Kevin Garnett, 10 Years and 30,000 Minutes Later

Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune makes an interesting observation in a piece that muses a Dirk Nowitzki for Kevin Garnett trade:

Kevin Garnett has played almost 30,000 minutes in the NBA, which is the twilight for most great players. He's entering his 11th season.

30,000 minutes is a rather striking figure. And Garnett--who in 1995 became the first high school senior since Bill Willoughy in 1976 to make himself eligible for the NBA Draft--has earned over $200 million in salary and endorsement income during those 30,000 minutes. Still just 29 years old (and he will remain 29 for the entire 2005-06 season), Garnett could easily play another six or seven seasons, and perhaps longer. During that time, he could earn another $100 million.

So did Garnett make the right decision to declare for the 1995 NBA Draft straight out of high school? Aside from his overwhelming monetary gains, which seem to confirm that he made the now-obvious right call, Garnett has proven to be one of the two or three best players in the NBA:

• Eight-time NBA All-Star
• 2003-04 NBA MVP
• Six-time All-NBA
• Six-time All-Defensive (2000-05)

Garnett has also proven to be a role model for young persons, evidenced in part by his receipt of the NBA Community Assist Award in 2002. And, like the vast majority of his fellow prep-to-pro players, he's stayed out of trouble with the law, unlike many college grads playing in the NBA.

Just for the fun of it, consider some of the rather skeptical comments made of Garnett in 1995:

"First of all, Kevin Garnett is not ready to play in the NBA. He just isn't close. We're going to assume his coach simply hasn't seen enough NBA games, live, up-close. The kid isn't physically ready to play under the basket in the Big Ten, much less against Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson. His skill level isn't high enough; he isn't savvy enough." Michael Wilbon, Prep Star Garnett is NBA's Fool Gold, Washington Post, May 28, 1995, at D14

"Is Kevin Garnett ready for it all? Obviously, hell, no. It is such a fragile proposition -- the thought someone could enter the NBA so young, no matter how gifted and tall and extraordinarily athletic, and be better off in the long term. The years after high school are perhaps the most crucial in human development, particularly for a basketball phenom, who should grow socially and scholastically in college while refining raw skills in the gym against peers. In the pros? He grows up in airports and Hyatts, trying to learn the big time during rare practices in a whirlwind season, assuming the team isn't so rotten that skill growth is impossible." Jay Mariotti, Does Garnett Have Any Idea of What He is Getting Into?, Chicago Sun-Times, June 20, 1995, at 87

"If David Stern arranges anything in his commissionership, he will make sure Garnett, Thomas and the expansion Toronto Raptors are joined in the draft Wednesday. This is perhaps the only way a delicate, perilous hoop experiment -- a 19-year-old out of high school joining the manliest league on Earth -- can work without disaster. In the sporting sense, how tragic if Garnett took the big money, wasn't able to mature and went poof in four years." Jay Mariotti, For Garnett to Succeed, Isiah Must Rescue Him, Chicago Sun-Times, June 27, 1995, at 91

"The NBA and its stressed-out coaches are hardly eager to welcome skinny Joe Smith or the unprepared Wallace or preposterous Kevin Garnett, the high school senior who wants to pull a Moses Malone move. Neither their bodies nor their minds are fully developed. Shawn Bradley is costing the 76ers $44 million. Immaturity has damaged the image of Kenny Anderson and Chris Webber. Jason Kidd did fine, but Grant Hill, who graduated from Duke, was the most successful and respected rookie." Linda Robertson, NBA Riches Have a Cost, Austin American-Statesman, May 19, 2005, at C1

"Emotionally, socially, physically, Kevin Garnett will be immature relative to the guys he will be around. In terms of how he relates to fans, how he relates to girls, how he relates to having all that money. There's nothing good about this." University of Utah coach Rick Majerus quoted by Barry Temkin, Garnett to Gain Riches, Lose Youth, Chicago Tribune, June 27, 1995, at N1

For what it's worth, Garnett averaged 28.7 minutes, 10.4 points, and 6.3 rebounds per game in his rookie year, and was one of 10 rookies selected for the two NBA all-rookie teams. In his second season, he averaged 38.9 minutes, 17.0 points, and 8.0 rebounds per game. I guess the doomsday-sayers weren't quite on target.

One guy, though, apparently saw the forest through the trees:

"If Kevin Garnett were only 5-foot-8, pudgy and going to work on a newspaper delivery truck, I doubt if many sports journalists would fret about his future." Mike Royko, The World is Doing Wrong to Worry That a Teen Shouldn’t Be, Buffalo News, June 30, 1995, at 18C

10 years and $200 million later, Garnett is still just 29 years old, and with the second half of his NBA career staring right in front of him.

Hat Tip: Henry Abbot of the award-winning True Hoop

Posted in: