Minnesota Sports Forum

I'm surprised there's no "KG Appreciation" thread. This guy was the heart and sole of our franchise for over a decade, he considers 'Sota his home, he's always shown the fans his love, he's always given the Wolves everything he's got. There's very few players in the history of the NBA who you can look at and feel like they don't take plays off, but KG was one of those guys. He kept our team in the playoffs for over a decade, even when we didn't have the surrounding talent, and he put Minnesota on the map in basketball. And along with everything, he always kept it real, and was probably one of the most entertaining interviews I've ever heard. His loyalty is unmatched in today's NBA.

That's all I've got, but he's the reason I started paying attention to basketball in Minnesota, and outside of Michael Jordan, there's not a player I enjoyed watching more.

Hats off to KG, thanks for the years.

Carlos Danger wrote:I won't argue with anyone who wants to put KAT down as the 1st piece of the "Big 3". He had an excellent 1st season and it would be logical to assume he will get better coming back with another year of maturity/experience. I was approaching it more from the standpoint of you generally have to prove it over a longer period of time to get that sort of recognition. One season can be a fluke. I don't believe that will be the case. But that's where I was coming from. As far as Wiggins/LaVine, they seem like they could get there too. But they haven't been able to put up the sort of Advanced stats that KAT did (yet)..

I put Wiggins in a future big 3 with zero hesitation. The guy is very difficult to guard and he doesn't even have a good handle or have range on his jump shot yet and doesn't turn 22 till February. The guy is gonna be a killer scorer (already pretty good) and will do plenty of other stuff to help his team win including playing defense. I feel very strongly about that. I feel Lavine can get to being big 3 but I do think he hasn't proved it as much as Wiggins consistently the last 2 years.

Think about this: NOBODY imagined 2 years ago that Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green would become one of the best big 3's in the league but they are. Lets enjoy some natural progression of our young players. I suspect this is gonna be a fun ride.

monsterpile wrote:

Carlos Danger wrote:I won't argue with anyone who wants to put KAT down as the 1st piece of the "Big 3". He had an excellent 1st season and it would be logical to assume he will get better coming back with another year of maturity/experience. I was approaching it more from the standpoint of you generally have to prove it over a longer period of time to get that sort of recognition. One season can be a fluke. I don't believe that will be the case. But that's where I was coming from. As far as Wiggins/LaVine, they seem like they could get there too. But they haven't been able to put up the sort of Advanced stats that KAT did (yet)..

I put Wiggins in a future big 3 with zero hesitation. The guy is very difficult to guard and he doesn't even have a good handle or have range on his jump shot yet and doesn't turn 22 till February. The guy is gonna be a killer scorer (already pretty good) and will do plenty of other stuff to help his team win including playing defense. I feel very strongly about that. I feel Lavine can get to being big 3 but I do think he hasn't proved it as much as Wiggins consistently the last 2 years.

Think about this: NOBODY imagined 2 years ago that Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green would become one of the best big 3's in the league but they are. Lets enjoy some natural progression of our young players. I suspect this is gonna be a fun ride.

I'm a big Wiggins fan. But IMO, he's not there (yet). Not saying he won't make the leap. Just saying based on what he's done to this point. I normally look at three Advanced stats to gain perspective:

PER: Wiggins was 4th on the team behind KAT, Rubio, Dieng
Win Shares: Wiggins was 4th on the team behind KAT, Dieng, Rubio
VORP: Wiggins was 7th on the team. Leaders were: KAT, Dieng, Rubio

Granted - there's always flukes and flaws in every stat. But generally, the cream rises to the top on those three indicators IMO. It's not a cooincidence that KAT led the team in all three categories

And I'll restate - I'm a Wiggins fan and believe he can get there. We all saw him flash and take over a few games last year. He needs to do that more consistently though. And that's why up to this point, I can't justify it. While it's reasonable to assume he'll keep improving, there's also the chance he stagnates or regresses. I'm just going more by what they've actually done vs. what we hope they can do. I think Thibbs is going to be very good for Wiggins and he'll turn it up another notch this year which would be pretty exciting.

mrhockey89 wrote:I'm surprised there's no "KG Appreciation" thread. This guy was the heart and sole of our franchise for over a decade, he considers 'Sota his home, he's always shown the fans his love, he's always given the Wolves everything he's got. There's very few players in the history of the NBA who you can look at and feel like they don't take plays off, but KG was one of those guys. He kept our team in the playoffs for over a decade, even when we didn't have the surrounding talent, and he put Minnesota on the map in basketball. And along with everything, he always kept it real, and was probably one of the most entertaining interviews I've ever heard. His loyalty is unmatched in today's NBA.

That's all I've got, but he's the reason I started paying attention to basketball in Minnesota, and outside of Michael Jordan, there's not a player I enjoyed watching more.

Hats off to KG, thanks for the years.

Hockey, I think people are just tired of the drama at this point and are ready to move forward. There was plenty of KG-appreciation and memories shared upon his initial return back to Minnesota. Then we debated about the 2-year contract he signed. Then we were ecstatic about the way he helped get us off to an 8-8 start. Then the team took a winter nose-dive, he got hurt, and by the time we got our act together in the final third of the season, he was really no longer a factor.

It's time to move on.....

Carlos Danger wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

Carlos Danger wrote:I won't argue with anyone who wants to put KAT down as the 1st piece of the "Big 3". He had an excellent 1st season and it would be logical to assume he will get better coming back with another year of maturity/experience. I was approaching it more from the standpoint of you generally have to prove it over a longer period of time to get that sort of recognition. One season can be a fluke. I don't believe that will be the case. But that's where I was coming from. As far as Wiggins/LaVine, they seem like they could get there too. But they haven't been able to put up the sort of Advanced stats that KAT did (yet)..

I put Wiggins in a future big 3 with zero hesitation. The guy is very difficult to guard and he doesn't even have a good handle or have range on his jump shot yet and doesn't turn 22 till February. The guy is gonna be a killer scorer (already pretty good) and will do plenty of other stuff to help his team win including playing defense. I feel very strongly about that. I feel Lavine can get to being big 3 but I do think he hasn't proved it as much as Wiggins consistently the last 2 years.

Think about this: NOBODY imagined 2 years ago that Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green would become one of the best big 3's in the league but they are. Lets enjoy some natural progression of our young players. I suspect this is gonna be a fun ride.

I'm a big Wiggins fan. But IMO, he's not there (yet). Not saying he won't make the leap. Just saying based on what he's done to this point. I normally look at three Advanced stats to gain perspective:

PER: Wiggins was 4th on the team behind KAT, Rubio, Dieng
Win Shares: Wiggins was 4th on the team behind KAT, Dieng, Rubio
VORP: Wiggins was 7th on the team. Leaders were: KAT, Dieng, Rubio

Granted - there's always flukes and flaws in every stat. But generally, the cream rises to the top on those three indicators IMO. It's not a cooincidence that KAT led the team in all three categories

And I'll restate - I'm a Wiggins fan and believe he can get there. We all saw him flash and take over a few games last year. He needs to do that more consistently though. And that's why up to this point, I can't justify it. While it's reasonable to assume he'll keep improving, there's also the chance he stagnates or regresses. I'm just going more by what they've actually done vs. what we hope they can do. I think Thibbs is going to be very good for Wiggins and he'll turn it up another notch this year which would be pretty exciting.

Agreed Carlos. Wiggins should get there, but he's not there yet.

Q12543 wrote:

mrhockey89 wrote:I'm surprised there's no "KG Appreciation" thread. This guy was the heart and sole of our franchise for over a decade, he considers 'Sota his home, he's always shown the fans his love, he's always given the Wolves everything he's got. There's very few players in the history of the NBA who you can look at and feel like they don't take plays off, but KG was one of those guys. He kept our team in the playoffs for over a decade, even when we didn't have the surrounding talent, and he put Minnesota on the map in basketball. And along with everything, he always kept it real, and was probably one of the most entertaining interviews I've ever heard. His loyalty is unmatched in today's NBA.

That's all I've got, but he's the reason I started paying attention to basketball in Minnesota, and outside of Michael Jordan, there's not a player I enjoyed watching more.

Hats off to KG, thanks for the years.

Hockey, I think people are just tired of the drama at this point and are ready to move forward. There was plenty of KG-appreciation and memories shared upon his initial return back to Minnesota. Then we debated about the 2-year contract he signed. Then we were ecstatic about the way he helped get us off to an 8-8 start. Then the team took a winter nose-dive, he got hurt, and by the time we got our act together in the final third of the season, he was really no longer a factor.

It's time to move on.....

The way it ended was just sad and weird. Did he really not know if he could play anymore or not? The whole thing was like this big secret. I kept thinking they would do something for the last home game of the season like an honorary start so he could play a token 5 minutes and maybe score a last bucket/get a final standino O etc. I don't know what was going on behind the scenes. But, yes - I did tire of the drama. If there were reports that he was healthy/ready to start the season - then I would have been fine carrying him for his last season as the 15th guy. But there was nothing (that I saw) coming out about his condition. It's not fair to put the team in a spot like that, so I'm glad he did the right thing and accepted the buy out. And, yes - he didn't get the send off he probably deserved. But I feel part of that is on him. He probably just hung on one year too long.

Q12543 wrote:

Carlos Danger wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

Carlos Danger wrote:I won't argue with anyone who wants to put KAT down as the 1st piece of the "Big 3". He had an excellent 1st season and it would be logical to assume he will get better coming back with another year of maturity/experience. I was approaching it more from the standpoint of you generally have to prove it over a longer period of time to get that sort of recognition. One season can be a fluke. I don't believe that will be the case. But that's where I was coming from. As far as Wiggins/LaVine, they seem like they could get there too. But they haven't been able to put up the sort of Advanced stats that KAT did (yet)..

I put Wiggins in a future big 3 with zero hesitation. The guy is very difficult to guard and he doesn't even have a good handle or have range on his jump shot yet and doesn't turn 22 till February. The guy is gonna be a killer scorer (already pretty good) and will do plenty of other stuff to help his team win including playing defense. I feel very strongly about that. I feel Lavine can get to being big 3 but I do think he hasn't proved it as much as Wiggins consistently the last 2 years.

Think about this: NOBODY imagined 2 years ago that Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green would become one of the best big 3's in the league but they are. Lets enjoy some natural progression of our young players. I suspect this is gonna be a fun ride.

I'm a big Wiggins fan. But IMO, he's not there (yet). Not saying he won't make the leap. Just saying based on what he's done to this point. I normally look at three Advanced stats to gain perspective:

PER: Wiggins was 4th on the team behind KAT, Rubio, Dieng
Win Shares: Wiggins was 4th on the team behind KAT, Dieng, Rubio
VORP: Wiggins was 7th on the team. Leaders were: KAT, Dieng, Rubio

Granted - there's always flukes and flaws in every stat. But generally, the cream rises to the top on those three indicators IMO. It's not a cooincidence that KAT led the team in all three categories

And I'll restate - I'm a Wiggins fan and believe he can get there. We all saw him flash and take over a few games last year. He needs to do that more consistently though. And that's why up to this point, I can't justify it. While it's reasonable to assume he'll keep improving, there's also the chance he stagnates or regresses. I'm just going more by what they've actually done vs. what we hope they can do. I think Thibbs is going to be very good for Wiggins and he'll turn it up another notch this year which would be pretty exciting.

Agreed Carlos. Wiggins should get there, but he's not there yet.

I simply made a stance that Wiggins will get there. Advanced stats be damned no he isn't there yet but I have a hard time believing Wiggins can't at least be #3 in a big 3. Thinking he will regress while possible seems much less likely than him improving. Just stating my perspective. It's fine if you want to wait and see but I've seen enough to feel pretty confident he is gonna be a really good player.

Carlos Danger wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

mrhockey89 wrote:I'm surprised there's no "KG Appreciation" thread. This guy was the heart and sole of our franchise for over a decade, he considers 'Sota his home, he's always shown the fans his love, he's always given the Wolves everything he's got. There's very few players in the history of the NBA who you can look at and feel like they don't take plays off, but KG was one of those guys. He kept our team in the playoffs for over a decade, even when we didn't have the surrounding talent, and he put Minnesota on the map in basketball. And along with everything, he always kept it real, and was probably one of the most entertaining interviews I've ever heard. His loyalty is unmatched in today's NBA.

That's all I've got, but he's the reason I started paying attention to basketball in Minnesota, and outside of Michael Jordan, there's not a player I enjoyed watching more.

Hats off to KG, thanks for the years.

Hockey, I think people are just tired of the drama at this point and are ready to move forward. There was plenty of KG-appreciation and memories shared upon his initial return back to Minnesota. Then we debated about the 2-year contract he signed. Then we were ecstatic about the way he helped get us off to an 8-8 start. Then the team took a winter nose-dive, he got hurt, and by the time we got our act together in the final third of the season, he was really no longer a factor.

It's time to move on.....

The way it ended was just sad and weird. Did he really not know if he could play anymore or not? The whole thing was like this big secret. I kept thinking they would do something for the last home game of the season like an honorary start so he could play a token 5 minutes and maybe score a last bucket/get a final standino O etc. I don't know what was going on behind the scenes. But, yes - I did tire of the drama. If there were reports that he was healthy/ready to start the season - then I would have been fine carrying him for his last season as the 15th guy. But there was nothing (that I saw) coming out about his condition. It's not fair to put the team in a spot like that, so I'm glad he did the right thing and accepted the buy out. And, yes - he didn't get the send off he probably deserved. But I feel part of that is on him. He probably just hung on one year too long.

Yep I think a lot of it is on KG and even if there wasn't the likely bad blood or at least likely frustration be tween KG and the Wolves i think some of this what is he going to do this year was likely to happen. KG isn't big on the send offs. Jon K tweeted something about KG saying when he left you wouldn't hear from him but if you wanted to find him go to the court at the YMCA or something. KG didn't want a victory tour. He probably didn't want a 5 min cameo in that last game. He probably would have loved what would have come with that but we all don't do somethings that may be good for us plus there are just too many reports he was really wanting to play again for them not to be true. It is a shame how his career ended but a number of people saw this coming. It seems like it could have ended worse. I respect him to a certain point not wanting anything big although it's possible they still do a KG send off night at a game this season.

Also like Q said I think people have shown KG the love in numerous other threads. There just isn't much left to say. It still is a bit of a shame we aren't celebrating his career but I think we have celebrated his career and morned him leaving for months now and him finally making the announcement brings more relief than anything else.

monsterpile wrote:

Carlos Danger wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

mrhockey89 wrote:

.

The way it ended was just sad and weird. Did he really not know if he could play anymore or not? The whole thing was like this big secret. I kept thinking they would do something for the last home game of the season like an honorary start so he could play a token 5 minutes and maybe score a last bucket/get a final standino O etc. I don't know what was going on behind the scenes. But, yes - I did tire of the drama. If there were reports that he was healthy/ready to start the season - then I would have been fine carrying him for his last season as the 15th guy. But there was nothing (that I saw) coming out about his condition. It's not fair to put the team in a spot like that, so I'm glad he did the right thing and accepted the buy out. And, yes - he didn't get the send off he probably deserved. But I feel part of that is on him. He probably just hung on one year too long.

Yep I think a lot of it is on KG and even if there wasn't the likely bad blood or at least likely frustration be tween KG and the Wolves i think some of this what is he going to do this year was likely to happen. KG isn't big on the send offs. Jon K tweeted something about KG saying when he left you wouldn't hear from him but if you wanted to find him go to the court at the YMCA or something. KG didn't want a victory tour. He probably didn't want a 5 min cameo in that last game. He probably would have loved what would have come with that but we all don't do somethings that may be good for us plus there are just too many reports he was really wanting to play again for them not to be true. It is a shame how his career ended but a number of people saw this coming. It seems like it could have ended worse. I respect him to a certain point not wanting anything big although it's possible they still do a KG send off night at a game this season.
.

Can you picture the HOF induction?

Duncan and Garnett... two guys who ended things unceremoniously on the docket with Kobe Bryant... who steamrolled an entire franchise for at least an entire season... who refused to give up the spotlight (literally to the final second)...

I have a sneaky suspicion Bryant will end up talking only to a half-asleep audience (and 800 ESPN cameramen) while Duncan and Garnett are behind the scenes hanging out and goofing with former HOF players.


HOF: "Kevin, Tim, one of you are up..."
Both of them: "Nah. We're cool here. Give Kobe another shot."