Garnett a Celtic!
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A dozen years into his NBA career and the player with the longest current tenure on any one team has now been moved for the first time in his career: future Hall of Famer, Kevin Garnett, is no longer a Minnesota Timberwolf!
The deal, which give Boston a potent trio of players in Garnett, Paul Pierce and and Ray Allen that could help the Celtics compete in a talent-barren Eastern Conference, gives Minnesota fans something they haven't had in a while: a team with an open future.
Despite a thrilling Western Conference Finals appearance three years ago, the Garnett-led Timberwolves had spent the past three seasons failing to even make the playoffs. Management decided the time was ripe to "go young," and Garnett finally agreed to go to a team he wanted no part of before the NBA Draft.
Of course, before the NBA Draft, the Celtics didn't have Ray Allen to team up with Garnett and Pierce. Now they have all three.
So, what does Minnesota get in return? Well, just about half the Celtics' team. In fact, it consists of a starting lineup, in number if not in quality, and two first-round picks.
Here's the lowdown on what the Wolves received:
SG Sebastian Telfair, 22, 6.1 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 2.8 apg SF Ryan Gomes, 25, 10.1 ppg, 5.6 rpg SF/PF Gerald Green, 21, 10.4 ppg, 2.6 rpg PF Al Jefferson, 22, 16 ppg, 11 rpg C Theo Ratliff, 34, 2.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg A 2009 Celtics 1st-round draft pick
Also, the future 1st-rounder the Wolves owed the Celtics from the Szczerbiak/Davis trade from 2006 is wiped off the books and returns to the Wolves. All this pick really does is wipe clean a serious blunder McHale made in the past.
All the Wolves didn't get in the deal was a PG, and the team seems set on Randy Foye as their top option there.
Of this bunch, only Ratliff is really an obvious candidate for being bounced after the 2007-08 season; an aging, unproductive center may add some insurance to the healthy and starting minutes of C Mark Blount, but Ratliff's advantage is the over $11M that will come off the Wolves' salary cap burden when they renounce him next summer.
The rest of the four players received are all 25 or younger and have plenty of potential to fit into the Wolves roster.
