New Bill Simmons podcast on ESPN.com with Ric Bucher and Marc Stein.


They are talking about the KG trade to Boston about 11 minutes into the podcast and Bucher's saying that he knows for a fact that the Wolves could have had a better trade for KG than the one we did with Boston. Simmons then calls him out and asks \"like what?\" and he's like \"well, I don't have it here in front of me, but I know for a fact that there were 2 or 3 teams with better offers on the table.\"


- Hmmm... not sure what to make of that. Of course he didn't tell us just exactly what those offers were, so who knows. What other teams were giving us better offers!?!? Phoenix? Definitely NOT the Lakers. The Bulls... maybe? Probably not the Hawks due to their ownership situation. Like I said, I'm not sure what to make of this... BUT, if it's true that's a damn shame that McHale wouldn't have taken the best offer for the future of the Wolves.

I don't really see what else could have been better? Maybe if Phoenix was offering Amare AND the Hawks pick?

Personally, I'd rather have Jefferson for his current contract than either Amare or Deng. When you look at age and salary ramifications, KG for Jefferson straight up is a reasonable deal from a pure-basketball standpoint. KG obviously had some emotional value that can't be compensated for.

DeROK wrote:
I agree. I like Jefferson and he'll be a stud for a long time. I've been trying to think of better deals but I can't really come up with anything. I bet he was just blowing smoke, as yet another reason to simply rip on the Timberwolves... like usual.

Let's put it this way we traded him to Boston and couldnt even get Pierce in the deal?! I wish it had of been the Suns....

Trading him for Pierce makes no sense.

For one, Garnett only agreed to go to Boston because he wanted to play with Paul and Ray. If we traded him for Pierce, KG wouldn't have gone.

Two, Pierce isn't a youngster any more and he's not nearly as good as KG. That would be like trading a dollar for sixty cents.

Third, Al Jefferson is much more valuable than Pierce. He's young, he's going to be an all-star and a dominant big man in this league, and he's got a much better contract.

Jefferson is a much, much better asset to this team than Pierce would ever have been.

The question is , will big Al be the next big thing, im not so sure yet. Hes played solidly so far this eason *my only season really watching him*, and he plays decently. Hes a good shooter, except on free throws, wich will either win you or cost you a game, i very much believe. His D is also questionable so far . Pierce on the other hand is a much more all around solid player, n i will take a good solid player anyday over a young one, who may or may not be the next big thing. Do i think big al, is bust hell no, im just saying i would have taken pierce over him anyday.

Mad_Dog04 wrote:

The problem is that there would have been a 0% chance that we traded KG for Pierce. KG would NOT go to Boston if Pierce wasn't there as well. So, I don't know why we are even talking about it.

YA got me there cw.

I'm really annoyed with Buch and Stein for dropping that nugget then claiming they don't have their info in front of them. That was just stupid. They obviously knew the principles of what the other deals where.

My guess is that maybe there was a couple deals involving guys with more national name recognition than Al. I somewhat doubt they were truly much better deals. It doesn't make sense for McHale to obsess about sending KG out East because the Wolves are in a rebuilding phase.

If everything goes perfectly the Wolves will be contending in 4 years. By that time KG will be an *old* 35 given that he'd be in his 16th year.

If we can just land a top 5 pick this year, (a lottery pick would be golden) this team is in excellent shape. Remember, we've been in almost every game and then melted down in the fourth. This is without Foye, who has proven that he can be clutch.

Give me a core of Jefferson, Foye, McCants, and then Rose, Mayo, etc...

That's going to be a playoff team next year and a contender in 1-2 after that.

pants wrote:
I think the deal they are refering to was Kobe, Duncan, Lebron, Brett Farve, Pamala Anderson and all the ping pong balls from the lottery.

Personally I think this trade was fairly successful. Wolves got Al who is a young player with immense potential and KG got to a perfect destination. I believe what Wolves wanted initially was a big man to compensate the loss of KG in the post.

I don't know who else really qualifies this. While you can name more nationally recognised players like Amare Stoudemire, I really don't think they would come to wolves especially when wolves couldn't offer more \"attractive\" players other than KG.

Al Jefferson will be a great young player in the future. Wolves are rebuilding. I don't see anything that isn't fair at this stage.

mmaland wrote:
Hahahahahahahah Howl for you.

Also, I do agree with you guys that it is a complete farce that they won't tell the listeners what the \"other deals\" are (if they did exist.) I don't doubt that other offers were \"out there\", but who knows how serious they were.

Just bad journalism/reporting/whatever you want to call it saying that you \"don't have it in front of you\", when you obviously know. If they said that they didn't have it in front of them to cover for the fact that no such offers existed and they fabricated it... well, that's even worse. Very lame.

Here is some info on deals the Wolves supposedly had for KG:



Warriors Offered Harrington, Biedrins, Monta And 18th Pick For KG?
November 20, 2007 - 11:27 am Boston Globe

Before Kevin Garnett was dealt to Boston in the offseason, Golden State quietly made a strong push to acquire the 10-time All-Star.

\"When you have a chance to get one of the three best players in the league, of course you try,\" said Warriors executive vice president of basketball operations Chris Mullin. \"The fact is, he was dealt somewhere else. You can't make someone deal it to you. You move forward. When those great players come up, you're automatically interested.\"

Garnett's agent, Andy Miller, didn't believe the Wolves were serious about trading their all-time leader in points, rebounds, blocks, and assists until early June. Eager to add the future Hall of Famer, the Celtics, Warriors, Lakers, Bulls, and Mavericks were the main teams showing interest, according to an NBA source.

The source said the Warriors' package for Garnett included forward Al Harrington, center Andris Biedrins, guard Monta Ellis, and the 18th pick in this year's draft. The Lakers dangled forward Lamar Odom and center Andrew Bynum but couldn't acquire a high draft pick to sweeten the offer. Chicago spoke of sending Ben Gordon or Luol Deng, plus Tyrus Thomas, Thabo Sefolosha, and P.J. Brown in a sign-and-trade and their ninth overall pick for Garnett and another player. Dallas offered anybody but 2007 NBA MVP Dirk Nowitzki.


Wow... I really like that Bulls deal. We should have taken that.