Kevin Garnett has always been one of the most intense players in the NBA. While KG has returned home to a terrible Minnesota Timberwolves team that basically has nothing to play for, that doesn’t mean he will settle for a loose locker room environment. Minnesota’s younger players have apparently been warned of this.
Over the weekend, Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders said a veteran player told the younger guys on the team that they better be on their toes when Garnett is around. That includes keeping cell phones in their lockers.
“As one of our veteran guys told our young guys yesterday, ‘Hey, listen, when KG walks in the locker room your phones better be tucked away, because if they’re not, they’re going to get thrown in the toilet on game night,'” Saunders said, via Tom Powers of The Pioneer Press.
As you know, KG led the Boston Celtics to a championship the first season they acquired him in 2007. His intensity that season contributed to the Celtics becoming the best defensive team in the league.
“He changed their culture,” Saunders said. “Doc (Rivers) told me that. They had veteran players and everything else, but when he went in the locker room, the music was cut off and everything.”
The T-Wolves are 12-42, so Garnett is going to have to play the “pride” card if he wants his new teammates to take the remainder of their season seriously. Considering he is also reportedly interested in teaming up with Saunders to buy the Timberwolves, we’re guessing KG will try to do just that.
Garnett’s best years may be behind him, but anyone who saw what he did to Dwight Howard earlier this season knows he is still as intense as ever.
