S2E6: Setting the Stage for Kevin Garnett’s Number Retirement

It’s a Kevin Garnett Mega Pod! Ahead of the retirement of KG’s No. 5 on March 13, we hit the Garnett story from all angles. First by bringing in two of his former teammates in Eddie House and James Posey to explain what it’s like to be KG’s teammate. Next by bringing in Wyc Grousbeck to break down how the Garnett megadeal came together back in 2007. And last but not least, the man who is credited with discovering KG, William “Wolf” Nelson, who coached Garnett in high school at Farragut Academy and has been alongside KG ever since, joins the pod to talk about Garnett’s early years and how the two first met back in the day at the Nike All-American camp.

4:00 – Eddie House and James Posey join the pod

5:00 – House and Posey comment on how the Kevin Garnett trade influenced them to sign with Boston, and how House recruited Posey to the team

8:45 – House and Posey explain what it’s like being KG’s teammate for the first time

10:20 – Posey tells the story of when Doc Rivers told KG that KG would be fined if he stepped on the practice court

14:00 – House recalls how KG used to get himself amped up before every single game and every single practice

15:50 – The two former Celtics reveal the time before a game when they knew not to speak to KG anymore because he was in the zone

18:15 – Celtics lead owner Wyc Grousbeck joins the pod and reveals when and how he told KG that he wanted to retire KG’s No. 5

22:20 – Grousbeck recalls the preparation that went into the Celtics preparing for and completing a trade for KG back in 2007

25:30 – Marc and Wyc recall the story that Paul Pierce told Wyc during a free throw against Minnesota back in 2006 that KG was Boston’s missing piece

27:00 – Grousbeck comments on the lasting impact Garnett made and left on the Celtics

31:08 – KG’s high school coach at Farragut, William “Wolf” Nelson, joins the pod

33:00 – Nelson recalls when and how Garnett first moved to Chicago, and what made him allow KG to play an unconventional style of basketball for a big man

37:00- Nelson remembers the famous KG pre-Draft workout, and when he first told Garnett to not restrain his emotions on the court

42:00 – Nelson recalls when he first saw Kevin Garnett at the Nike All-American camp

49:30 – Nelson compared Garnett to Jack and the Beanstock

52:30 – Marc and Grande reconvene to break down the pod interviews

56:30 – What were plan rides and hotel experiences like with KG? Competitive. Loud. Profane. Marc and Grande remember their experiences alongside the Big Ticket

1:00:00 – Wait… KG. turns elevator rides into competitions?

1:05:30 – Grande gives context to KG’s defensive greatness

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome everyone. This is View from the Rafters. It is
my absolute pleasure to welcome in one of the pillars
of this organization. Everybody, Okay, good one, don't go. They're
not yet will We talked about it in our podcast.
You haven't told him. He had just come off the battlefield.
I know what a dream is to work with him.
Half our listeners probably don't even know what that is.
Always gonna be green Baby. Welcome to View from the Rafters,

(00:24):
behind the scenes with the Boston Celtics, presented by Cardless.
Here are your hosts, Mark Demiko and Shawn Grandy. It
is going to be a special special weekend this weekend
at Ted Gardener for the Boston Celtics organization. On Friday night,
there is a welcome home celebration for seventy five years
of Celtics history. Dozens of former players are going to

(00:46):
be in town for that game and celebrated at halftime.
On Saturday, many of those players are going over to
Encore Boston Harbor for a welcome home celebration and then
the granddaddy of them all on Sunday, Kevin Gardner. It's
number five going up to the rafters for the rest
of time. It's going to be an unbelievable experience. Sean
Grandy is here with me, and Sean, you spent plenty

(01:09):
of time around this guy, Kevin Garnett. You were with
him for a few seasons out in Minnesota calling gains
for the Timberwolves, and then obviously six more years here
with the Boston Celtics. Rewinding back to those first days
when you were around Kevin Garnett, what do you remember
about that experience being around the big ticket everything? I
remember everything, photographic memory. Here's the point. Everything you're everything

(01:33):
you're about to hear on this edition, Everything you're about
to hear this weekend, everything in the documentaries, everything that's
going to unfold that's going to hit your ears over
this next period of time on Kevin Garnett Weekend or
whatever we decided to call it. I start with the
following three words. It's all true, all of it, everything

(01:54):
you hear, and to me, one of the most fascinating
parts is how it's going to be hearing. How he
affect did so many people of different generations, of different places,
at different times in their life. So many of the
people he dealt with early were older than he was
in the later years of his career, and he affected
players and people who were younger, and you know, I

(02:16):
think I don't have a part in it. But the
most interesting time for me was the spring and summer
of two thousand seven, when the rumors were growing and
the rumors were gathering, and I was sitting here, going,
this has the chance to be something we're gonna be
doing podcasts about in fifteen years when podcast didn't even exist.

(02:39):
And yet these two, as I've written many times this week,
these two soul mates, the City of Boston, Celtics organization
and Kevin Garnett, there was a disconnect even into that
spring and summer that I don't think people realized exactly
what was about to happen. And I was just one
of the few people behind the curtain who said, wait

(03:00):
a minute, this has a chance to be insane if
it happens. And the hardest thing for me Mark in
the two thousand seven two thousand eighth season calling those
games was not calling them with my palms out like
Jordan in the ninety two finals, like I told you so.
That was the hardest thing for a younger announcer as
I was at the time, to not have that creep

(03:21):
in because it was one of the rare things in
life that not only meets out the outrageous expectations I
had for it those six years exceeded. It certainly exceeded.
It certainly met the expectations. And a big part of
that is a couple of the teammates that were we're
on the roster with him, Eddie House, James Posey, They're
gonna come on right now with us to talk about
their experience with KG, how KG shaped them, and how

(03:43):
KG shaped really the culture within the Boston Celtics and
changed it back in two thousand and seven. So let's
dive in to our conversation with Eddie House and James Posey.
You guys are both coming into town for our seventy
fifth celebration and kg's number of retirement this weekend. When
when are you guys getting into town. I'll get in,
Uh Friday morning? Yeah, I think I either Friday. I

(04:05):
gotta check. I haven't got they yet, so as far
as I know, I'm coming, less they stalling me out.
They're not stalling you Outposed pose You're in. You're in,
locked and loaded. When's the last time all you guys
from the O A team like really got together with,
like a pretty good sized group that you're gonna have
this weekend. I couldn't tell you. I don't I don't think.

(04:27):
I don't think after the championship, I don't think I've
got I got back with the guy. Yeah probably, I mean, yeah,
price as we want. We all been together. Yeah all right,
Well it's happening this weekend, and no better reason than
to watch KG is number five be raised up into
the rafters forever. It's gonna be an awesome, awesome experience.
But let's talk about KG here, right the trade goes
down on July one, two thousand seven, Eddie, you actually

(04:50):
signed with the team the very next day, on the
first day of free agency. James, it took you a
few weeks to come on board. Um, but playing and simple.
Just want to ask you guys right out of the gate, like,
do you guys sign with the Celtics if that KG
trade doesn't go down, Eddie will start with you just
because you were day after Uh. If ever, if every
it was a combination of him man Ray, you know

(05:11):
them coming together when all that happened, and we've seen
the nucleus and Danny called me like, hey, look and
I'm calling again because he called the year before trying
to get me there. UHM. I end up signing with
New Jersey and who was like, hey, I'm calling again.
What you wanted? Was like, man, this was a no brainer.
Uh We're gonna do something special. We just need to
get at Post. I think I hit you up afterwards
because we have the same agent. Yeah, so it pulls

(05:35):
up and like, man, we gotta make this happen. And
you know, not that I played him anyway or nothing,
but we had the same representation. So I reached out
after I signed, and I was trying to because I
knew exactly what Post brought to the table and we
needed we needed him for show. Yeah, it's crazy because
uh uh I remember that weekend like it was yesterday,
because I already told my agent that I was going

(05:56):
to Jersey and because I was, you know, looking for
the next contract or whatever, right, and so uh, I
mean I knew eat House just from Afar and everything.
Never had really no conversation, if recorded, nothing like that.
And then he called my phone and he uh he said,
a pose, listen, now I know you don't know me
or whatever, but listen, listen to me. He said, I've

(06:17):
been here. If you come here, we're gonna win it all.
And then you know, you hear your players call you
stuff like that to get you to come there or whatever.
And I was just like, man, I don't know, because
I was thinking about my situation, you know what I'm saying,
more like you know, like years and where I wanted
to be. So I got off the phone with eat House,
and uh, you know, I just thought about a little bit.

(06:40):
And I already told my agent that I was gonna
go to Jersey, you know, with Jay Kidd, Vince and
m and Richard and r J K and so the
good thing. He told me to think about it, and
he probably told the House to call me. But either way,
after I got the phone with eat House, I called
him back. I said, man, all right, I'm gonna go

(07:01):
to Boston just like that, you know, say I'm gonna
go to Boston. Clearly you made the right decision, right
for right. He said, you you got some jewelry to
hang around now that you made that decision. So thank
you Tony House for making that phone call. Like I said,
he was there and he's they've been working out whatever.
And like I said, I told you the conversation that
we had. And then like I said, I just said,

(07:23):
you know, as I thought about it, I said, you
know what, man, I'm going to Boston. Man, I shake it.
I sak it. A bonus for that posey. We'll cut
you a check when you get to Boston this weekend.
I'll make sure of it. All right, We'll get you
that bonus. So there's gonna be a lot of settling
up of stuff. You guys haven't all been together in
the same room. I was with you for all those

(07:43):
years when you were in the same room and they
were settling up to be done after every after all
these years go by, Man, there's gonna be a lot
of a lot of That's a lot of fun, man.
I'm I'm excited for it, just to see all the guys,
see where everybody's there. You know a lot of guys
are pretty much everybody's successful and moving into their own
they're they're different endeavors than you know, life after basketball.

(08:03):
But we all are hoopers that hard, so we it's
never really like after basketball. It's just we're not really
playing as much. Like I talked, I still got a hoop.
I got fifty year old twins. My oldest is in
New Mexico, and I got fifty year old twin boys.
So we go every Tuesday and Thursday and we go
bang against them high school kids and um, you know,

(08:24):
some grown man just so they could they could feel that,
and it keeps me in shape and kind of keep
me a little younger. There was no one more competitive
then the man Kevin Garnett. Right, So you talked about
a little bit there posed with Eddie's first month of
kind of getting these these offseason runs with KG and
the crew. But when you guys first became teammates with him,
what was that like, Like, what is the experience of

(08:46):
being Kevin Garnett's teammate for the first time? Well, it's
crazy because, uh, you know, I got a good friend
in Sam Casale and him and KG. You know what
I'm saying that they have a good friendship as well.
And so when I signed it, he said a pose
man in the sale voice, You're gonna love ticket, You're
gonna love man. He he played hard. He played hard, man.

(09:07):
You don't even he played hard. And you hear people
play hard. I mean a lot, you know, what I'm saying,
like you cred to somebody we played hard, and I
was like, okay, that's cool. I mean I played hard.
You know, I think I work hard. But when I
got there and hey, when I've seen this a hundred
billion dollar man in the gym, the folk practice sweating
and then in practice when it started, was going a

(09:29):
hundred and ten and was the last one to leave.
I said, who, Yeah, he worked hard, saying I called Sam,
yeah you were you was right. And I called Sam
to like a couple of weeks later, because you don't
say anybody can do it for the first couple of days,
but a couple of weeks later and then next thing,
you know, I mean that's just how you just set

(09:49):
the tone from day one. Like I said, I mean,
I guess he was just I mean, he's he's been
doing it so long, so he just brought that with him.
And I think it was contagious from everybody else, just
as far as working hard or working harder. And then
the competitive practices that we had. Our practices were like
gangs for it, you know what I'm saying. Sometimes white
women sometimes it's green to win. But he brought that

(10:10):
just emotion and that dedication even more so out of
everybody that was on that team. He worked so hard,
James that you wrote back in November that Doc had
actually tell him you are not practicing today, and then
they would kind of get into it a little bit.
What was what was that like seeing the player and
coach go back and forth about the coach telling the

(10:31):
player not to practice because he ain't never want to
sit out you have you know, most you know, star players,
they sit out. Just you know, he like, nah, I'm here,
I came here to win. I ain't come here to
coach Doc. I ain't coming to coach. I ain't gonna
sit on the side. And then Doc was like, yo,
if you get on this court, I'm gonna find you, like,
come on, man, come on dot. And you know that
was just he didn't want to leave his teammates out

(10:53):
there and he wanted to be out there checking and
just helped his team because he knew where at the
end of the year where he wanted to be at
what we're trying to do. He loved who though you know,
KG loved Who at the end of the day, and
even when you play again, when when you play against him,
right You'll be like, man, you you know he's gonna
come with them work. You hated because you gotta go

(11:13):
against him, but you always I always left them games
like now this is the one to like. If anybody
I wanna he go hard, he go after he got
his teammates back, like that's a catch that you want
to play for and just picky backing off with books.
Cool said about his work after No Joke, wedding before practice,

(11:34):
sweating after practice, the last one to lead, putting in
the most work in the weight room. And as a
role player, you know, we all think we work hard
and we all do our job right, but as a
role player there, you have no excuse to not put
in any extra work. When this dude is making the
most on the team, got the most accolades, everybody is

(11:54):
looking up to him, and he's the hardest working guy.
It's a trickle down effect and we all followed in line.
He set the tone with that, and that was that
was an extremely important movie he did because he could
have easily came in and set the tone is I'm
a star, I'm gonna sit out That wanted to trickle
down to some of the other guys I've seen team
kind of get divided, like why we're working so hard

(12:14):
and he get to sit out all the time and
there's a division in teams. When that happened, then I
think he was not trying to allow that the splinter
from the very beginning. That may answer you guys have
just sort of answered it. But one of the interesting
things that YouTube bring is that you played against him
for a lot of years pos you played, I looked
for something. You have to play thirty games against him

(12:35):
in the Western Conference and all before you came to
play him. Was that the biggest difference? Because guys have
played against Kevin Garnett Jemry don't like Kevin Garnett the word,
that's the point. Like he rubs everybody the wrong way. So,
first of all, had you built up either one of you?
Had you built up sort of that Oh man, this
guy drives me crazy versus was that the biggest difference

(12:58):
between playing against him and seeing up closer, seeing the
hard work. Well, the crazy thing about it is I
got a chance to play against so I guess something
um like in high school doing au he was with
Team Michigan. You don't you hear about this kid? With
great talent. He could go to the from high school
to the league and everything, so the same way he was.

(13:18):
I mean he was dunking and warm ups, full sweat,
talking and smacking everything and brought the same energy Duncan's
clinging on the rim, yelling at people facing everything. So
I'm like, okay, so now you know he gets dropped
it to the league, you think it died down a
little bit. Now he was the same way. And you know,
just to see that, I was, I was like, okay,

(13:39):
you know, you see the love of the game, you
see the passion that he had, and you know he's
a extremely competitive person and you always want to, you know,
play against somebody like that and also you know, be
on the on the same team with somebody. So for
me just seeing them, you know, being in Minnesota, it
was just like man, just seeing him go to work,
especially making that jump from high school than keeping that

(14:01):
same energy and dominate the league like he did. Hey, post,
tell me if I'm wrong with this one. But to me,
we know how talented KG is, right, can do whatever
you want, pass, shoots for a leader. All that I
think to me watching him, how he psyches himself out
to be a hundred every single game. Because playing so

(14:23):
many years, playing so many games, so many practices, it
gets monotonous, right, and you're like, okay, it's hard to
get yourself up. But height and night out, he psyched
himself out to be playing like a game seven damn
there every single night. And he was serious every single
game like that. And I think that's probably his best attribute.

(14:44):
That's not anything to where you could say you could
actually see it unless you're sitting there with him and
going through it with him. But people on the outside
will have no idea that that's what he went through
night in and night out, even at practice, to be
able to psyche himself out to be a going a
hunt it against the team that only has nine wins,
and we gotta come in there. We were the best
team in the league. We gotta find our energy. He

(15:06):
found it all the time, and that that was another
trickle down effect that I used some of that to
this day. That was probably the best attribute that I
noticed that will go unnoticed to everybody else. Yeah, it's crazy,
because I mean I tell people, I said, yeah, y'all,
just see game time when he banged his head on
the lobe on the on the cushion support system and

(15:28):
pat his chest and then come out there for jump ball.
I said, no, that's he does that and more just
for practice, just for practice. So I mean, I don't
know what it is, what he has for breakfast or
whatever it may be, but he brought that same energy
like at night and night out all day every day.

(15:48):
You right in the house. At what point before a
game did you guys know, don't talk to him like
he's in the zone. I can't bother. It was it
was one. It was one time. So me and him
got into it before the game and you know, trying
before the game. I laughed, and so he came over
trying to tell me how I'm gonna get ready and say,

(16:09):
hey man, I'm a bet in this league too, That's
how I get ready. But all right, I respect what
you're saying to me. This is how you get down.
This is how I get down. And that was this
you know what I'm saying. Hey, you remember going to
the left coast. Right, we get on the plane and
they had some terrible ass like little meal or whatever,
like it was terrible. And he's like, hey, doc, yo,

(16:30):
just what's supposed to be eating on the way over there. No,
come on, man, you can't go We never come on, Doc.
And then Doc came up and look at the food
or whatever, and then he like, come on, Dot, we
supposed to go, Man, come on, we can't go out
like that. Listen. We probably waited there for two hours,
I say two hours. His wife and uh and bray

(16:54):
Allen's wife ordered p F chains for our plane. We
waited there so we got a good meal to flash
the left coast out to l A. And I mean,
I know, I don't know if you're just Sean, did
you get any of that PF change Well, p F
chase continued After that, PF change became the regular food

(17:15):
on the plane for you. But you guys will remember
these three word from KG. How many times did you
say it? Respect these years? Yeah? About waiting in line?
Are these years? Alright? Folk? Stick with us. We'll be
right back with Celtics Managing Partner, Governor and Chief Executive
Officer with growth Test. Today's episode is presented by the

(17:36):
Boston Celtics credit card powered by Cardless. You'll be eligible
to earn a special sign up bonus when you apply
and are approved at Carloss Dot com slash Celtics, then
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(17:59):
dot Com Forward slash Celtics for more information. That's Cardless
dot Com Forward slash Celtics. Well with the time has
finally arrived. The team originally announced this that the Kevin
Garnett Number five was going up into the rafters more
than two years ago. It was back in February. Obviously
COVID played a little role in that being delayed. But

(18:19):
what's your excitement level now that this date and this
weekend has finally arrived? I mean, ever since two thousand
eight happened, I've been looking forward to this day really. Uh.
And I was able to see KG at the premiere
of Uncut Gems with Adam Sandler and and actually talked
to him and I just sort of said, Kevin, we
think it's time. We would really like to put number

(18:42):
five in the rafters if you'll, you know, allow it,
really and he said, I just want to say thank you.
I've been waiting a long time too. I don't think
he really has been about individual accolades. He hasn't been
about having his number retired. He's a team guy. He's
a you know, he loves the banner. But but he
agreed to let number five go in the rafters alongside

(19:04):
his idol like idols like Bill Russell, and I think
it's just a big moment for everybody. I can't wait.
How did you come to the decision? I know you
just mentioned like the first conversation that you had with
Kevin about it, But how did you personally come to
the decision that you wanted to make this happen along
with the rest of the ownership group. Well, Uh, I
guess I would say that it didn't even feel like

(19:25):
a decision. Like most good decisions, it doesn't feel like
a decision. It's it's obvious. And so I think Kevin
came to the decision that he was going to be
one of the greats of all time in basketball and
he made it come true. Um, and he'd be the
first point to his teammates and his coaching staffs and
and the fans. But but Kevin did it, and uh,
Kevin's going to the rafters. You mentioned how much of

(19:46):
he doesn't really like this type of attention, right, I mean,
he just went into the Hall of Fame within the
last year. UM, now he's going up into the rafters.
But he doesn't like this type of attention. He concentrates
on that other banner that is up in the rafter
is and that that's actually, UM what I actually wrote
my script about that. We're we're putting out our video
this weekend, UM hyping up this incredible event. But how

(20:10):
unique is that from all of the players that you
have been around in your nearly twenty years of of
being an ownership member of this team. How unique is
that that that a superstar level player doesn't care about
anything that has to do with his personal accolades. It's
all about the other stuff. It's all about the team
and trying to reach that end goal of raising a banner. Well,

(20:32):
it's very very special anywhere in any walk of life,
it's very special to find a true teammate and someone
who's genuinely thinking of the success of others. UM. But
you know, Doc brought that whole flavor to the OH
eight team and his entire era with Ubuntu and UM
Paul Pierce and Ray Allen and Kendrick Perkins and raw,

(20:53):
Gen Rondo and everybody. James Posey, they were Eddie House,
they were they were in it for everybody, and they
were in it for the great the goal. And when
you meet the old older Celtics, all the way back
to fifty seven. I've been able to meet, you know,
most all of the fifty seven team starting when I
came in. I mean, what an honor they You never
heard anybody so altruistic, so generous with their praise, their

(21:14):
sincere praise of other people. Um, Halicheck. And you know,
I just saw Togo Palazzi the other night, and and
Russell and Cozy. They're all about everybody else. And that's
the Celtic way. And Kevin's a great Celtic in that way.
Perfect segue here. You're talking about all of these players
from past years. Many of them are going to be
in town this weekend. Um, not only are we are

(21:35):
we raising number five into the rafters, but we're also
celebrating seventy five years of history with inviting many of
our alumni back to town. Just how special is this
weekend gonna be for you to be able to kind
of make both of those events happen and take place
within basically forty eight hours of each other. It's just heaven.
I mean, it's just the way it should be around

(21:55):
the Celtics. There's so many great memories that so many
great people put together before we got here, and and
and we're just trying to do our part to add
on to it in a in the best way we can.
And and this weekend brings passed together with the president
and hopefully the future. The team's playing well now and
trying to live up to some of those teams of
the past. And it's all it's all coming together at

(22:17):
a really exciting time of year, no question, no question
about that. So we we've got to rewind to the
first days of when Kevin Garnett did become a Boston
Celtic and maybe actually the weeks before he became a
member of the Boston Celtics. Take me through what you remember, Um,
was the process in kind of the negotiating that went
into making that trade happen and how it materialized back

(22:39):
in two thousand seven. Well, that's been it's a story
that's been told. But the the the real credit for
the idea of getting Carvon Kevin Garnett here was uh
Danny and and you know, we did as a group,
Steve and I um employ a bunch of PhDs to
look at previous successful teams over the past twenty five years,

(22:59):
the vious NBA champions and what would they look like.
And we realized they need a tent pole top fifty
all time great player at the center of really almost
every one of the previous twenty NBA championships have been
a top fifty player and m v P at the
heart of it. And so we wanted one. And so
Danny identified the KG be coming up in three years

(23:20):
on his contract with Minnesota and UM and maybe we
should get ready to try to make a bid at
that time. And so Danny's strategy, which was brilliant, was
to draft young players and have Doc Rivers come in
to coach them up and teach them the ropes UM
and make them better and then have a bunch of
players ready, some to keep and some to maybe trade

(23:41):
for an established superstar like KG. And so that was
the plan and Danny executed it. At the end of it,
in the negotiations, Glenn Taylor wanted to speak with me.
That and I are good friends. He's the owner of
the Timberwolves, and and he just wanted to make sure
we wouldn't make a different trade, and he proposed some
different trades and and I went back and forth and
finally he agreed on the trade we wanted, which we appreciate.

(24:05):
So that's about it. But but really, uh, and Kevin
had to decide to come to the Celtics. Sorry about
the rambling answer, but Kevin had really opt in. He
had to do a sign and extend or you know,
he had to do an extension with us after the trade,
and it was all uh, within NBA rules, but it
was complicated, and he really had to want to be
in Boston, which we love. He came as a free

(24:28):
of his own sort of free will. He didn't get
stuck here. He chose to come here, and he made
it work and it was fantastic. At what point did
you know that Kevin had wanted to commit to the
Celtics team for Obviously, as you said, the team didn't
want to make a trade just for for one year.
They wanted to extend him. At what point did you
know that he wanted to be here long term? I
think it had to be it was during the negotiation process,

(24:50):
and I think when Danny talked to Kevin. I wasn't
on that call, but we got permission to talk, and
the idea was, um that you know, it really only
worked if you would sign this extension. It was all
agreed to, as I recall up front, but um, you know,
Mike Zarin or Danny will be able to give you
all the details. But that's the way it works, so
we knew. Um. At that point, I think Danny had

(25:11):
been wondering if he would agree to come if we traded,
if he traded for Ray Allen and joined him up
with Paul Pierce. But then the word came that it
looked pretty good, and then then it happened. So I've
got to bring this up. I think this is hilarious.
But you mentioned Danny, and the credit is to Danny
for making the trade happen, and obviously he put it
in a lot of work. However, Paul Pierce has made

(25:32):
it clear that he was the first guy who brought
this up. He remembers this moment back and I think
it was two thousand six. They're standing at the free
throw line playing against the Timberwolves. You're you are sitting courtside,
and as Paul tells the story. He looked at you
and said, this is the guy that we need right here,
and he pointed at KG. Do you do you remember

(25:53):
that moment? And uh, if so, what was what was
going through your mind during those moments? I do remember.
I mean that's the part about sitting down there by
the free throws happening. You can talk to people, the players, raffs.
It's a great place to sit. But I do remember that.
And I would never disagree with Paul Pierce about and
use our finals m v P and another another one

(26:14):
whose number is retired. So Paul's right about that there's
a success has a lot of fathers, I guess, or
whatever parents as as they say. But but Paul was
definitely involved, and for KG to want to come and
play with Paul and Ray and be coached by Doc,
you know, was really important. So there's lots of credit
to go around for having this whole workout. And one

(26:37):
thing that that stands out to me. I was only
around KG for a few years here, towards the tail
end of his time, probably about three or four seasons,
but just being around him, you could feel that the
energy that he brought to the table and the way
he went about things during his time here that didn't
end when he left, like it carried over into the

(26:58):
next team. Is because the young eyes who were teammates
with him here saw that, and then they tried to
carry that on and passing that on to the younger
players when they grew up a little bit. What in
your estimation is kind of the lasting impact that Kevin
Garnett made on the Boston Celtics during his six seasons
with the franchise, that's right, I mean you know what
he really updated. I think the first of all, his

(27:20):
energy level is off the charts, and fans of today
you may only really see him through highlights. I mean
those of us that were on the like you that
were on the bus and the plane and in the practices,
and you know, it never stopped. It was literally seven
with him. I don't know if he ever sleeps, but
it is a nuclear reactor Kevin. Sean Grandy said that

(27:41):
being around him for nine seasons, he can count on
his one hand how many times he saw Kevin Garnett sleeping,
right exactly, So, um, that's KG. But but I also
think he just brought back or brought to a new
level Celtic pride. We had come in, we had been
trying to build. We had some really good players, we
had some good teams and good efforts. But KG came

(28:03):
in and changed everything the minute he walked into the
first practice, and he was proud to be a Celtic.
He he looked at every banner before he came to
a press conference. He held up the opening press conference
to go through every brander with Jeff Twizt and hear
about each team and soak it in. He was so
proud to be a Celtic and I think still is.
And uh added another banner to the to the rafters,

(28:24):
but he brought back the or energized the Celtics around
pride and I'm around winning and made it happen. Wick.
I rewind a couple of years to two when Paul
Pierce's number thirty four went up into the rafters. And
obviously he spent so much time here in Boston, he
went through so much to get to that two thousand
eight championship season. And I remember that night when his

(28:47):
number went up, it was so emotional, like everyone in
the arena was crying, Paul was crying at times. I mean,
it was just extremely emotional. What do you anticipate being Um, you,
from an emotional standpoint, what do you anticipate the feeling
is going to be this Sunday when Kg's time comes. Well,

(29:07):
that's really interestant question. I mean, I'm getting a little
emotional right now. Think about it. I'm not playing a
cry and I don't recall crying with Paul, but uh,
but I was definitely feeling it. And and I've got
to tell you, Um, I think there's just love for KG.
I think people here really respect him, really appreciate him,
really love him, and he's gonna feel it. Uh. And

(29:28):
it'll be interesting to see how he reacts because you know,
he's so steely and he's so he's so emotional, but
he's so just larger than life and and strong, and
it'll be really interesting to see how he he reacts,
because I think it's would be a very moving, very
emotional time, a very very special time. Well. I remember
definitely seeing a bunch of fans that were around me

(29:49):
that night when Paul's number went up, they were all crying.
My anticipation is that they're going to all be screaming
during Kg's event, just just they're gonna try to give
back the energy that he gave up for us for
so long. But Wick, thank you for taking the time.
We're really looking forward to this weekend. It's gonna be
a whole lot of fun. Look forward to seeing you there.
Thanks to all the fans who helped uh make Boston

(30:09):
the Celtics a place to players like Kge you want
to come and play. I mean, there's a reason the
Celtics have been so good in the past is that
the fans have supported the team through thicket thin and
it's much appreciated. Alright, folks, hang with us through this
commercial break. We will be right back with a conversation
with Kevin Garnett's high school coach at Farragut Academy. His

(30:29):
name is William wolf Nelson and he's coming up now.
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slash Celtics coach. You know, it's been interesting. I don't
know if you've had the same experience that I've had
and the rest of us have had who have been

(31:14):
tangential parts of Kg's life throughout that. This last year
with the documentary and this last week and month with
all of the interviews and the conversations like this, it's
been fun just reliving it. Oh absolutely, um every step
of the way. I just been all cheese, you know.
I mean, it takes me all the way back to

(31:35):
the beginning. As you said, um, as I just watched
it all play out. I said, they get kids about
that time. You know. He they gave mess Hall of
Fame piece when he came in a couple of years
ago to do a documentary, called me up and he said,
I mean I'm thinking about doing something. I say, well,
why are you calling me? I know you, I know

(31:56):
you got all that footage. And I thought laughing because
I got like I've been coaching for thirty thirty plus years.
I got like thirty plus yes footage, And I said, so,
why are you looking at me, and and and I
had some stuff that they just couldn't believe. You, Like
when he made the announcement that he was going from

(32:17):
high school to pro I had it on the DHS
and Kevin said, I know you still haven't got no VHS.
I said, hey, man, it's in the safe for twenty
five years. Now. You need to sit and see what
I got. And when his producer saw that, they said,
oh my god, this man crazy. He got stuff still
from back there. The media didn't even have it. They
I said, they were there. I doubt if they still
got it, but I got it because you knew, like

(32:39):
a lot of people, you knew before the rest of
the world view. I got to meet Shirley Gardnert a
few times in Minnesota when Kevin was in his early years,
when I was there at first. For anyone that hears
that name, don't ever doubt what a strong single mother
can accomplished. Ever. But is there, even though, is there
a way to even categorize to describe the magnitude of

(32:59):
the trust and the responsibility that she put in you
that she felt for you to take care of her
baby that year. You know what, basically she put it
pretty much the way you put it, you know, like
you said, hey, I'm I'm putting in your hands one
now I need I need you to make sure that
he's gonna be all right. Now, told you've got me
in the right place, because my thing is like like

(33:22):
when she did a documentary earlier, she was talking about
she with that mother hen that watching that her kids.
I say, hey, you got a partner right here. You
don't have to you don't do anything but to sit back.
Because it was Kevin, his little sister Ashley, and his mother.
I said, you got the girls. I got the guys.
I said, I can navigate these threets. These are my streets.
This is where I'm from. And I made sure he

(33:43):
stays out of harm's way. That's what I do for you.
And then at the end of the night, we lived
in the same apartment building. She stayed up to us.
I stayed down here, said when I come home, you
come home. So so you're good. I mean, we did
our thing, and she enjoyed the ride as well as
I did. I mean the whole time I was looking
at him progressing and coming along, and I said, you

(34:05):
know what, I kind of can see the future here.
You know a lot of people doubted it and said, oh,
he's not gonna be that, he's too skinny. And I said,
they told me he wasn't gonna be a bang with shock.
I said, bang, do you understand that he's not a sinner? Yeah, exactly,
That's all he's got to do. He's gotta go. SHOT's

(34:27):
gotta come out to pick him up if he's gonna
guard him. He's too quick, and said, he's used to
being a primitive player. Because that's what I that's the
vision I saw when I first saw him, and I
allowed him to do just that. You know, I said.
He looked at me as he said in the doc,
he said, you mean I can actually drip the ball.
I told my guys, get out of the way. You
you're you're clogging up things. He he could bring it down,

(34:49):
he could shoot the jump shot, he could do this that.
And they look at me, like, who's gonna let somebody
do that? I raised my hand. I will. I will
because I see it in him, and I need to
make sure that he's able and he's camp doing that.
I need him to be able to show everybody else
what what possibilities out there? And he did just that
the whole time he was playing. I've always been fascinated
by that year. And there's a couple of reasons. And

(35:10):
here's an angle you you've probably never heard. Because I'm
traveling with him for nine years. Three Minnesota, six in Boston.
There was that that constant energy about him, as you
know all the time. The stories are all legendary, but
there was one place that was different. I never saw
him as quiet, as inward, as pensive as he was
when we were in Chicago, and it was always it

(35:33):
was clear to me knowing him the way I did,
that that year of his life was beyond formative. I
know you saw the changes in him later in basketball wise,
how formative do you think that year was? Not in
the player that he was, but in the man that
he became. You know, we had a lot, We had
a lot of conversations because he spent most of his
time with me. Although his mother stayed up on the

(35:55):
twelve floor and I was only eleven, flow, he was
usually on the eleven floor with me. We had a
lot of man man conversations and and I would tell him,
you know, um, he missed South Carolina, And I would
tell him. I say, man, I understand you miss your
friends and all the stuff that you used to do,
but consider this one year as a business trip. You
know that this is gonna make or break you. You know,
if you can make it here, you'd be all right,

(36:16):
you know. And his focus was there. He took that
as a business trip. You know. He you know, no nonsense.
He just wanted to work. He would do his homework.
I would take him out to the gym, or I
would take him wherever he wanted to go and continue
we continue to talk about his future and how this
would help to mold him into the person that he
was gonna be. And I said, you know what, um,

(36:39):
you know, it's a lot of people out there that
that would that that continued to doubt you. But it's
up to you to prove them wrong. I mean, that energy,
that drive that you have. You gotta let people know
that this is real, it's not fake, and this is
and if you want it, you gotta show my bad
you wanted. And the whole time he played, every game
he played, he said, and man, just I got to

(37:02):
do this. I mean, his focus was, like you said,
his focus was there just to prove people wrong. And
a lot of stuff that he said about those people
that said, why am I watching this young guy just
another and and that intensity that he he um delivered
that line with. That's what I saw because it was
people that was out they saying and man, they still
kind of like, don't believe. He was like, I don't.

(37:24):
For anyone who doesn't know coaches coaches talking about that
legendary workout, you gotta watch the Showtime documentary. It's unbelievable
when KG delivers that line, because you can tell in
his head he remembers that moment like no other, like
it was yesterday and look, and it was funny because
I was at the pre draft camp, uh that day,

(37:47):
right before the workout, and like the same thing he described.
I was there at the pre draft camp and we
drove over to you I see Jim No for the
for the actual workout, So I same thing he described.
I was laughing because it was like he was with me,
but he was actually in the gym getting ready to
do the workout. We got to call me and my
assistant coach, and we drove over and we saw them

(38:08):
leaving the pre draft camp and everybody's acting like, well,
we're gonna go get lunch and just then there. But
they was all headed to the same place. So so
we get out. We're like, okay, I thought you'd be here.
And we sat there and as he said, he's out
there working down. I'm watching the people whispering in their
little small groups, trying to have a poker face as though,
you know. And at the same time he's looking at

(38:29):
saying the same thing that he was saying the documentary.
But I'm witnessing from the sateline he's gonna floor working out.
And I said, oh, yeah, he got him, he got
he got him. And we walked out and checking out
here and nearbody's going cod damn, what did we just
witness And I said, like I said, you know, like
people are telling me, oh, he will never make it,

(38:50):
he never make it. I said, like I said, I said,
that guy is going to the whole thing and he's
gonna be All Star. And when he got the first
All Star uh game and could need all those consecutive years,
I just guest, smile less. I told you, I told you,
I mean, you have to be blind not to see that.
So coach, we're talking about this legendary workout that KG

(39:12):
tells everyone about during the documentary and he's saying, Ah,
he's just dunking at home every single play, right, that
is what we all know KG as, right, Like, that's
all we see is the KG that took the floor.
And he in that documentary credited that to you for

(39:34):
saying when you dunk, scream and that was the first
thing that got him to start, Oh, I can let
this out on the floor, Like I'm not supposed to
hold this in. What made you say that to him
back in the day and and want to bring that
out of him to let it loose on everyone else? Well,
you know what, I was a different type of coach

(39:55):
and um, and like I was working with another guy,
Rocky Moore was the other coach at the KNACKI camp. Um,
it was always two coaches protein so we would you know,
we had to do stuff set up and they was
they was playing in and I was just glad to
see a kid of Kevin's Calibery. He was a little
skinny guy, but but his intensity, his his energy, his fire.

(40:20):
And then dad Dad transformed to the whole team and
then moved my team and it made that team go
and I'm smiling, going man, we I've never had some
of that kind of energy ripped and running up and
down the floor, and everybody's buying into it. So m
he ran down the floor, he dropped the ball, he
dunked in and he started screaming, swinging on the rim

(40:40):
and I said, okay, all right, so I'm excited. So
that the coach says Kevin. He calls Kevin to the
sad said Kevin. He said, uh, you know, you know,
kind of kyd to tone it down a little bit.
You know, you know, I got that ring showing up
the other guy. So Kevin looked at me and he
said that I do something wrong and I said, he no,
You're doing nothing wrong. I said, because I saw that

(41:02):
energy transformed to the whole team. They mean, everybody was
like pump and that that got everybody going. So he
asked money, He said, is that your real coach? Like
like Michael Julie said, no, get the ball and give
it to the guard and this that that, and I
and Ronnie said, that's wolf Man. He crazy. So it
was it was a fun year. It was like me

(41:23):
orchestrating the circus. I felt like a ring math, you know,
like how can you put all these pieces together and
make it work. There were some pretty incredible pieces. If
everyone goes back and looks at that Farraget team coach
you're talking about, how like you you saw this, like
obviously it hadn't come to fruition yet, but you saw
that seed that was ready to be watered and turned

(41:44):
into this all time great player. And you've known KG
probably as long as anyone in the basketball world, if
not longer, or the longest out of anyone. When was
it that you first saw that? Because I know that
it wasn't It wasn't when he came to Fairy It
it was before he came to Gary Farragut. So when
was that moment that you just knew he was different?

(42:06):
You know? It's it's so funny, yes, you as you
mentioned that because I saw Kevin come before I actually
saw Kevin What do you mean by that? The year
before the year before, so I was at the night
Y'all American Camp and um I was a teacher because
I'm I'm also a math teacher. So they needed somebody

(42:30):
to come in and teach math, and um it's um
a UM academic All American camp. So they were missing
a math teacher. So the guy said, you know what, well,
Mr math teacher, we need somebody to come in and
you know, to teach math and s A T portion.
So I came in and I did that. I had
Joe Smith for she Wallace and the guys Jerry Stack,

(42:50):
all those guys in my class, and I'm teaching that
s A T prep. Yeah exactly. So I sit back.
I sit back. I watched him, you know, and uh,
Joe Smith was in my home room and he said, uh,
teacher coming to watch and play the games in the afternoon.
I said, oh, I got to watch the games, you know.
So I'm watching him Keewa and garrets Hall the guys
getting in and I said, wow. The first thing I
realized is here's his kid, Rashid Wallace. He blocks the shot,

(43:14):
he brings the ball down the floor and he dunks
and I said, oh my god, that got like seven
foot toll. They said, they said, you don't know who
that is? No, I do not know, because I mean,
I'm from Chicago, but I wasn't doing the national thing.
So they give me Bob Givings print out. Rashid Wallas
is one of the top two or three players in
the country and I'm like, oh wow, that's what she wallace.

(43:36):
Then I see, uh, six six guy grabbed the ball,
go down to flo a step with somebody's chest and
dunk on him. They said that's Jerry Stackhouse. I said, God,
is it that? It is it like that around here?
They said, it's like that every day and I said,
oh wow. So I'm like in awe. The next year
I come back to the camp, but they said, well

(43:57):
we are. Since you're still a head coach, we're gonna
give you a team this year. That's when I met Kevin.
So I see Kevin, I'm a Team ten. He comes
down and I see him coming in. He said, your
team ten. I said, oh, no, stop playing. You got
the short end of the stick. Yeah, right, exactly exactly.
So I had him a'swine, Jamison Uh and a few

(44:20):
other guys. They were just gonna be juniors. They was
coming out the sophomore year, going to be juniors, you know,
and uh, And I'm like, okay, where's my like huge
guy like they gotta just walked past. And I asked Kevin.
I said, as I hope you can. You guys can play,
Kevin said, coach, we can play. I said, you you skinny,

(44:42):
and he said, man, going on, man, yeah, we can
get out, We can get out. I started laughing. So
we played our first scrimmage that night out everybody, eight
to eight. They suffered and everything. We went to the
gym everybody at the time to put their plays in
and we lost to the California team. Um and got killed.
You know, Toby Bailey and all those guys they kicked out.
But I said, I hope he gets better. So after

(45:06):
that they sort of got it all together, and man,
we ran through the camp. I mean, we wiped everybody out.
And I had a different type of team. I didn't
have a bruising big man. But all my big guys
like Kevin and Twine and all those guys, they ran
the court right, They ran the court. They shot, jumped
out their block shots, they fed out one another. It
was real nice. And I said, oh, that's what they do.

(45:30):
You know that that they're not the traditional You got
the big powerhouse dang it kind of guys. No, they
they changed the game. You got big that could put
the ball in ground and shoot jump shots and can
god all positions. Okay, So I saw it then that
first night, I like, oh, I see what I can
do with this. So, I mean I saw him all
that week and saw how just nothing else, his energy

(45:53):
brought everybody together. Everybody bought in because he was not
He never sagged do when damn me if he if
he did a drill, he did a thousand percent. I mean,
he was intense with everybody was looking like the pats
will you know, because he's the top player here. You
know what's interesting, Coach, you talked about how he his

(46:17):
energy was kind of infectious. It was it was lifting
his teammates up. And we just at the beginning of
this episode, we had James Posey and Eddie house On
who were teammates with him during the two thousand and
eight championship season in Boston, and they were talking about
that about how when Kevin Garnett is around you in
practice before games, the way that he's mentally preparing himself

(46:40):
and just going basically crazy before, during, and after every
practice every game, they felt that they had to do
that as well. It's crazy to me that this was
happening all the way back in high school. What do
you think it was about Kevin's personality that made his
teammates think I gotta be like that guy, Like I

(47:02):
gotta follow his lead. I mean when you saw him,
I mean he I mean, he was so focused on
on getting the job done, you know, and he's a
very talking to the guy. So he's always talking. You
know what he's thinking because he's talking that same talk.
And again it's nothing funny about it. You know, everything
was you know, And I cannot bear to not work

(47:24):
as hard as another guy like that. He's working to
the butt off. I'd be ashamed of myself to not
give out that same type of effort, you know what
I mean. I would come down to the gym, Like
I said, I'm teaching my math class, last class of
the day. They're down there getting dressed. By the time
I get down to the gym, they're already running sprints
and doing suicide. There's another and and then they're running intensely.

(47:46):
They're not just meddling it in all. You hear his
gym shoes squeaking. I thought there was another coach in
the gym that that dad, Dad was you know, blowing
at what had him going. I look at the door
and then and they're running about him else And I said,
Oh snap, I love this. I never in my life
witness anything like that. And I sit back there and

(48:07):
watching for a while. Okay, guys, and I can get
right to the business of practice. And because they had
already done their thing, you know, And I said, you
know what, I saw that he was a leader from
before he got there. And he just proved me, David.
He didn't need me to give him instruction as to
what to do. You him talking say, man, I didn't
come all the way from South Carolina to lose. Man.

(48:28):
I need y'all to to get with this, get with me.
And I would tell him. I would chat me and say, well,
he's number playing the country. How do you think he
got that weight? He doesn't take a day off, so
you guys come had to banton this. It's so interesting
to hear you recalling your early days with him, and
and I've been with the team for thirteen years now,
fourteen seasons. It's the exact same stuff that I hear

(48:52):
all of the Celtics people talk about with KG and
what I experienced with him personally. He's the same guy
now as he was back then, and that's what made
him so great. And now he's got all these accolades
rolling in, He's a Hall of Famer. Now he's getting
number five raised up into the rafters at T D Garden. Coach,
one last question for you before I let you go.
I mean, that's got to be crazy for you. You

(49:13):
know the history of the Boston Celtics. Bill Russell's hanging
up there, Bob Couzy, Larry Bird, all of these grades,
and now Kevin Gardens number is going to be out there.
What's what's gonna be going through your head as that
guy who's been alongside him for this entire journey. What's
gonna be going through your minds as you watch that,
watch him he's gonna be raising it up into the rafters.

(49:36):
What's what's gonna go through your mind as you watch
that happen? Every time I think about that, like the
protram I visited Kevin in Minnesota rookie season. I come
out to go see a few games and whatnot, and
I said, there and I'm at his house and I'm
looking at it and I'm smiling, and I'm remembering the
eighteen year o kid they used to make me stop
off at McDonald's and come on at at the practice,

(49:59):
Come on whoop messed are we're gonna eat that mcdonth
We're gonna do that? Take me to Georgie's music room whatever.
And I'm like, man, when you cut it out, And
then I'm looking at him it's a year later, going wow,
this is like I mean, I imagine that he would
be big, but I never thought he'd be that big.
And he just let you continue to grow, you know,

(50:19):
as he continued to play and get all those accolades
and Defensive Player of the Year m vps and another
all the way to the end. I'm thinking of that
Kevin that I remember walking into Naki camp and me
laughing at him and saying, are you serious, where's my
big man at and then and then saying, well maybe
he got some potential to old my goodness, And you know,

(50:42):
like it's like you're watching him grow from a little
seed to this big, giant plant and it's like, you know,
like a being star jocking the being star. This this
guy is is huge. And to watch him continue to
just get bigger and bigger and bigg and do his
thing every single I just continue to smile. And I
told him I don't have to talk to Chaman every day.

(51:03):
I don't have to be with him. I don't you know.
I didn't need for him to adopt me. You know, like, hey,
you married NBA, Can you adopt me now You're like no,
I'm happy just watching the success and watching him to
grow and watching other people appreciate him for who he
is and what he actually brought to this game. You know,
watch him open up that gate for all those other

(51:24):
people to uh explore going from high school to the pros,
him being the first one and me even having the
tape showing that, hey, he made the first announcement, say y'all,
I'm gonna skip this and just go right today. And
I smiled and say, wow, look at look at what
he's become. You know, you went from that little guy
in South Carolina. You know what way he is right now.

(51:48):
I just keep chaking my head and smiling, and I'm
so proud of him. Well, coach, you you talked about
how you just look at him and you smile. I
know you're gonna be smiling Sunday when that number goes
up to the rafters and that building is going to
be full of smiles and energy and passion everyone. It's
gonna be their opportunity to give back to KG after

(52:09):
he gave to them so much over the course of
six years here in Boston. So we can't wait for
you to be here. We can't wait for that number
five to go up into the rafters. And it's gonna
be a pretty incredible weekend. So thank you for taking
the time to join us and tell us some pretty
incredible stories of kg's early days. Okay, I really appreciate it, man,
Like I said, I mean smile smiling in alright, an

(52:32):
entire podcast dedicated to Kevin Garner. He deserves it. It's
his weekend, the numbers going up into the rafters. But
the heck of a lot of information coming from those
guys that we just talked to. What stood out to
me at the start of the conversation, Sean was the
fact that this two thousand and eight team hasn't gotten
back together like I thought. I heard some rumors about
them going on vacations together, and maybe those were just
smaller groups, but was that not wild to hear that

(52:55):
that group. I mean, maybe like Scott Pollard hasn't come
to to a group outing or something, But I would
have thought that these guys got back together more often
than never since two thousand and eight. It's one of
those things that you know, like, if somebody asked me
on the street, hey, have those guys gotten together, would
have said, no, that really hasn't been. But then when
you hear them, when you talk to James and Eddie

(53:16):
together and they're saying, oh, I gotta text you about
that thing, and it said, you realize that it's just
like the rest of our lives, right, and our friends
that we sort of lose touch with, and maybe because
of social media and texting, it feels like they're right there,
but you realize everybody hasn't been together. And then the
nineteen eight Olympic team was like that. They had reunions
where they had like seventeen or eight teen to the

(53:37):
guys together, but obviously didn't have everybody. And this is
a you know, a golden opportunity for a team that
made so much history on the court together and in
their together nest during that time. And then you know,
life takes you in different ways. But this weekend, I
think it's brought everybody back. This week listen, if you're me,

(53:58):
this has been a week of time travel, right because
everybody from you, to everybody on the other end of
the phone, to all the podcasts I've done, to the
games themselves. It just is transporting me back to these
different times in my life where I was tangential part
just of the Kevin Garnett experience, you know, being a

(54:18):
twenty seven year old guy like looking around, my gosh,
I'm in the NBA and there's Kevin Garnett. And and
then years later when magically he shows up on my
job for six years and he followed you. I said
at the start, Yeah, well, it's funny because he wasn't
the first. It was Wally. Other guys did that too,
that I had been with in Minnesota and ended up

(54:39):
making their way through through Boston. Wally being the one
that people remember most. But yeah, it was. It's been
a fascinating week of Oh yeah, that's why I said
at the start part. When people talk about these stories,
I guarantee you they are all They're all true, and
you forget about him. And then every new podcast, every
new interview, every new once something comes up and they

(55:02):
talk about, uh, sitting on the tarmac waiting for p
F Chang's that happened, talking about KG Barking at somebody,
if it was one of the owners, I don't remember
who it was that went into the locker room and
started taking food and that that that brought me back
to this time that KG just made everything, even if
it wasn't a team thing, he made it, you know,

(55:23):
he made it a team thing. And of all the things.
That's when there are a million of these stories, tell
you as many of them as like as you want
me to. But what we have to remember here about
his place in Celtics history is that Kevin Garnett, like
no other star in the history of the game, has
been not about the individual but about what the five
the five guys on the court. That's why I chose

(55:44):
that number. And how fitting is it that we honor
the one who brought the concept of the five guys back?
And now I just gotta say that when when they
were telling that story about the either a staff or
whoever it was that was grabbing the food before or
the players did, the first thing I could think of
in my mind is what if our guy, John Pricard

(56:05):
did that? Because I could totally see you in that
not his first days on the job going in and
kept being like, who the hell do you think you are?
John Piccard is our producer. For everyone who's listening, John
the nicest guy in the world, the nicest guy in
the world. And he would probably hear some he'd hear
some language that he had probably never heard directed at
him before. Which was again one of the many the

(56:28):
great stories is we would have from time to time
the pre COVID World sponsors would travel on the plane.
Uh sometimes they would bring their kids with them on
the plane, and the there weren't like sections of the plane.
Max and I are say, in the same spot on
the plane we've been on in for twenty years. But
in the Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce New Big Three days,
those guys, the card games and everything was going on.

(56:49):
The famous arm wrestling thing absolutely happened. There were four
or five rows in front of us. I had many
of this songs on my iPad, on my iPod which
we had an iPod fift years ago. I downloaded them
because I would hear that Paul was playing it, and
I would just walk up four rows and I'd say,
what is that and so that's the new Drake whatever,

(57:10):
and I would just go back and we didn't have
wi FI and plane back then, but eventually that's I
would download stuff based on and that was the you know,
access was different. If I want to get up and
talk to Paul Pierce, he was ten feet away from
me for all those all those years. But the sponsors
who sometimes bring kids plane and the plane the plane,

(57:30):
and this is no different today. The plane is the
locker room. Okay, that is the players flight. That is
the player's room. They should feel safe to live their
lives and do whatever they do. And so we would
tell them as public service, public servants at MAX and
I are, we would explain to the kids, it's great
public servants. You're gonna hear some language and some words

(57:51):
in the next couple of hours. Don't use him at
school tomorrow. Don't They're not for you know, if you're
gonna you're gonna hear some things. Because uh, there was
I forget person about whom this was first said. But
as we like to say, Kevin Garnett was a man
of many facets and they were all turned on all
the time. Then it was I think I told I

(58:14):
told somebody the other day. In nine years of being
with the guy and traveling with a guy, I can
I don't need a full hand to count the number
of times I saw him sleeping. Um as a nocturnal,
stay up all night person myself, I don't maybe once,
maybe twice in the nine years did I see him
asleep on a plane or in one of those situations.

(58:35):
It was just boundless energy and he carried you with him.
He made players. The players have played, but they wanted
to be better. We all wanted to, you know, the
organization changed when from the day he from the day
he arrived. Which is honestly, the other thing that has
stood out to me from this entire episode is, first

(58:56):
we talked to James Posey and Eddie House in unsolicited
did they talk about how being around Kevin Garnett makes
you lift yourself up because you're you're following the leader, right.
We just talked about that, like you've got to follow
the guy who was setting the tone with his energy
each and every day. And then we get on with
Coach Wolfe who says basically the exact same thing about

(59:18):
when KG was a senior in high school that his
teammates felt the exact same way as Eddie House and
James Posey did. So this wasn't like a new thing
that developed like later in his life. That was Kevin
Garnett from like day one, which just blows my mind
that he was like that. In high school, everything was competition.
Listen to the elite of the elite. If you've ever

(59:39):
been around professional athletes, forget the elite. Elite. Professional athletes
will bite your fingers off to win a game of
of Hearts, to play monopoly, they'll they will steal money
from the bank, they will do stuff with property. I
mean they the competition level. You can't really understand it

(01:00:00):
until you've been around them, and it carries over with KG.
It was constant and listen to the stories about Jordan's
KG was the same way we go into a hotel, uh.
I know, Mark, you remember the uh the Weston Hotel
in Orlando, the one that's that's near the Arena downtown
and when you walk in there there's three elevators. Okay.
And this was sort of a constant thing that went

(01:00:22):
on with this group, but especially with KG. There's always
competition going on. Now it is not my first day
or my first year. I have my ways. As Max
like to tell the story that I always want to
be first. I'm always racing places. I'm always moving fast.
And you know, I have a way of getting off
the bus first and getting off a plane and getting
into my spot. And I walk in and I can
scout the elevator situation, and I can see which elevator

(01:00:43):
has gone up. So I just meander towards the thing.
Meanwhile KG shouting out what's what's the next one? Which
is the next elevator? Which is gonna be the next one?
And I know full well if you've already done this
one to him like it's going to be this one,
and he before he even heard me the same. At
the same time, he goes hundred dollars a man, hundred
dollars a man. And now I'm like, jeez, I don't
know you like I don't. I can't get into a
hundred dollar a man content in two about which elevator

(01:01:07):
is gonna come first? And look like my elevator comes first, Okay,
Jesus webs out of home like I'm good, I'm good,
keep everything's fine. But I'm like, tee know what if
the other elevator came forever in debt to be scraping
together like well, I'd be scraping together like coins from
the bottom of my dad like see if it's funny.
I also have I also have a Kevin Garnett competition story,

(01:01:31):
which is my favorite Kevin Garnett story that I can
tell um My Miami at the Four Seasons. You know how,
there's the two elevators that face each other, and this
is a multi level hotel, so you take the first
set of um elevators up and then you walk aways
to the second elevators that take you up to your rooms.

(01:01:52):
We get to the first set of elevators, and this
was during the postseason, I think it was two thousand
twelve when they made that run to the Eastern Conference
Finals and almost to the NBA Finals, and so KG
that time just happened to be one of the last
players who got to the elevators. Usually, for everyone who
doesn't know, we have to basically let all of the

(01:02:12):
staff and the players up go up first, and then
us the media members who don't really matter to the world,
we go up last. Well, Kevin Garnett was kind of
with us last, and both elevator doors facing each other
open at the same time. A few of us get
on one, he gets on the other by by himself.
He's like, I'm gonna win. Mind's up first. Doors closed,

(01:02:35):
and we get up to the top and the doors
open and KG standing there and our door just waving
his head like, yeah, my elevator was first. And I'm
sure it was a little bit more explicit than that, um,
but it's all about competition. That that was. I feel
like that was. We got there relatively late at night,
like around dinner time or later um for that flight,

(01:02:56):
but still for some reason, he just felt like he
needed to turn the elevator into competition. But I'll always
remember that, no question. What is it about elevators with him? Well,
the thing is we were around him when there were elevators.
There was always competition going on matter it didn't matter
what it was. And again he just he carried you.

(01:03:17):
He carried you with him. And I was really I
was really excited to talk to Wolf Nelson because I've
always been fascinated by that year he spent because when
I think of him, we're having all these conversations about
boundless energy and enthusiasm, which is the story. I remember
writing a piece for celtics dot Com the day after

(01:03:38):
the trade that it was and you know, the enthusiasm
and just the joy in playing and participating. But I
you would see him in Chicago, he was different, and
I knew like that year just it changed the trajectory
of his life. And this is a small town kid,

(01:03:58):
and that you know, he needed the streets marts that
come with I mean, you're he wasn't exposed that. He
was exposed to a lot of things that aren't great
in South Carolina. And he had that horrible incident with
the fighting school and he was trying to break up
and he ended up getting in trouble for all that stuff.
It's very well documented, but that was a small town
in South Carolina. And you've got a small town, southern
South Carolina kid and spending a year in hardcore, cold

(01:04:24):
tough Chicago at a very formative age. And I think
it was just I don't think you can understate the
importance of that year two. Pushing him forward on the court,
of course, but I think it was a very important
year in his his development. Another brilliant move by his
brilliant mother and choosing that coach in that city, and

(01:04:45):
that's yeah, that coach in particularly, he just kept talking
the whole time about no one could believe that he
was coaching Kevin Garnett the way that he was coaching
Kevin Garnett, like, yeah, go handle the ball. Everyone else
run up court for the fast break. This is the
guy who's going to bring the ball up where everyone's like,
you're gonna let the seven foot guy, like take the
ball up the court, take the game winning three point
attempt at the end of the game, that guy and

(01:05:08):
Wolfs like, yeah, I am high school his first twelve, thirteen,
fourteen years right until his final years in the NBA.
All the things about Kevin Garnett coming out of high school,
I don't think a second thought about that now because
it happened. For the twelve years after that were tons
of high school players came in, big guys shooting mid
range and deeper shots. He was doing guys weren't doing that.

(01:05:30):
His game defensive metrics did the ones that he would
dominate in the final years of his career that we
we live and die. This week is a week in
which the Celtics have kind of been swapping with Golden
State as the number one defensive team in the NBA
according to Defensive Rating. Nobody had ever heard of defense
and not exist. Kevin Garnett was played, and all these
metrics that he dominated, you would just look and go, man,

(01:05:52):
the Celtics were up by five when he was out
and says he's come back in and they're up by twenty.
That's all you Those are the advanced metrics that you had,
and you was starting to get plus minuses creeping in
during the playoff run in two thousand twelve. It was absurd.
What would happen on the floor when Kevin Garnett was
on the floor versus off and you were just getting
to it in the final. You know, before that, all

(01:06:13):
we had for defensive stats or blocks and steals, which
almost by definition means you're out of position to rack
up big numbers in those categories. Just exceptions to that,
But you get the point that we just weren't. He
came before everybody coming into high school. He came before
everybody in the game that he had and in this
other area, dominating defensively. There was no way to mathematically

(01:06:36):
express the way he was dominating teams defensively. We have
them now now that his careers long since over, but
we didn't have them then. He would have, but we
would have if we had all those numbers then that
we have now, they'd be named after him, maybe like
Draymond Green, just Marcus Smart just won that Kevin Garnett
defensive over because he would have had it every year.

(01:06:58):
You might have had another m v P or two
as well. And you know what, well since listen, since
we're just talking, right, I think if people know I've
talked about this before, Kevin Garnett was the Most Valuable
Player of the NBA in two thousand and you're kidding
yourself if you think otherwise. It was for sixteen years
of voting we just had. They changed about fo or

(01:07:20):
five years ago. They changed the votes to where it
became a lot more national as opposed to people that
are like watch all eighty two games, because why would
you want them voting. But in the sixteen or seventeen
years I voted, I would say almost half the time
I didn't. I voted for somebody different than the guy
who won. To know more, first year in the league,
I voted for Morning. That was the year that Karl
Malone one. I didn't vote for Steve National. Great years,

(01:07:42):
but I didn't vote for a Meter year. I think
it was for a Shack one year and Kobe the other.
I've never been so sure that I was right and
the voters got it wrong that I was in two
thousand and eight. It was absolute definition up an MVP year,
So of course you should have won a second and
you know again, but defensive metrics, you're right, Saluca chased them.
So that's a rap on our Kevin Garnett special ahead

(01:08:04):
of his retirement Jersey retirement this weekend. Listen everyone, make
sure you tune in to watch it on Sunday. This
is going to be entirely unique to any of the
other Jersey retirement ceremonies that you have seen in Celtics history.
Kevin Garnett is a bird of a different feather. Um,
He's just a different type of animal, and what he

(01:08:25):
wants on Sunday is going to be completely different than
what we have seen as recently as Paul Pierce and
then dating back to Cedric Maxwell and all the other
guys who have their their numbers up in the rafters.
So make sure you tune in UH and enjoy the show.
UH celebrating an incredible six years of Kevin Garnett wearing
a Celtics uniform and raising that two thousand and eight

(01:08:46):
banner up into the raptors. He's getting his own number
up there now. So thanks for taking a listen and
we'll see you again next week. Thank you for listening
to View from the Rafters Behind the Scenes with the
Boston Celtics, presented by Cardless