When KG and Starbury were very young

[Fencer reregistered]

Old SI article on the Garnett/ Marbury relationship.

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/ ... /index.htm

Boy did that change.

It covers KG at a time at an earlier time in his life when his personality was much like a younger version of today's.

[SonicYouth34]

That was a good read. What happened between them? I can't remember.

[campybatman]

If Marbury wasn't such a... I could almost hope that he can end his career on a positive note and mend old fences with Garnett. Perhaps, as teammates... But, I seriously can't see him in Boston nor could I root for the guy. Ainge couldn't really consider bringing in a personality such as Marbury. Can he? I mean he did get burn by the whole Telfair experiment. It would make for a storybook ending. But... It's just tough. Marbury has to look in the mirror. And see that Mike Tyson-esque tattoo on one side of his shaved head.

Minnesota, off to a 12-6 start behind Marbury and Kevin Garnett, is only entertaining a possible deal for Marbury because of his refusal to make a long-term commitment to the Timberwolves. Minnesota has offered him a contract extension worth $70.875 million over six years, the maximum amount allowable, but his distaste for the state's climate and lifestyle has led him to plan to become a free agent after the season.

Faced with the probability of losing Marbury and gaining nothing in return, the Timberwolves, who watched the All-Star forward Tom Gugliotta leave the team as a free agent before this season, are looking for the best deal available.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.h ... wanted=all

Life became more stressful after that season when Fleisher and Garnett rejected club owner Glen Taylor's extension offer of $102 million over six years. Taylor, opening with what he considered a high bid, was stunned, as were other league executives. Fleisher figured Garnett would go for more on the open market next year as a free agent.

Taylor looked hard at the situation, realized Garnett was young, popular and a player who might lead his team to a title, and right before the October 1 deadline, signed the 21-year-old for $126 million.

The T-Wolves, even with Garnett's success, are still waiting on the championship. The team, primed for greatness with three young stars, came apart. Gugliotta left before the lockout season of 1998-99, signing with Phoenix as a free agent. Marbury, upset after realizing Minnesota would never pay him as much as Garnett, was traded to New Jersey 18 games into that season.

As time went on, Garnett tried to forget what might have been. "Through adversity and difficult times," he said, "one of the main keys is staying together as a team and not losing focus."

http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/ ... Kevin.html

Kevin Garnett spoke briefly about the circus surrounding suspended Knicks guard Stephon Marbury, who is seeking a buyout of the final year of his contract and has been banished from the team. Garnett and Marbury were teammates in Minnesota from 1996-99.

"We're not close at all, not really as close as we used to be," Garnett said. "I haven't really been following [the Marbury situation]. I watch it here and there when I go through the locker room when it's on TV. I hear about it. It's unfortunate. But I haven't been following it or had an assessment of it."

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball ... nd/?page=2

It did not have to be this way. Marbury and Garnett could still be Minnesota Timberwolves teammates, making annual playoff runs in the West.

“You easily could have made a case that they should have been a top-16 team for 10-plus years,” said Reggie Miller, the TNT analyst and former Indiana Pacers star, who will be part of the broadcast team tomorrow.

Eleven years ago, Marbury and Garnett were a dynamic guard-forward tandem for the Internet age, Generation Y’s answer to John Stockton and Karl Malone. Eight years ago, Marbury broke up the partnership, forced his way out of icy Minneapolis and cast himself into the N.B.A. wilderness. Both players were worse for the breakup.

For years, the only thing Marbury and Garnett shared was heartbreak and fleeting thoughts of what might have been. Occasionally, they would muse about a redemptive reunion. “That would be great; that would be a beautiful thing,” Marbury said in March 2006.

But Marbury wanted Garnett in New York, and Garnett wanted Marbury in Minneapolis, and there was never any substance to the idea. It was a nice fantasy to keep them warm through the cold N.B.A. winters. It also belied the bad feelings that pushed them apart.

They were divided by ego, jealousy, immaturity and money when the Timberwolves traded Marbury, at his request, to the Nets in March 1999. At the time, Marbury was 22 and Garnett a month shy of 23.

Miller, who was then a 33-year-old veteran with the Pacers, recalls viewing the moment with disappointment.

“Especially with younger players, because ego gets in the way a lot,” Miller said.

Dollar signs clouded the issue. Garnett had signed a $126 million contract with the Timberwolves in 1998 — a deal that helped provoke the N.B.A. lockout, which resulted in new restrictions on player salaries. As a result, the most Marbury could get in a contract extension was $70.9 million.

Garnett and Marbury had been co-equals in game plans and marketing campaigns. Suddenly, there was an imbalance.

“He said the kind of money that K. G. makes is really bothersome for him and that the town was not big enough for both of them,” Kevin McHale, the Timberwolves’ vice president for basketball operations, said of Marbury at the time. “He unequivocally said he would not come back.”

Marbury has long chafed at this story line, saying that he simply disdained the frosty Minneapolis winters and that he longed to play closer to his native New York. During a telephone interview in August, Marbury — while making a rambling defense of his career in general — brought up the fateful trade, unsolicited.

“I’ve been defending myself since I left Minnesota,” he said. “Because I didn’t comply to what they wanted, then it was like: ‘Oh, I’m selfish. I’m this. I’m that.’ I’m like: ‘How can that be? You were just about to give me $71 million! Who gives someone $71 million and they’re selfish and they’re jealous of Kevin Garnett and all of this stupid stuff?’ It’s a joke.”

Marbury added, “I’m happy that I went through that fight, because I wouldn’t be in this place where I am now, in my mind.”

The Garnett-Marbury relationship hit another sour note in December 2002, when Marbury was with Phoenix and rashly declared that the Suns’ Amare Stoudemire had already surpassed Garnett.

“This is Steph being jealous,” Garnett said then. “I’m still on his mind.”

In the seasons that followed, Marbury often turned testy when he was asked about Garnett. The tension has eased over time, with both players confronting greater concerns — foremost, their shrinking window for winning a title.

During his wild July television interview, Marbury expressed heartfelt regret. “I was just telling my friends in the car,” he said, “I want to call K. G. and tell him I’m sorry for anything that ever happened and anything that’s ever been done or said between us.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/sport ... .html?_r=1

[MyInsatiableOne]

Yeah I read this piece...interesting. The difference is Garnett was about winning, Marbury was about earning cash. And Marbury being pissed because KG cashed in before the newest CBA and Marbury missed out by a year? Ridiculous!