in NBA Articles

KG must deliver

This may be beginning to sound redundant, but I really feel sorry for Kevin Garnett. Oh, I’m sure he manages to live quite comfortably off of his mega salary – and doesn’t have a anywhere quite as many worries as most “normal” Americans who struggle on a monthly basis just to make ends meet.

However, when it comes to his professional career, I’m sure KG is just about sick and tired of always being a best man and never a groom. And worse yet, it doesn’t appear as if he’ll make it to the altar any time soon – if ever.

Point Guard     

The T-Wolves went out and signed shoot-first point guard, Mike James to be their starter this season after finishing the year with youngster, Marcus Banks as their starter, and hoping they could re-sign Banks, to no avail. James is a talented player who can put points up on the board in bunches. Whether or not he can mesh his game with Garnett’s should be interesting to see, but at least the Wolves finally have someone besides KG who can put the ball in the hole on a regular basis.

Backup, Randy Foye, who should be the eventual starter at either one of the guard positions sometime in the near future, will back James up, for the time being. Veterans, Marko Jaric and Troy Hudson will also play significant roles at the point in some capacity.

Shooting Guard

Rashad McCants is the starter and Bracey Wright, scheduled to be the backup. However, I am going on record right now to say that if McCants doesn’t do some serious maturing right away – or Wright can’t step up and prove that he is starting material, I’d immediately move Foye (who is going to be a genuine star) to the shooting guard spot. Either way, we shall soon see if McCants or Wright has the right stuff to be a starter in this league.

Small Forward

The athletic, and now, non-controversial, Ricky Davis brought a lot to the Wolves after coming over from the Celtics at mid-season in the trade for Wally Szczerbiak. Davis is an excellent scorer and a player who has developed other areas of his game to become a more complete player – and good compliment to Garnett in the frontcourt. Veteran, Trenton Hassell is a solid player at both ends of the court and one who makes a lot of hustle plays off the bench. Young wing man; Justin Reed could take some of Hassell’s minutes if he continues to develop this season.

Power Forward

KG is still an absolute beast, albeit one that may be growing weary of carrying the entire load all by himself, but a beast nonetheless. With a little more offensive firepower this season, Garnett could be able to concentrate on doing some other things other besides scoring, rebounding, taking stats, loading the team bus, etc. I hate to say it, but I can see the handwriting on the wall right now. KG is never going to win a title until he leaves Minnesota, which, general manager, Kevin McHale says is never going to happen. Oh happy day. Mark “Mad Dog” Madsen is a capable backup and big time hustle player off the bench when KG takes a rest.

Center

The Wolves are starting career underachiever, Mark Blount, whom the Celtics wisely unloaded on the unsuspecting Wolves. Simply put, Blount is known to disappear more often than he shows up to actually play. The talented but enigmatic Eddie Griffin is slated to back Blount up, but I can definitely see him playing big minutes because of Blount’s inconsistency.

Prognosis

The Timberwolves were borderline atrocious last season, but should be decidedly better this season. Whether or not they are a playoff caliber team, remains to be seen, but I think they should be able to sneak in as a 7th or 8th seed. However, I don’t see them going far if they do qualify for the postseason – which will once again lead to speculation that Garnett wants to get the hell out of Minneapolis.

See this section tomorow for our continued look at every NBA team.

Eric Williams is a syndicated columnist who can be heard every Wednesday at 3pm EST on www.BetUSradio.com. You can contact him at Eklass66@yahoo.com.