Speculation by pundits riles Garnett

By Steve Aschburner, Star Tribune

Last update: January 26, 2007 - 10:20 PM

SEATTLE - Hearing his livelihood and his whereabouts bandied about once again on national television Thursday night, Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett came to a conclusion in his Seattle hotel room.

"They ought to have a drug test before they let some of these people on TV, man," Garnett said Friday morning, after the shootaround for the Wolves-SuperSonics game at KeyArena later in the day. "Alcohol tests, see their levels. Everybody has to blow in a Breathalyzer test before you can get on TV."

What especially annoyed Garnett was that the experts talking about his career, his years in Minnesota and his chances of chasing an NBA championship -- the TNT studio crew of Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Reggie Miller, as well as game analyst Doug Collins -- were people from whom he expected more.

At various points during their pregame, postgame and halftime shows, Miller lobbied for Garnett to be traded to Chicago immediately, while Barkley criticized the Wolves' firing of coach Dwane Casey and the team's direction. "Unless they bring in Kobe [Bryant], [Dwyane] Wade, Shaq, Minnesota is never going to be a contender," Barkley said. "I love Kevin McHale, but he's done a terrible job building a team around Kevin Garnett."

Collins, as the second half of the Dallas-Chicago game began, said he hoped Minnesota would keep losing so that trading Garnett would become the club's only option.

"Why would somebody say some ... stuff like that," Garnett said, "when you're supposed to be the insight to millions of people watching basketball and you're supposed to be teaching? And you're talking about publicly tanking? C'mon, man.

"People say some unbelievably stupid stuff on TV. That's how I know I can get a job after I'm done with this. Y'know what I'm talking about?"

The horse's mouth

Garnett had appeared on the TNT pregame show Thursday in an interview with John Thompson, taped Saturday in Phoenix. Thompson asked if he regrets staying with the Wolves, to which Garnett replied: "I don't regret anything. I feel like if you're going to do anything you have to do it wholeheartedly. ... It's not my character to leave something just because it's a little beat-up. Management is trying to get better. People are going to make their assessments on what they think is best for you, but it's not their career, it's mine."

Wittman casts vote

Coaches don't make trades, but they often talk to the guys who do make them. New Wolves coach Randy Wittman didn't waffle in his view of any Garnett speculation.

"He ain't going anywhere in my book," Wittman said. "As long as I'm coach here, I'm going to be against any of that. I'll just tell you flat-out. I'll vehemently deny having any part in trading KG. You heard it here first."

Monopoly money

The Wolves indeed let their $4.2 million trade exception -- a salary cap mechanism generated from their deal with Boston on Jan. 26, 2006 -- expire at the deadline Friday. General Manager Jim Stack said that the club evaluated several players that it might have added but didn't see any of them as "a good fit."

Stack might have added "at that price." Had they used the exception, the team would have had to pay a dollar-for-dollar luxury tax. That would have turned a $4 million player into an $8 million expenditure, since the Wolves' payroll is slightly over the luxury-tax threshold of $65.4 million.

The desire to get below that number is a factor in the team's buyout talks with forward Eddie Griffin. Only the buyout amount would count against the Wolves' cap figure. Griffin's representatives are expected to seek arbitration.

Steve Aschburner • saschburner@startribune.com

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