I just cannot believe some of the logic here.
I agree. Garnett is a great player, but if he could be the #1 option on an elite team, we would have seen it by now. Swap Stoudemire for Garnett right this instant and the Suns aren't better. Garnett is a better player than Stoudemire, at least now, but he's not the kind of player you can give the ball to in crunch time and say, "Okay, we need a score." Those who watched the Wolves during their WCF year saw that it was always Cassell taking the big shots, not Garnett.
Simmons's article has one other flaw, which is that this is not the "drive-and-dish/offense-beats-defense/smallball era," as he puts it. It's the same bump-and-grind "defense wins championships" era that we've had for most of a generation now.
Surely you can't be saying this with a straight face. Kevin Garnet is every bit the first option that Amare Stoudemire is. I don't know what team some of you guys are watching this season. Amare Stoudemire is not the same guy who could take anybody one-on-one a few years ago. Most all of his points were generated by Steve Nash were one of the other players. You telling me that Kevin Garnet can't finish? He's already a better post player by far.
Frankly I don't even care what happens on offense. We aren't going to take a step back. It's on the other end of the court where Kevin Garnet makes the HUGE difference. Amare Stoudemire, even when he's actually putting forth an effort, is an average at best defender. Usually he's just poor. Kevin Garnet is still one of the best big defenders in the NBA.
If we have Kevin Garnet right now instead of Amare Stoudemire we would be the heavy favorites to win the title. I mean how many Minnesota games have you guys watched lately? Even the guy who was essentially playing for nothing this year would have been an improvement on Amare Stoudemire. Bring him to the Phoenix Suns next year, and he's the MVP. We would see a monster. This is a guy who could average 14 rebounds per game easily here.
this sounds a lot like the idea that I floated right before the playoffs, but the only way that deal goes down is if Minny gets the number 2 pick and we swap picks. That's the only way it's fair IMO, giving up so much in the way of age on the Amare/Garnett swap.
that being said, if the Wolves get the number 2 pick, Garnett ain't going anywhere because he and Durant would be good enough to be somewhat competitive next year and probably very competitive the year after that with the right tweaks.
A trade you floated? I'm sorry, but this article is practically plagiarism of about 5-6 of my posts over the last couple months.
I just watched my Stoudemire have a great fourth quarter, and I would still make this trade if the Phoenix Suns don't win the championship. I think Kevin Garnet would be that much of an improvement over at least the next year or two. I think you are sacrificing nothing on offense and getting a big and movement on the other end of the court.
I would give a trade like this about 10% chance of actually happening. It would take some serious balls for the Phoenix Suns to trade Amare Stoudemire. If it did I would predict 25 points on 53% shooting, 13 rebounds, and 4 assists per game for Kevin Garnett.
And that's how I feel about that.
Joe
