RUMOR: At least 4 teams had better offers for KG

by Atma Brother ONE on Oct 8, 2007 3:51 PM PDT in Rumors Comment 20 comments

Even though Sam Smith has taken some silly, baseless shots at the sports blogosphere in the past you really can't help but love the guy for all his entertaining rumor-mongering [ChicagoSports.com]:

Garnett got a three-year, $56 million extension from Boston, which was said to be the deal breaker for Minnesota. Garnett wanted to remain with the Timberwolves, enjoying those long off-seasons, but owner Glen Taylor decided to stop overpaying for missing the playoffs and told GM Kevin McHale to get draft choices and salary relief.

At least four teams, including the Bulls, were said to have offered superior deals to the one Boston made, though McHale is telling people Al Jefferson will be a superstar. Of course, McHale is also telling people he's the Timberwolves' general manager, which few believe.

I have to hand it to Smith for digging this up and taking some hilarious shots at the Timberwolves ("those long off-seasons" and "overpaying for missing the playoffs") as well as at the incredibly inept McHale ("McHale is also telling people he's the Timberwolves' general manager, which few believe"). I know commissioner David Stern is still probably investigating the ref scandal, but he should be looking into the legalities of a GM being employed by two teams simultaneously too.

I'm with KG. Seriously why didn't KG to the Warriors go down?

More after the jump...

Smith contends that at least four teams were in the running for K to the G including the Bulls. My guess is that 3 other teams that offered superior deals to the Celtics looked something like this:

New York Knicks: Isiah Thomas really knows how to screw up, but I'll give him one thing- he's one of the most active GMs out there. He's always looking to improve his squad unlike 80% of the lazy GMs in the league who collect big paychecks for doing minimal work. He's the GM equivalent of a high volume shooter.
Phoenix Suns: It really seems like Amare Stoudemire or Shawn Marion were on the table in either a 2-way or 3-way deal for KG. I'll take guys who've made the Western Conference All-Star squad as big men than Al Jefferson who couldn't even crack the Leastern Conference All-Star team any day.
Golden State Warriors: We all know this one, but I'll go so far to say that the Warriors were willing to part with Monta Ellis, Andris Biedrins, and then post-draft day Brandan Wright in a gift wrapped package to make this happen. Nellie and Mullin aren't fools. They knew a lineup of BD, JRich, Jax, and KG would challenge for the NBA title. And after everything Nellie's accomplished in his illustrious coaching career what's left besides a title? I still think that after last season's playoff run Nellie threatened the Warriors to either bring KG or he wouldn't be back. When that didn't happen he said something along the lines of "Well fine then- like Biggie, GIMME THE LOOT! GIMME THE LOOT!"

I'll admit I'm still bitter about the KG trade and the collusion between McHale and Ainge to restore some semblance of relevance to their alma mattar in Beantown. It seemed like McHale was trying his best all of this part summer to hook the Celtics up with Garnett. In the beginning of the trade talks KG flat out said he didn't want to go to Boston, yet McHale and Ainge kept trying to force something to happen. The only thing that's left to wonder is how much of the Celtics' payroll is McHale on the books for? Think he made more money than Doc Rivers this past season from the Celtics? He sure deserves a bigger contract from the Celts than Ainge and Rivers.

Who do you think the other 3 teams were that put out better offers than the Celtics' lowball offer for KG? Based on all the rumors what do you think was the Warriors' best offer for KG?

99% or rumors never happen, but 99% of them are fun to talk about!

From the GSoM Vault:

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Comments

if we got kg

we wouldn't have JRich.

yeah i believe JRich, Jackson, Baron, and KG could have won it all, but im not convinced that minus JRich we would have been the best team.

by Proof on Oct 8, 2007 3:59 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Sorry I wasn't clear about that all

I meant pre-JRich trade I bet the Warriors offered Biedrins + Monta and after that I bet they were willing to give up Biedrins, Monta, and Wright (or at least 2 out of those 3) and maybe they'd take back Ricky Davis too.

None of this matters right now or can be proven, but man- I wanted KG on the Warriors so badly.

by Atma Brother ONE on Oct 8, 2007 4:03 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Um, what?

Depends what you mean by "best team"? Best team ever? Probably not. Best team in the NBA? Possibly, or at least #2. Best Warriors team we've ever seen, miles better than the one we have now? Unquestionably.

Did you really mean to imply that you wouldn't have dealt JRich straight up for KG?

Baron
Jackson
Harrington
KG
Biedrins
----
Monta
Barnes
Azubuike
Belinelli
Pietrus
Lasme
Croshere
Hudson
Perovic/POB

Heck, throw in Harrington and Monta to even up the salaries (and talent) and it's still a championship contender. I mean, no team is ever a guarantee to win it all, but that one is about as capable of doing it as we'll ever see.

by Sleepy Freud on Oct 8, 2007 4:34 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

lol

i didn't state that right. atma made a minor mistake by saying that if we dealt Monta, Bedrins, and Wright for KG we would have Baron, Jackson, JRich, and KG

the above situation is impossible because we traded j rich for wright.

First i stated that. If somehow we just traded Monta and Biedrins (which i don't think was enough) and kept JRich, then yes we would have had Baron, Jack, JRich, and KG and i believe that there wouldn't be a better team in the league then that one right there.

But if we made a trade involving Wright, Monta, and Andris for KG, we really would just have Baron, Jack, & KG (no j rich) And i think we would be an awesome team and a contender, but i don't think that we would be the best team.

No where was a saying that i wouldn't trade JRich for KG straight up. If i believed in that right there, i woulda committed suicide when they traded JRich for Brandan Wright lol.

by Proof on Oct 8, 2007 7:04 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

or maybe i misread it,

im not accusing anyone of making mistakes.

by Proof on Oct 8, 2007 7:06 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I agree then

I would definitely have traded Wright (or JRich), Harrington, and Monta for Garnett. I would probably, if you twisted my arm, have switched out AB for Wright in that deal. But I wouldn't trade JRich/Wright, Monta, Harrington, and Biedrins for KG. That's just absurd.

by Sleepy Freud on Oct 8, 2007 7:11 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

haha

yes it is and yeh we basically see eye to eye on this situation, even though it is in the past.

by Proof on Oct 8, 2007 7:13 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

yet

That's likely what it would have taken.

Remember, Al Jefferson is a beast- even more beastly than Biedrins given his ability to score in the post. He's probably worth Ellis and Biedrins by himself.

Plus, the T-wolves took on NO long-term contracts; ours, however, would have required that T-wolves take Richardson AND Harrington's contracts. I'm not surprised they were adamant against taking Richardson.

The Lakers had the same problem- Odom was required, and he has a nasty contract for a rebuilding team.

Theo Ratliff's contract was the key ingredient that made it work.

Likewise, once Chicago lost PJ Brown, they were completely, utterly, totally, stupidly screwed.

Questions? Complaints?

(AIM: JetForze; email: Jon.d.ma@gmail.com)

by OptionZero on Oct 8, 2007 7:20 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

who did the knicks have to offer?

by Proof on Oct 8, 2007 4:01 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

some explanations

I was checking out some Bulls fan sites. A couple explanations:

1. Sam Smith is completely inept.

Self-explanatory.

2. Sam Smith cannot tell time.

The Bulls could not have had a better off than the Celtic's because they did not have an expiring contract this offseason. Last year, however, they had P.J. Brown's expiring contract, and could have sent some combination of the Knicks' first rounder/Gordon/Deng/Thomas/Nocioni/Hinrich/Sefalosha, which you could say trumps the Celtics offer.

In such a case, Smith was just being overly critical in hindsight. He never actually said when those better offers were made.

3. What's "better"?

Remember the deal sending Garnett to the Suns for Marion? Marion is "Better" than any of the Celtic kids, but why would any rebuilding team want Marion? Expirings, picks, and youth are far more appropriate.

Ditto for any random deal involving Jermaine O'Neal or any established player. Those guys are useless to the Timberwolves.

So, this is a combination of a writer grasping at straws to grab headlines and a writer who isn't very good at what he does.

Questions? Complaints?

(AIM: JetForze; email: Jon.d.ma@gmail.com)

by OptionZero on Oct 8, 2007 4:01 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Eddie Griffin

This is kind of off topic, but did the Warriors have a chance to sign Eddie Griffin before he died? Because trading for Garnett would have cost us some depth, and Griffin would have been a decent big man off the bench who can block shots and shoot three's.

Maybe he would have had a Barnes-esque opportunity here to play to his full potential, and all his depression would have been gone because of all the success he'd get in GS.

Damn, if only Boston decided to keep Al Jefferson... August 6th would come by and the T'Wolves would have probably accepted an offer of Ellis + Brandan Wright + some other guys if Mullin were to give them up.

"Baron and KG". agggghhhhhh.

by Five Ten Entertainment on Oct 8, 2007 4:11 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

listen

whats done is done time to move on and think about winning.
Winning without Jackson for the first 7 games thats something that we will have to think about

Best seat in the House

by kaszowski on Oct 8, 2007 4:59 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

wow

pg - baron/hudson
sg - jrich/belinelli
sf - jackson/barnes
pf - harrington/croshere
cc - kg/pob/kosta

yea, we woulda won it all...

wait, would this team have been possible? i guess we coulda gave them sarunas, pietrus, foyle, ellis, and biedrins to make the salaries match?

by thewarriorsrule on Oct 8, 2007 6:42 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

i dont think so

We would have had to re-sign Pietrus to quite a large contract and deal with the BYC issues.

Harrington would have made it easier, but i doubt they would want his contract.

Questions? Complaints?

(AIM: JetForze; email: Jon.d.ma@gmail.com)

by OptionZero on Oct 8, 2007 7:08 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Brain Fart

Wasn't this blog entry to poke fun and the fickle finger of fate at McHale's suggested collusion with Ainge to bring Boston back to the NBA playoff party? I don't have a crytal ball but I like the direction the Dubs are taking with mixing experience with youth and creating cap space to both extend AB and Monta and or go for a big time free agent or agents next year. To me they have created maximum flexibility while seemingly creating a very competitive team, even for the Western Conference. And we still have the TPE if we need or choose to use it later this year, not to mention the trading chip of MP if need be. Sure, KG is a once in a lifetime acquisition, but I'm glad things have worked out the way they have so far. Of course, in a month or so I might be singing a different tune.

And we've done all of this with our Executive VP Mullins facing a steep learning curve and difficult on the job training, overcoming some very serious initial errors and mistakes. My point being he is beginning to seperate himself from the McHale's and Ainge's of the league, collusion or not.

You call me ancient, I say "oldguysrule"

by commish on Oct 8, 2007 8:14 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Collusion & the GoodOldBoyNetwork

Your comments got me thinking about how funny this league can be. Often times being a GM is not as much a matter of what you know but who you know. Even looking at our own Mully, do you think there is any way we dump DunMurphy on indiana if Chris does not have connections having played there for Bird under Walsh or that we get anyone to take on J-Rich in a complete and imediate salary dump and get one of the more promising bigs in the draft if we didn't have an inside man (Rod Higgins).

Not to mention Getting Nellie to come back to coaching for less then what he was making with Dallas and having a good enough relationship with AB's agent to keep him from working out for any team drafting above us that year.

Lets just be glad that Mullin has more friends than St. Jean. lol.