How About a Round of Applause for the Kid?

I remember reading an article in 1999 about the Kid. The kid who broke the NBA’s piggy bank. I remember reading that and being saddened by it. One man? Really, one man is the reason the NBA was headed for a lockout? It was just this one kid who was the reason that billionaires were quabbling with millionaires? I was shocked. Even moreso I was hurt. This was my favorite player.

Quick side note: I graduated High School in 2001, the same year as Tyson Chandler. It was my dream to play in the NBA and I knew he was going to achieve it right then, but I ate up everything I could about Tyson. I made Pops buy the Adidas Blue Ribbon guide and read all about him. We had just gotten the internet, but I read everything I could about him, even if it took an hour to load the damn article.

Well, before all that was KG. I read everything on him. This was before I became an ESPN.com 2 junkie. Before I’d ever heard of Bill Simmons. Before I had read Rick Reilly. Before the internet was huge. This was back when ESPN 2 had that cool graphic for in-game box scores. It was purple and had the handwritten 2 like it was graffiti. And I remember the SI articles. They talked about him pre draft. Was this high schooler going to REALLY get drafted as a high lottery pick? Was he really in the same breath as McDyess, Stack and Sheed? And I recall Joe Smith being pretty beastly at the time too.
This is when I came to ‘know’ Kevin Garnett. Do you remember the SI article that had the photos of him playing pool with Jimmy Jam? IDK how many times I read that joint. I was all about it. This was my guy. Tall, lanky, step outside and shoot or back you down and drop one on your domepiece. And on top of that, he was captain of the all-hustle team. This was the guy I wanted to emulate.
I remember the first time I got to see Kevin Garnett. I had tickets over one Xmas break to see him in Cleveland in Bron’s second year. It was amazing. KG never stopped playing. He was always moving, calling for the ball, looking to hit that open space to get a skip pass just so he could dunk on someone. It was a strange contrast to LeBron. He was a little timid – maybe even intimidated. Only a couple times were they face up against each other, but it was awesome to see the old Kid dissect the new Kid.
Well, the Kid grew up and became the Franchise. He never won anything. They said he shied away from the big time, like Webber and KarlMalone. He made only one run deep into the playoffs. The rest of the time he was McGrady’d right out that bitch. Next thing I knew, he was the old guard. I began to question if I’d ever see my favorite player hoist any more hardware. Then IT happened. You know what IT is. The day he was traded to Boston.
Next thing I knew it was all talk about championship this and celebration that. The coronation began right around the same time as training camp. Everyone pretty much obliged, except for those pesky Washington Wizards. There was the loss to the Pistons at home in December. There was the 3-game skid in February. Then the Hawks took them to 7 games. Same with the Cavs. But a home loss to Detroit was all it took to wake the C’s from their funk and right the ship. Now that same kid is a grown ass man with an NBA championship ring. Congrats to The Kid. The kid who was the first Kid since Moses Malone. You can keep Kobe, Tracy, Bronnie, etc. I’ll take this Kid over any of them.