Would anyone here trade back Al Jeff for KG?

[kingly222]

Dont run around trashing your opponents or cursing out people who looked up to you(MCCants). The reason Ipump up Big Al so much b/c posters feel the need to bash him when complimenting KG. If they want to play that gane thats cool, b/c I drop facts.

P.S. Word from the celtic camp is that KG is having a nervous breakdown after the minny game. Im not going to post this on the boston board to start mess, but some of his teamates are already tired of his act.

[RoyHobbs]

Dont run around trashing your opponents or cursing out people who looked up to you(MCCants). The reason Ipump up Big Al so much b/c posters feel the need to bash him when complimenting KG. If they want to play that gane thats cool, b/c I drop facts.

P.S. Word from the celtic camp is that KG is having a nervous breakdown after the minny game. Im not going to post this on the boston board to start mess, but some of his teamates are already tired of his act.

Come on, man, don't turn into the "CelticThug" of the Minnesota board. You've got a source in Big Al; don't expand that into other areas just because you're upset with some perceived slight by KG toward your boy. Big Al was talking just as much smack to KG, and if I recall correctly, he was flapping his gums leading up to Mark Blount returning to Boston after that trade, and then came up remarkably small in that game.

Players talk trash; there's no reason to take all of this personally.

[Worm Guts]

KG plays unselfishly and plays his butt off. I see no reason why you feel you need to trash him. It does not make Al look any better.

[kingly222]

Dont fool yourself. I have plenty of sources b/c of Big Al. Think about it if you were KP or TA, would you show more loyalty to a guy you spent 3 years developing with or a guy you have played with for 4 months. Trust me, I have plenty of sources. And you know Ive never been one to post rumors like celtic thug. All the things I said have come true.

And your so called recollection is another attempt to bash the better player.

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Come on, man, don't turn into the "CelticThug" of the Minnesota board. You've got a source in Big Al; don't expand that into other areas just because you're upset with some perceived slight by KG toward your boy. Big Al was talking just as much smack to KG, and if I recall correctly, he was flapping his gums leading up to Mark Blount returning to Boston after that trade, and then came up remarkably small in that game.
Players talk trash; there's no reason to take all of this personally.

[kingly222]

KG plays unselfishly and plays his butt off. I see no reason why you feel you need to trash him. It does not make Al look any better.

Im not trashing KG. I think he isnt as good as people try to make him out to be and these same peoplegive him a pass on his shortcomings while microanalyzing Al's game and tashing him. If 50 people are doing that, whats wrong with one person taking the opposite position? I believe in everything Im posting.

[kandiking]

i do agree that Al is practically the opposite of KG as far as personality wise. Hey kingly, is it exaggerated how nervous Al was when he left home (southern mississippi) for boston?

[RoyHobbs]

And your so called recollection is another attempt to bash the better player.

I'm not bashing; this *happened*. You can deny it happened, but that doesn't make it less true. In that game, Blount outplayed Big Al, outscoring him and equaling him in rebounds, in a Minnesota win. Blount had four blocks in that game, with most if not all of those coming against Big Al.

I don't feel like searching for the comments all day, but here were some of them, given in an interview two days before the Celts/Twolves game:

"I grew to learn how Mark was last year, so it didn't really bother me this year," said Jefferson. "But last year, it was more like, `What's wrong with him? What's going through his head?' This year it was like, `OK, that's just Mark.' Coach [Doc Rivers] said from Day 1 that he wasn't going to tolerate it. If Mark doesn't want to play, he'll sit him on the bench. Coach proved that a couple times this year by not letting him play and taking him out of the starting lineup."

When asked if he thought executive director of basketball operations Danny Ainge and Rivers worried Blount would become a bad influence on him and Kendrick Perkins, Jefferson said, "That was the big thing right there, too. But no one can put a bad influence on me or Perk. I could have been around Mark Blount every day, could have shared a house together, but he wasn't going to have me thinking the way he thinks.

Blount came out, extra motivated, and basically dominated Big Al, in a way that isn't adequately portrayed in a stats sheet. Now, what was the aftermath of that? Did Celtics fans bash Big Al for not coming up big after running his mouth? No, they continued to support him, because they recognized the big picture.

[karch34]

It's tough to compare, but I will say that Al has done things these last few weeks with the monster games that KG never did in one season. Yeah, KG had more assists and played better D, but the thing I really like about Al is he wants the ball in crunch time.

I also agree that we did gloss over a lot of KG's shortcomings, not being a crunch-time scorer, not wanting to be a leader in the locker room, not getting along with certain players, etc. That's not to detract from what KG meant, but at the same time there were a lot of things that we would've made a big deal about if it was any other player.

My bottom line is I'm thrilled we have Big Al. I appreciate all the good times KG provided me watching the team, wish him the best, and I've moved on.

[kingly222]

i do agree that Al is practically the opposite of KG as far as personality wise. Hey kingly, is it exaggerated how nervous Al was when he left home (southern mississippi) for boston?

Yea he was nervous. Al is one of those guys thats gets very comfortable with people and surroundings. He loves the area where he is from, but he adapts well. If you ever get the chance to meet him you will see he just has a different thought process than the rest of us. Almost like sees life in a different way.

When he got to Boston he adjusted quickly and that became his new home. He became attached once again and felt like he was part of the family. Most people might take offense to being in his eyes"kicked out the family" but once again he adjusted and kept moving forward.

Of course he is getting attached to minny and feels like he was brought here for a reason. To win. He may seem selfish at times, but in Al's mind he wants to put this team on his back and carry them to victory. He is a special person.


Royhobbs, what game exactly are you referring to. give me a date of the game.

[Cy32]

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1st point you made, wow... thats gotta be joke of the day

2nd point, wow... what do you think garnett did more of that season than any other? score in the post..that fadeaway on the low block, thats called a post move..the reason kg was so good that season is because he did alot more scoring on the low blocks with such a great trio of perimeter scorers in sam, wally, latrell

you truly believe that KG, mccants, foye, gomes is going to beat the spurs, lakers, suns, nuggets, mavs, or even the warriors? ..they would struggle just to sneak into the playoffs

I agree with the last part of what you say here, but Wally had little to no effect on the success of the 03-04 team. He didn't even play until game 53 and then the Wolves went on a losing streak but still ended up with the best record in the league. Wally also had little effect on the Wolves success in the playoffs because he was injured and missed at least six games. the Wolves could have beat the Lakers with or without Wally but they couldn't overcome the loss of Sam's injury.

[RoyHobbs]

Royhobbs, what game exactly are you referring to. give me a date of the game.

Jan 31, 2006. It was the first game against the Twolves after the Blount-Ricky-Wally deal. I remember that game pretty vividly, because Celtics fans were pretty jazzed up to see Big Al aggressively talking smack. We over at Celticsblog were all predicting a huge game, and Mark Blount dominated.

(That wasn't all on Big Al. Others on the Celtics came up short, while Ricky and Marcus Banks had big games, too. I'm just using it as illustrative of trash-talking which isn't backed up by performance. It happens, and doesn't say a whole lot about a player one way or the other.)

Anyway, back on the subject, I think the trade is going to work out for both sides. I wouldn't undo the trade from a Celtics perspective, and it wouldn't make a lot of sense for Minnesota fans to undo it, either, except for emotional reasons. Big Al does have things he needs to work on, but he has the ability to be a perennial all-star, especially if Minnesota can find a true center and move Big Al back to power forward.

[kingly222]

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Jan 31, 2006. It was the first game against the Twolves after the Blount-Ricky-Wally deal. I remember that game pretty vividly, because Celtics fans were pretty jazzed up to see Big Al aggressively talking smack. We over at Celticsblog were all predicting a huge game, and Mark Blount dominated.

(That wasn't all on Big Al. Others on the Celtics came up short, while Ricky and Marcus Banks had big games, too. I'm just using it as illustrative of trash-talking which isn't backed up by performance. It happens, and doesn't say a whole lot about a player one way or the other.)

Anyway, back on the subject, I think the trade is going to work out for both sides. I wouldn't undo the trade from a Celtics perspective, and it wouldn't make a lot of sense for Minnesota fans to undo it, either, except for emotional reasons. Big Al does have things he needs to work on, but he has the ability to be a perennial all-star, especially if Minnesota can find a true center and move Big Al back to power forward.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/box ... 00MIN.html

I wouldnt call that domination. Dont forget that was the same year Al was playing through a bad ankle injury and wasnt playing consistent minutes.

Al is far from perfect, but he is far from the player alot try to make him out to be.

[RoyHobbs]

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http://www.basketball-reference.com/box ... 00MIN.html

I wouldnt call that domination. Dont forget that was the same year Al was playing through a bad ankle injury and wasnt playing consistent minutes.

Al is far from perfect, but he is far from the player alot try to make him out to be.

That's why I said it didn't show up on the stats sheet. Numbers wise, Blount simply outperformed Al. In reality, he crushed him, and he ripped out the hearts of a ton of Celtics fans at the time. Blount blocked Big Al several times, and stole the ball from him at least once. It was a sickening game for us at the time; it was the worst possible outcome after the trash talk, etc.

Anyway, that was just an example I remember, of Al talking trash and then suffering a let down. I'm not bringing this up to criticize, but rather to point out letdowns happen to everyone, including Big Al and KG. On Celticsblog, I was Al's champion, even when he was playing poorly after being rushed back from injury, and 50% of Celtics fans were down on him. I'd like nothing more than to see him transform into a dominant force, who has continued success long into the future (so long as he isn't playing the Celts in the finals).

[TrentTuckerForever]

I also agree that we did gloss over a lot of KG's shortcomings, not being a crunch-time scorer, not wanting to be a leader in the locker room, not getting along with certain players, etc. That's not to detract from what KG meant, but at the same time there were a lot of things that we would've made a big deal about if it was any other player.

The other thing that newer Wolves fans need to remember is the context... before KG we never had anyone remotely close to hall-of-fame numbers or impact. I personally am willing to forgive and to overlook a lot simply because of the relative 'youth' of the franchise (est. 1989) and the players who came before. Kingly, do you know who the best player in T-Wolves history was before KG? In one man's opinion here's our all-time, pre-KG starting 5:

SF - Tony Campbell
PF - Tom Gugliotta
C - umm... Mike Brown? Stacey King? Luc Longley?
SG - Doug West (my personal favorite)
PG - Pooh Richardson

Yuck.

Now, it could turn out that Al will be a HOFer someday (I certainly hope so) but he's still a prospect. Jefferson hasn't yet scratched the surface of what he can achieve. KG was a fully formed player and represents a lot to long-time Wolves fans. He's the link to the only success this franchise has ever had. So forgive us old dogs our green and blue tinted glasses, eh?

[D1SGRUNTL3D]

JR Rider is not happy for not making the list.

Wasnt Doug West a SF anyways

[karch34]

Very good point TTF.

West was always a SG as far as I can remember.

What's really scary would be the 2nd team names for the Pre-KG starting five.

C-Felton Spencer
PF-Laettner
SF-Chuck Person
SG-Yikes! No clue. Scotty Brooks?
PG-Michael Williams

[mandurugo]

JR Rider is not happy for not making the list.

Wasnt Doug West a SF anyways

They moved West to small forward when they drafted Rider - but he was a natural shooting guard.

[theGreatRC]

I never saw JR live(I wasn't a wolves fan then), but his dunks were sick, too bad he had problems.

[TrentTuckerForever]

SG-Yikes! No clue. Scotty Brooks?

His career was not pre-KG, but my 2nd favorite 2-guard in Wolves history was James "Hollywood" Robinson. NOBODY could shoot you into or out of a game like Hollywood.

[Worm Guts]

What about Tyrone Corbin?