Garnett's legacy still fresh in Minnesota

For once, there is a Timberwolves' game worth watching this Friday.

That is not a misprint. In fact, the Wolves, off to a 1-8 start, may have only one game worth watching this season.

Friday night, Kevin Garnett and his defending champion Boston Celtics will return to a place he called home for 12 NBA seasons. It will be his first time on the Target Center floor as a member of a team other than the Timberwolves.

Garnett, who missed last season's matchup due to injury, will step onto a floor against a team he is the all-time leader in points, rebounds, assists, blocked shots and anything else you can think of.

Garnett was drafted in 1995 out of Farragut Academy High School (Chicago) in Kevin McHale's first significant move as vice president of basketball operations. The next big move was the hiring of long-time friend Flip Saunders as head coach.

Just how big an impact did "Da' Kid" turned "Big Ticket" have on the Wolves?

Prior to K.G.'s arrival, the team had never won more than 29 games in a single season. In fact, the team had an overall record of 126-366 in six seasons.

In Garnett's second season, the team won 40 games. By the middle of a strike-shortened fourth, Garnett had doubled the franchise's win total.

Garnett would go on to have a stellar career with the Wolves, leading them to the playoffs eight times. In his 12 seasons' here, he was named to the All-Star team ten times, the All-Defensive First Team six times, and he was an All-Star Game M.V.P and a regular season M.V.P.

But he was never able to shake the "can't win the big game" image that both he and Saunders got while losing seven of eight first-round playoff matchups.

Fast-forward four years and Saunders has had a three-year streak of leading a team to the conference finals and Garnett has his championship.

So there must be more to the story about why Flip and Kevin could not succeed in Minnesota.

There are really two reasons: lack of luck and McHale.

The team only had one lottery pick in K.G.'s career, which resulted in them drafting fourth in 1996. They ended up with Ray Allen, who was traded that night for Stephon Marbury and we all know how that ended.

Had the Wolves hit the lottery for the first time in their history and landed the No. 1 pick, Allen Iverson and Garnett could have grown up playing together. Just think of the titles those two could have won together. That may even be going too far.

Reason No. 2 might have screwed that up. McHale is a man who drafted Paul Grant, Will Avery and Nuidi Ebi among other screw-ups in his tenure.

McHale also forfeited four picks during Garnett's career for an under-the-table agreement with Joe Smith.

He also routinely surrounded Garnett with washed up big-men (i.e. LaPhonso Ellis) and slow, emotionless point guards (Terrell Brandon).

In the one season, 2003-04, that McHale provided Saunders and Garnett with ample talent, the duo responded with 58 wins and a showing in the conference finals. If star point guard Sam Cassell was not injured, it is conceivable to think that team would have won a title.

That being said, Garnett's legacy will live long here in the Cities and he will continue to have an impact on the future of the team due to McHale's shipping him to Boston.

Al Jefferson, acquired for Garnett, looks to be a decent big man and the Wolves will benefit with two draft picks from the same deal if McHale does not screw them up.

So throw on the TV Friday and show some respect to the best non-Minneapolis Laker ever to call Minnesota home.