likely. But he plays soft a lot of the time. He doesn't establish position deep and he doesn't seal the paint on defense - not all the time. Half the time. We are talking about a guy who was as close to an automatic two points, when he played with real grit and balls, as there is in the league today outside of Lebron, because he always had such mismatches.

I love KG for many reasons, but I think folks need to STOP fawning on the guy.

paul says...
And let me say this about KG and Grit and Balls: that dude had an absolutely delicious mismatch all playoffs long. If he had brought Grit and Balls every night, like he should have, we would have breezed past the Hawks and the Sixers, and we would have beaten the Heat most likely. But he plays soft a lot of the time. He doesn't establish position deep and he doesn't seal the paint on defense - not all the time. Half the time. We are talking about a guy who was as close to an automatic two points, when he played with real grit and balls, as there is in the league today outside of Lebron, because he always had such mismatches.

I love KG for many reasons, but I think folks need to STOP fawning on the guy.

I think your dead wrong. Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and the bench didn't bring it. Rondo and KG did. Kevin is also 36 years old. Very few could do what he did this year at his age. Only the likes of Karl Malone had played so well at this age. Get off it Paul. I love what you have to say. But the finger of blame should be on nobody. The Celtics were just not the better team, they didn't want it the most as a collective unit. Or maybe they did. But this team was simply to gassed against a good team.

paul says...
I get it that you really love KG, GeeZee, or so it appears to me, and there are lots of good reasons to love the guy, but here's the thing: you seem to agree with KG when he tells people like me that we should shut up. See, what I think is that people should stop worshipping KG. I think the dude could stand to face a little criticism. I think it's about damn time folks stopped fawning on him.

I don't know where that came from and I obviously know that we are in disagreement here, but I have to say that you are making things look like they are not. I have no problem if folks give KG criticism, among which there are many things that are correct, like his antics or his unwillingness to go to the paint, but look. You assumed a lot of things and now are acting upon them as if true. Nobody has talked about anything related to money yet, other than Garnett reportedly saying he wants to earn fairly, as in earn more than the guy doing less than him. You can't be blazing the man for saying that - it's obviously how the business is run and the player's union would probably kill him for taking a small deal. KG is well deserving of a contract in the 8-11 million range, and 7 million would be a big break for the Celtics. I think if Danny comes with deals in place to get impact guys and tells KG that he has to take 7 mil, he'd gladly agree.
But I have no idea where you got that he is out hunting the money, has forgotten about his loyalty to the Celtics and has become selfish. That's my problem - you take something, assume it is true and then build up a whole house on it. We've heard it from Cassell, Perkins, Gorman and Saunders - KG is likely coming back and it is going to be Boston and no other place. Now that we have four very reliable sources, it could be sensible to say that Ainge has told Ticket he won't blow it up. No talk about him going anywhere else for more money or any hardball or anything. KG will get the money he fairly deserves in the current market.
I just feel like you are believing your own story too much. We haven't even gotten to the point where contracts can be discussed, let alone signed, so we can't talk in so much detail.
And, eh, if you feel like it could be much different with any other players, you will be unpleasantly surprised. If you want to fill the team with cheap players, imagine a team made up of Rondo, Pierce, Bradley, 5 Sasha Pavlovics and 3 Ryan Hollinses. Keyon Dooling and Marquis Daniels would be your best role players.

Oh, and you're right about me loving KG. He's the reason I got into basketball and an idol. So it indeed feels a tad bit personal.

C'slife says...
I think your dead wrong. Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and the bench didn't bring it. Rondo and KG did. Kevin is also 36 years old. Very few could do what he did this year at his age. Only the likes of Karl Malone had played so well at this age. Get off it Paul. I love what you have to say. But the finger of blame should be on nobody. The Celtics were just not the better team, they didn't want it the most as a collective unit. Or maybe they did. But this team was simply to gassed against a good team.

And, well, this. Captures my thoughts extremely well, except saying P and Ray didn't bring it. They brought as much as they could, considering injuries. But overall, I agree to everything said.

GeeZeeCeltics says...
I don't know where that came from and I obviously know that we are in disagreement here, but I have to say that you are making things look like they are not. I have no problem if folks give KG criticism, among which there are many things that are correct, like his antics or his unwillingness to go to the paint, but look. You assumed a lot of things and now are acting upon them as if true. Nobody has talked about anything related to money yet, other than Garnett reportedly saying he wants to earn fairly, as in earn more than the guy doing less than him. You can't be blazing the man for saying that - it's obviously how the business is run and the player's union would probably kill him for taking a small deal. KG is well deserving of a contract in the 8-11 million range, and 7 million would be a big break for the Celtics. I think if Danny comes with deals in place to get impact guys and tells KG that he has to take 7 mil, he'd gladly agree.
But I have no idea where you got that he is out hunting the money, has forgotten about his loyalty to the Celtics and has become selfish. That's my problem - you take something, assume it is true and then build up a whole house on it. We've heard it from Cassell, Perkins, Gorman and Saunders - KG is likely coming back and it is going to be Boston and no other place. Now that we have four very reliable sources, it could be sensible to say that Ainge has told Ticket he won't blow it up. No talk about him going anywhere else for more money or any hardball or anything. KG will get the money he fairly deserves in the current market.
I just feel like you are believing your own story too much. We haven't even gotten to the point where contracts can be discussed, let alone signed, so we can't talk in so much detail.
And, eh, if you feel like it could be much different with any other players, you will be unpleasantly surprised. If you want to fill the team with cheap players, imagine a team made up of Rondo, Pierce, Bradley, 5 Sasha Pavlovics and 3 Ryan Hollinses. Keyon Dooling and Marquis Daniels would be your best role players.

Oh, and you're right about me loving KG. He's the reason I got into basketball and an idol. So it indeed feels a tad bit personal.

I'm not assuming anything about KG. I'm going by what sort of attitude he seems to be putting out right now. I'm interested to see how this situation develops.

But you know, KG has gotten an awful lot of praise, and some of it he's actually deserved. But I think maybe he needs to earn that halo a little. I know that's asking a lot. Maybe I'd be better received if I joined the rest of the fandom in ripping Big Baby's head off?

WHY WAS BIG BABY OUR BEST BENCH GUY LAST YEAR? It was because we didn't have enough money for legit support talent. That's part of it, I think.

You yourself say that KG should just go out and get the most money he can. Fine.

THEN HE'S NOTHING BUT A MERC.

Nothing but a merc. I don't give one damn about mercs. Not one damn. A merc is worth less than nothing to me.

Got that?

I don't worship mercs. Let him take his talent elsewhere. Mercs represent the worst of humanity to me.

And yeah, this is personal to me too. KG loved the Celtics as long as he got his 20 million. To me, that makes him nothing but a despicable merc.

Did I mention that mercenaries make me ill? I guess I'm one of the few people left who thinks that there's more to life than soaking the community for as much cash as you can possibly get away with ...

Err, you say that you assume nothing and then say he loved the Celts so long as he got the 20 million, implying that he doesn't anymore... which is an assumption. There is very much nothing that points to that. Besides, you can't bury Garnett without doing the same to the whole flippin' NBA. I guess everyone is a merc in the major professional sports.
Let me tell you this again: KG would have gotten his dollars regardless. Why tutor young players and be the best teammate he can be and generally go hard then? That right there tells me he cares about something more than money. OJ Mayo was the one who said that banners are irrelevant to him, not KG.
Call him a merc all you want, it's just that Garnett isn't one.

What goes for Baby and the Celtics' inability to get good bench help because of Garnett's money: well, um, Bass?

Here's another one: telling Garnett to take less money and not be a "merc" to allow the Celtics to sign someone who demands big money is kind of an oxymoron, isn't it? Basically, you want KG not to be a "merc" to get another merc to come here.