Editor’s Note: Our Kyle Ratke was able to talk with Sports Illustrated Senior Writer Lee Jenkins before he wrote a feature on Kevin Garnett and Karl-Anthony Towns for the magazine’s season preview issue. You can find the magazine pretty much wherever magazines are sold. You should buy it not only for the great story written by Jenkins, but also because it’s a collector’s item for any Wolves fan. The magazine hit newstands on Tuesday, Oct. 21. You can subscribe to SI here.
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KR: You’re in Minnesota here for this story on Karl-Anthony Towns and Kevin Garnett. I know there’s a specific angle you’re taking for the NBA Preview edition. How did you come up with that idea?
LJ: I think there are just all these new guys, all these new team roles. It feels like teams are making more of an effort to surround them with these vets. No team has made more of an effort than Minnesota. I was just sort of thinking about that. The No. 1 pick, Karl-Anthony Towns, with Garnett here. The Lakers have D’Angelo Russell with Kobe (Bryant) and that dynamic. The Heat, to a lesser degree, and I know Justise Winslow isn’t a top, top pick, the No. 10 pick, but they’ve got (Dwyane) Wade there. I just sort of thought what the experiences are like for those young guys… What do the older guys have to share? Especially Garnett and Kobe kind of in their later years.
So far I’ve been to two of the three (teams) and it’s been really enlightening just because I think you know, these (veterans) have so many stories, so many things to share and they do it in very different ways. They have very different personalities and I think for these rookies when I talk to them, which I hope to do in 10 or 15 years, they’re going to look back on this as an incredible experience. Like Towns, ‘I played year one with Kevin Garnett on my ass every day. Things I did well, things I did badly.’ And I think it will shape in some ways how he looks at his career in a sense.
KR: When you look at Karl and Kevin. Obviously Kevin’s so intense and so into everything and then you have Karl, who is just all smiles and seems like the nicest guy ever. Did you notice those differences as soon as you saw them together?
LJ: I haven’t been able to see them together (yet), but just watching them on the court. One plays with a smile, the other plays with a scowl. I asked them both about that and I think the idea is you can have that motor you can have that same kind of edge and intensity, what matters is what’s on the inside, not on the outside. But having said that, you know, I think that guys who play with a smile on their face in this day and age are more subjective to criticism which I find kind of unfortunate. When you think about 25 or 30 years ago, Magic (Johnson), nobody really criticized him for playing with a smile on his face but Dwight Howard has taken a ton of heat for taking that approach and people kind of take it to another level where his smiles mean that he doesn’t necessarily care as much. When you watch Dwight Howard, he gives a lot of effort, defense especially. So I think it’s unfortunate and unfair because you play the way that works for you. And the way that works for Towns is to clearly play with a joy in his game, a joy when he’s on the floor. Not everyone can play with their teeth clenched the way Kobe and KG do. I actually talked to LeBron (James) about that. He tried to do that, tried to kind of play that way with the scowl and he felt it didn’t work for him. He needed to go back to the other way. And I don’t think it’s going to be a situation here where KG tries to get Towns to be that way. I think he’ll appreciate the fire that’s in him regardless of the look on his face.
KR: We’re in a time in the NBA where LeBron is LeBron, and then you have (Kevin) Durant and today’s stars. Then there’s some of the former stars like Kevin and Kobe – some of the guys on their way out. In LA and Minnesota, the two rookies that are kind of here to save the franchises to a certain extent. That’s pretty unique to have two guys like Kobe and Kevin with the franchises to lead them, right?
LJ: (Michael) Jordan didn’t necessarily have that kind of late-career protege because usually with a legendary player, their team wouldn’t be picking that high in the draft, but because of these kind of circumstances these guys are in, they do have the No. 1 and the No. 2 picks, but I think it’s different. We’ll start with the Wolves. Kevin’s sort of, he’s kind of been known as the best teammate there is in the NBA and all these legion of players, (Rajon) Rondo, (Kendrick) Perkins, guys who didn’t even play on his team, view him as the godfather, the big brother. Kobe’s situation is different because he doesn’t have that kind of tree. That’s partly because the Lakers haven’t had a lot of young players coming through there and it’s also probably partly because of the way he’s approached the game, kind of the more solitary approach that he’s had. But yeah, I think it is unusual.
KR: I’ve heard that Kevin has picked throughout his career who he wants to mentor. In this situation, Karl has no choice with the fact that Kevin is going to mentor him because he has so much at stake with the Wolves with ownership possibility and what not. He’s made it very clear that he’s a member of the Wolves for life.
LJ: That’s a whole other wrinkle. I don’t know that they have a choice either way. I think that life would be pretty miserable (for Towns) if you don’t do that. You have a full year ahead, it’s a tremendous opportunity but it’s also a responsibility. You have to come in to work every single day. I think it’s really interesting what they’ve done and it sounds like they did it consciously. They wanted a veteran point guard, a veteran wing, a veteran big guy.
When I think of these guys I think of Oklahoma City a little bit. They got Kevin Ollie to be sort of this role for all of these young guys, Durant, (Russell) Westbrook. So it’s almost the Timberwolves are taking it to another place. They really are making a conscious effort and I think it’s important otherwise you could have one of these teams that kind of runs amuck. Remember the Clippers with D-Miles (Darius Miles), Lamar Odom, and Quentin Richardson? That was a fun team. It always looked like a really fun team, but like Odom was their elder statesman and he was 21 years old. So I think teams have learned that it’s great to pick high every year and get these babies into the system but it can go off the rails if you’re not careful.
KR: And the team took a chance on some guys last season and you’re hoping that they turn into a borderline rotation guy. A guy that comes to mind is Justin Hamilton last season. Where you have guys like Andre Miller and Tayshaun Prince that might not play a lot, but they have so much effect on these guys in the locker room. You’re not going to see fried foods before games. They are going to make sure the young guys are doing it right.
LJ: One thing I like about this topic is that most things now you can quantify them. This is one thing that’s still kind of hazy. It can’t be quantified. I think for a team a like this. It’s a way to help your stars be bigger stars when it comes down to it.
