KG to LBJ: Loyalty Hurts You Because You Cant Get Youth Back

cpfsf · Post #1 » by **cpfsf** » Fri May 14, 2010 5:04 am

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/66567/20100514/kg_to_lebron_loyalty_hurts_you_because_you_cant_get_youth_back/

"Loyalty is something that hurts you at times because you can't get youth back. I can honestly say that if I can go back and do my situation over, knowing what I know now with this organization, I'd of done it a little sooner.

More at the link. I think KG's still upset with Glen Taylor after he accused him of tanking it because he missed the last 5 games of the season.

SpencerBusch · Post #2 » by **SpencerBusch** » Fri May 14, 2010 5:12 am

The man is right. He could of left and won alot of rings..But no he stayed loyal and played with what he had and gave x10 more heart and effort in any game the LeChoke ever gave.

Which is why i love the man and will always have his jersey hanging on my wall.

LordBaldric · Post #3 » by **LordBaldric** » Fri May 14, 2010 5:20 am

cpfsf wrote:http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/66567/20100514/kg_to_lebron_loyalty_hurts_you_because_you_cant_get_youth_back/

"Loyalty is something that hurts you at times because you can't get youth back. I can honestly say that if I can go back and do my situation over, knowing what I know now with this organization, I'd of done it a little sooner.

More at the link. I think KG's still upset with Glen Taylor after he accused him of tanking it because he missed the last 5 games of the season.

This disappoints me. We were trying to do right by KG even if McHale was screwing it up.

Howler21 · Post #4 » by **Howler21** » Fri May 14, 2010 5:29 am

That really sort of stings hearing him say it. Really can't argue what he is saying at all though.

funkatron101 · Post #5 » by **funkatron101** » Fri May 14, 2010 5:33 am

Loyalty comes easy after a $126 million paycheck.

Cyborg21 · Post #6 » by **Cyborg21** » Fri May 14, 2010 5:33 am

Howler21 wrote:That really sort of stings hearing him say it. Really can't argue what he is say at all though.

QFT

Krapinsky · Post #7 » by **Krapinsky** » Fri May 14, 2010 5:35 am

We lost 3 draft picks, screwedd up every one we did have and made him play with the likes of Marko Jaric and Ricky Davis. He leaves and immediately wins a championship the next year. Then his knees start going out.

Can you blame him???

Esohny · Post #8 » by **Esohny** » Fri May 14, 2010 5:45 am

funkatron101 wrote:Loyalty comes easy after a $126 million paycheck.

+1

LordBaldric · Post #9 » by **LordBaldric** » Fri May 14, 2010 5:52 am

Krapinsky wrote:We lost 3 draft picks, screwedd up every one we did have and made him play with the likes of Marko Jaric and Ricky Davis. He leaves and immediately wins a championship the next year. Then his knees start going out.

Can you blame him???

But it was a good faith screw up.

GopherIt! · Post #10 » by **GopherIt!** » Fri May 14, 2010 8:09 am

loyalty to MN gained him respect around the league. bouncing around the league and chasing trophies does not respect give.

dunkonu21 · Post #11 » by **dunkonu21** » Fri May 14, 2010 8:32 am

hopefully he will go into the hall of fame as a wolf.

Tirion · Post #12 » by **Tirion** » Fri May 14, 2010 8:44 am

Honestly KG should've been traded sooner, right after the 2004-05 season, when they missed the playoffs for the first time. That would've been better for all parties. Those last two seasons were really hard on him AND the fans. I almost quit following NBA after 2007. And they would've gotten more for him, too.

John Doe [MIN] · Post #13 » by **John Doe [MIN]** » Fri May 14, 2010 8:56 am

My first reaction was to be a little hurt by it, even it it's completely true. On the other hand, if most of us can admit that it might have been better for both parties trade him a season or two earlier, I don't see what's wrong with his admitting it as well.

God I hope Boston wins the Title again. It would be vindication for KG and for us for depriving him of the chance to do it earlier in his career.

Diggr14 · Post #14 » by **Diggr14** » Fri May 14, 2010 10:10 am

KGs contract is exactly why you guys never got anywhere far in the playoffs. You dedicated way more money than the Max to this guy..

With almost half of the salary cap dedicated to one guy, you will never win a championship at any level of any team sport. You need other players to be viable. With what the Wolves had to work with as far as cap room and (lost draft picks) - they did about as good as you can expect during that time frame. To do better, your GM would have to run perfect.

Tirion · Post #15 » by **Tirion** » Fri May 14, 2010 11:00 am

Diggr14 wrote:KGs contract is exactly why you guys never got anywhere far in the playoffs. You dedicated way more money than the Max to this guy..

With almost half of the salary cap dedicated to one guy, you will never win a championship at any level of any team sport.

Garnett is the first MVP to take a 43% salary cut in the following season. Next season he'll earn $16 million as part of a five-year $100 million deal he inked in September, compared with $28 million this season.

http://www.forbes.com/athletes2004/LIR7 ... ype=Person

Harry10 · Post #16 » by **Harry10** » Fri May 14, 2010 12:05 pm

GopherIt! wrote:loyalty to MN gained him respect around the league. bouncing around the league and chasing trophies does not respect give.

Shaq seems to be doing okay, but now KG will only be known as the second greatest PF of all time, behind Duncan.

Harry10 · Post #17 » by **Harry10** » Fri May 14, 2010 12:19 pm

Diggr14 wrote:KGs contract is exactly why you guys never got anywhere far in the playoffs. You dedicated way more money than the Max to this guy..

With almost half of the salary cap dedicated to one guy, you will never win a championship at any level of any team sport. You need other players to be viable. With what the Wolves had to work with as far as cap room and (lost draft picks) - they did about as good as you can expect during that time frame. To do better, your GM would have to run perfect.

if only they didn't trade for Starburry!

how beautiful would it have been to see KG and Ray Allen in Wolves' jerseys for the next 10 years.

or have KG/Rip, KG/Miller, KG/Matrix, instead of the over hyped white guy.

you can't blame KG for McHale getting every draft wrong, Duncan got paid, Shaq got paid, Hakeem got paid... you can't blame those guys, their team was able to get players and still got max money

TMo519 · Post #18 » by **TMo519** » Fri May 14, 2010 1:06 pm

The contract was a factor, but only because we didn't have the draft picks or pick the right guys to build with KG. Whenever you get a star like that, you gotta pay whatever it takes to keep him, but then with that, knowing you'll have limited cap, you gotta draft decent or at the very least KEEP your freakin picks. When you lose out on 3 draft picks, right in KG's prime, with nothing to show for them, that's a franchise killer right there. I know we sucked at drafting, but you just never know when you hit just once on that player who maybe could have complimented him here.

And let's face it, both times KG signed his extensions, things looked great for the franchise. On his first deal, we were like THE up and coming hot team, the team everyone was gonna be afraid to play in a year or two. Then Marbury screwed it all up. Then come the second extension, we're a top seed, we're making noise again. Who knew it was gonna fall apart like that, so quickly. You would have thought we coulda gotten a good two or three year run out of those guys.

Dewey · Post #19 » by **Dewey** » Fri May 14, 2010 1:26 pm

"Loyalty is something that hurts you at times because you can't get youth back. I can honestly say that if I can go back and do my situation over, knowing what I know now with this organization, I'd of done it a little sooner.
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It's pretty much black and White ... KG is looking back and concluding that a Trophy is more important than Loyalty. That's just really F@%ked up !!!! Wow ... what message this big joker has sent. He has lost all manhood in my book. It's not like the team didn't make the effort - sometiomes things don't work out. Now to act l ike he should have made the move earlier is pure BS because he was loving his $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and he basically got to endorse every player that we brought in ... now he can talk out of his @$$.

Must be a bonified Yankee fan. He has virtually endorsed trophy hopping. Just watch LeBron move to Chicago with, Wade or Bosh, and Rose ...

mandurugo · Post #20 » by **mandurugo** » Fri May 14, 2010 2:14 pm

Circumstances screwed KG and the wolves.

Nail 1: At the time he signed his contract, he was probably paid more than he should have been, but not a lot more than they had to pay him. However the owners saw the writing on the wall - with the current agreement at the time there was no end in sight to the escalation of pay. KG's contract was the last one under the old deal, and no relief was given to the wolves when salary cap rules changed.

Nail 2: Marbury could never seem to grasp that no only was he not going to get a deal similar to KG's, it was no longer possible to legally sign him to anything close.

Nail 3: Joe Smith deal. Smith was actually a solid partner for KG, the best since Googs. However in their rush to punish the wolves, the league didn't hesitate to violate one of their own rules. They had already seen how punishing it was to a franchise to trade back to back first round picks, and made a rule change to make it illegal for them to do so. The original punishment handed down to the wolves was to lose 5 consecutive draft picks, starting immediately following a year when the wolves had traded their pick - they were essentially going to lose 6 first round draft picks in a row. The league eventually relented and gave some back, but the damage to the fans and franchise was completely ridiculous in response to the crime. Instead of the guilty parties facing the sanctions and penalties it was really the fans and the rest of the team that got screwed. Just an epic failure by the league.

Nail 4: a series of probably well intentioned but ultimately poor personnel decisions in Free agency and the draft.

So I guess I'm not too surprised KG has some regrets regardless of the amount of money he made.