Kevin Garnett Loss Felt Already in Minnesota
Aug 6, 2007, 08:49
McHale's one-man navy.
MINNEAPOLIS - Minnesota Timberwolves general manager, Kevin McHale, came under fire yesterday when it was learned that Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett, traded to the Boston Celtics one day before the tragic I-35 bridge collapse last week, had spent much of his off-court time standing in the Mississippi River trying to help support the bridge during rush hour.
“People knew he carried the team,” said a Minnesota fire department member, "but not everyone was aware that he felt an obligation to carry the bridge too, weather and schedule permitting.”
“Unless he was on the court or on the road, he was pretty much under that bridge,” said teammate Ricky Davis. "He really believed he was helping to keep the bridge from collapsing."
Kevin Garnett, bottom, always gave back to the Minneapolis community.
Other players said Garnett, 31, was fiercely loyal to the bridge and had vetoed a trade to Boston earlier in the summer because he wasn’t comfortable about passing on his responsibilities.
McHale privately told friends he didn't think Garnett had "both oars in the water about this bridge thing." McHale defended the trade in public, saying it had strengthened the Timberwolves overall. He pooh- poohed any notion that the trade had weakened the city’s infrastructure.
McHale's critics charged, however, that he had weakened the infrastructure—in the short run at least. They did not believe that Al Jefferson, a third-year forward who was the key player the Timberwolves acquired in the Garnett trade, was up to the task of keeping the I-35 bridge from collapsing.
“The only thing Al Jefferson ever held up is the line at Wendy’s,” said one Minneapolis sports writer.
"Man, I think that brother was born different," said a former teammate.
Sadly the fears of Jefferson’s critics were realized the first day he took his position down in the blocks underneath the bridge. Jefferson, who injured his back slightly in the subsequent bridge collapse, blamed his lack of familiarity with the Timberwolves’ new sliding zone defense for his failure to handle the paint. He said he expects to be ready to go back to work after the bridge has been repaired.
Kevin Garnett, meanwhile, was unavailable for comment, having positioned himself already in the Charles River to uphold the Longfellow Bridge, which is known around Boston as the "Salt-and-Pepper Shaker Bridge."
