The media world is abuzz again about the prospect of the T-Wolves trading Kevin Garnett. Here's a full breakdown in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Some media outlets are basically saying the trade is inevitable.
However, trading Garnett just doesn't make sense. I've yet to see a trade idea in the media that would work. Sports Illustrated suggests a trade of Garnett to Phoenix for Amare Stoudemire or Shawn Marion. Why would Phoenix do this? Why trade away an equal superstar who costs less for Garnett? Why would the T-Wolves take a player with a shaky health outlook in return?
Garnett has one of the largest salaries in the NBA, so any trade would basically be a mis-match. No team is going to trade their top star for Garnett. It's a even trade at best and your team loses the start it's been marketing around. The only other ways to make a trade work are if the T-Wolves receive a lot of expiring contracts in return.
So basically the only way a trade works is if the T-Wolves want to start completely over and wipe the slate clean. Kind of like what Atlanta has done. You get young players and high draft picks and hope you can land that one superstar into the mix that can make you a playoff team. Maybe if you are lucky you can land someone like ... Kevin Garnett. Hum??
If Garnett demands a trade because he's just sick of being in Minnesota, then it's another story. Then the T-Wolves may be forced to make a deal. But that's very unlike Garnett. He's never been the type of player to make demands on the organization. He's never demanded a teammate be traded or a coach fired.
If you're the T-Wolves, you keep Garnett and change everything else. If that means the coach (Casey hasn't had a great year) or the GM (Kevin McHale has had a poor two years, topped off by firing a good coach in Flip Saunders) has to go, so be it.
But the media will still hype this all offseason long even though it's hard to see how it makes sense.
Posted by Peter Schoenke at 4/12/2006 4:08:00 PM
