Popular music producer Jimmy Jam, who has been a devoted NBA fan for decades, sits on a treasure trove of stories. He recalled one involving Kevin Garnett, and how the Minnesota Timberwolves had played it pretty sly to draft the highly-rated high school prodigy.
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The year was 1995, and the Timberwolves drafted Garnett with their #5 pick. However, in the build-up to the Draft that year, right till the moment they picked Garnett, the T-Wolves downplayed the player. The franchise’s plan was to select the youngster but make it appear as if they were refusing to board the KG hype train.
To Jam’s surprise, this strategy worked to perfection. The first few teams in the 1995 draft became disinterested in acquiring Garnett.
“Every time I remember they [the reporters] would ask them, ‘Who are you guys going to pick?’ And they’d say, ‘Oh, we don’t know’ and they’d say ‘well, what about Kevin Garnett? We hear he’s really good’. And they go, ‘Yeah, but he’s out of high school’… They totally downplay…The draft went exactly as they hoped it would,” Jam recalled, talking to Marc Spears and Jay Harris during his appearance on NBA on ESPN’s podcast.
Jimmy had learnt about the T-Wolves’ interest in KG during a bus ride with members of Minnesota’s front office. He got that inside opportunity as part of a Timberwolves experience his wife had gifted him.
“I remember being on the bus riding over to the game, they were talking about this player that was this unbelievable player, that, ‘You got to see this player’,” said Jimmy. “They’re telling me about him and it’s Kevin Garnett and I’m like going, ‘Wow, yeah, that sounds really cool’.”
Garnett would turn out to be the only player from the draft that year to get enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame. The Timberwolves’ vision was proven to be spot on.
Garnett had an instant impact on the Wolves
The Minneapolis side, founded in 1989, had never advanced to the postseason in the first seven years of the its existence. Garnett’s arrival changed the team’s fortunes.
In merely his second season, KG took over the Wolves’ reins. The first-time All-Star led the side to its first 40-win season. The 6th spot finish in the Western Conference ensured the first playoff appearance in franchise history.
Over the next few years, Minnesota consistently qualified for the postseason. However, the team was struggling to find success at the business end, suffering seven consecutive first-round exits. And, Garnett’s leadership was criticized for the failure.
But in the 2003-2004 season, KG silenced all his doubters. He won the MVP honors by averaging 24.2 points, 13.9 rebounds, and 5 assists per game through the season. The team finished at the top of the West with a franchise-best 58-24 record. And, the team snapped their unwanted streak of getting eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. KG and co. reached as far as the Western Conference Finals that year.
