Garnett comments the latest in a series of blunders for Taylor
Joe Brown
Issue date: 3/24/08 Section: Sports
During his tenure as owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Glen Taylor has never seen anything go right for the team.
I always thought the reason they have been so terrible was strictly Kevin McHale's incompetence. But after what Taylor said last week, it has become clear that he is not immune to having poor judgment.
When asked about whether the team tanked the end of last season, instead of taking the high road and supporting his squad, he decided to throw his former franchise player under the bus.
"It was more like Kevin Garnett tanked it. I think the other guys still wanted to play. But it sure changed the team and didn't make us (as good)."
Hold on Mr. Taylor, we were good last year?
Whether you think Garnett (now with the Boston Celtics) sat out intentionally so the Wolves would have a top-10 draft pick can be debated.
Frankly, I do not blame Garnett in either case. What's tanking five games in a lost season when your owner and general manager tanked the first 12 years of your career?
The last time Minnesota had seen a player of Garnett's caliber was in the George Mikan era. Back then the Lakers were in Minneapolis, where there actually are lakes.
Since drafting KG in 1995, it has been nothing but an endless parade of blown picks, useless free agents and lopsided trades.
In 1996, the team drafted a future star in Ray Allan and proceeded to trade him for perennial locker room cancer Stephon Marbury.
In 1999, the Wolves could have had a future all-star like Ron Artest or Andrei Kirilenko to go with KG and Wally Szczerbiak. Instead, we got Will Avery.
In 2003, Minnesota could've drafted solid players like Josh Howard, Leandro Barbosa, Luke Walton or Kyle Korver. Instead, we went after Ndudi Ebi.
Last year, we traded Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy for injury-riddled Randy Foye.
Free agent signings were not any better.
Trenton Hassell got $4 million a year to play defense and do little else. Mark Madsen got more than a million dollars to waive a towel and embarrass more people with his dancing. Five million dollars and a bad rap album later, Troy Hudson was recently bought out by the Wolves.
Remember Michael Olowokandi? Neither do I.
Time and time again, all-star players could have been brought in through trades and they constantly blew it.
When Marcus Camby and Jason Kidd were available in 2002, we traded for Marc Jackson. Allen Iverson was trade bait last year and we did nothing to get him in T'wolves blue.
Instead, they make ill-advised trades for players like Marko Jaric and Ricky Davis.
The only defensible trades they ever made was getting Sam Cassell's bad back and Latrell Sprewell, who gave all sports fans a lesson in economy about not being able to feed a family while making $15 million.
As a fan, I used to think that all the Timberwolves woes were due to Kevin McHale being awful at his job. It does not help that the guy signing the team's checks is equally as dense.
At least they are not the Miami Heat.
I always thought the reason they have been so terrible was strictly Kevin McHale's incompetence. But after what Taylor said last week, it has become clear that he is not immune to having poor judgment.
When asked about whether the team tanked the end of last season, instead of taking the high road and supporting his squad, he decided to throw his former franchise player under the bus.
"It was more like Kevin Garnett tanked it. I think the other guys still wanted to play. But it sure changed the team and didn't make us (as good)."
Hold on Mr. Taylor, we were good last year?
Whether you think Garnett (now with the Boston Celtics) sat out intentionally so the Wolves would have a top-10 draft pick can be debated.
Frankly, I do not blame Garnett in either case. What's tanking five games in a lost season when your owner and general manager tanked the first 12 years of your career?
The last time Minnesota had seen a player of Garnett's caliber was in the George Mikan era. Back then the Lakers were in Minneapolis, where there actually are lakes.
Since drafting KG in 1995, it has been nothing but an endless parade of blown picks, useless free agents and lopsided trades.
In 1996, the team drafted a future star in Ray Allan and proceeded to trade him for perennial locker room cancer Stephon Marbury.
In 1999, the Wolves could have had a future all-star like Ron Artest or Andrei Kirilenko to go with KG and Wally Szczerbiak. Instead, we got Will Avery.
In 2003, Minnesota could've drafted solid players like Josh Howard, Leandro Barbosa, Luke Walton or Kyle Korver. Instead, we went after Ndudi Ebi.
Last year, we traded Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy for injury-riddled Randy Foye.
Free agent signings were not any better.
Trenton Hassell got $4 million a year to play defense and do little else. Mark Madsen got more than a million dollars to waive a towel and embarrass more people with his dancing. Five million dollars and a bad rap album later, Troy Hudson was recently bought out by the Wolves.
Remember Michael Olowokandi? Neither do I.
Time and time again, all-star players could have been brought in through trades and they constantly blew it.
When Marcus Camby and Jason Kidd were available in 2002, we traded for Marc Jackson. Allen Iverson was trade bait last year and we did nothing to get him in T'wolves blue.
Instead, they make ill-advised trades for players like Marko Jaric and Ricky Davis.
The only defensible trades they ever made was getting Sam Cassell's bad back and Latrell Sprewell, who gave all sports fans a lesson in economy about not being able to feed a family while making $15 million.
As a fan, I used to think that all the Timberwolves woes were due to Kevin McHale being awful at his job. It does not help that the guy signing the team's checks is equally as dense.
At least they are not the Miami Heat.