From the moment Tim Duncan suddenly announced his retirement after the 2016 playoffs, we knew that yesterday's moment was bound to come. He will be inducted into the 2021 Hall of Fame with Kobe Bryant and Garnett. For many people, the Hall of Fame makes them great, but for stars of their caliber, the Hall of Fame is so great because of them.
Michael Jordan retired for the second time in 1998, and that was the end of an era. LeBron brought his talent to the South Coast in 2010, the beginning of a new era. In the 12 years during that period, Bryant, Duncan and KG combined won 10 championships. Only six athletes in NBA history have been inducted more than 15 All-Stars, and this year's Hall of Fame trio is among them. As James said of this year's Hall of Fame, "I think this is the best Hall of Fame trio, and there's no better Hall of Fame trio than them."
They did not rule this age together, but they are the era itself. Two high school athletes, a senior candidate, who have become legends and completed the process of self-realization in their nearly 20-year NBA careers, have also subtly shaped the fans' preferences for NBA superstars in the previous era: 120% hard work, high professionalism, the ability to continuously change the game at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and the loyalty of one person and one city.
No matter how many transfer rumors have been passed, duncan and Kobe bryant have never changed teams in their entire careers. Garnett played 12 seasons for the Timberwolves before moving to Boston. The day before the Hall of Fame ceremony, Garnett spoke about the transfer in an interview, and his comment was rather blunt: "If I say I have anything to regret about joining the Celtics, it is regretting not joining the Celtics earlier. ”
He did spend the most glorious chapter of his career with the Celtics. After having enough good teammates, he finally showed how great he really was in the first two years in Boston — of course, he was great at the Timberwolves, the kind of greatness that won the MVP, but his greatness in Boston is completely different, that is, the greatness that can support the team to reach championship level as the core of the team. It was Duncan and Bryant who had proven it long ago, but he had never been able to prove the kind of greatness.
On the offensive end, he can provide quality cover, make solid jump shots, open up space for Rondo and Pierce, and on the defensive end, his terrifying arm span and athleticism make him probably the most controlled player in NBA history on the defensive end. In Doug Rivers' defensive system, the Celtics became the best defensive team in the NBA, and he also won the best defensive player and championship. But just a year later, he suffered a major injury, his athletic ability was greatly reduced, and Garnett, who could dunk even the air relay dunk in the 2010 Finals, had some heroic twilight sadness - despite this, the Celtics still played 7 games with the Lakers.
Against this backdrop, it's easy to understand Garnett's little regret. He's a pioneer of the times, and if you look at a current NBA game, when you see today's centers pulling out space on a vault jumper and waving their long arms at the defensive end to drive away small guards, you'll also see Garnett's shadow in them. But the Timberwolves failed to turn his lead into a beautiful playoff result. He dedicated the best years of his career to the bitter minnesota, and the Timberwolves never brought him good enough helpers. When he was inducted into the Hall of Fame with Kobe Bryant and Duncan, it was easy for him to feel the slightest injustice of fate in such a comparison - the same era of arrogance, why didN't I meet the Lord early?
It's not that he doesn't love the Timberwolves. In his speech, he thanked Kevin McHale and Philip Sanders, who spent years with the Timberwolves, and his teammates Sam Mitchell, Cassel, Gary Trent, Troy Hudson and Trenton Hassell. Although he didn't forgive Glenn Taylor, who kicked him out of timberwolf management, he thanked the city of Minneapolis. Garnett is known to be a moralist, and he wouldn't say that the brothers who shed blood and sweat with him on the Timberwolves dragged him back, but in an interview with the media, he regarded the days spent with the Timberwolves as "a hardship before success", which has made his attitude clear.
We have countless ways to explain his bad luck in the Timberwolves era: he took a contract that was too heavy for the team; the Timberwolves were fined 5 first-round picks for illegal operations; general manager McHale never brought him the right teammates; the competitive environment in the West was too bad... But in the end, the Timberwolves gave him enough opportunities to develop him into the player we later recognized.
In today's view, his loyalty to the Timberwolf is "foolish", but he did show a rare personal responsibility and heroism in the Timberwolf's long adversity. To this day, Chinese fans still call him the "Wolf King". In a sense, what he calls "regretting not joining the Celtics sooner" has a bit of a Versailles-style flaunting kernel, because he also understands from the bottom of his heart that the time he spent in Minnesota was not in vain. In a way, it is the struggle that has not changed his fate with all his strength defined his image as a tragic hero, and it is precisely because of the years he has paid that fans have given him a higher recognition of his success in Boston.
From this, we can also see that as a pioneer, he is not only driving the change of the big man at the technical level, but also driving the new era on the sidelines.
From the time he joined the NBA to the time he left, the NBA has changed dramatically. When Garnett joined the league in 1995, nearly every team in the NBA had their city heroes. Michael Jordan won't leave Chicago, Reggie Miller won't leave Indiana, Malone and Stockton belong only to Salt Lake City, each local media is covering its own local teams and their stars with regional pride, and in 2021, all the sports media that are still alive have no choice but to cover the best teams in the league.
When everyone can pay attention to the best teams, the best games, everyone will naturally be attracted to those things. When the Golden State Warriors ruled the league, almost all sports outlets opened press stations in Oakland and sent their best reporters, and now that treatment belongs to Los Angeles. In this era of new media and self-media, all audiences are subconsciously paying attention to the best, most topical, and most popular players and teams, and no one can go against the sky, otherwise they will be eliminated. People will pay attention to whether Horton Tucker is playing well or badly in a game, and will judge Drummond's ghosting operation, and they will get unprecedented attention just because they are part of the Lakers and teammates of James and Davis. But if you can't get your team into the ranks of the few title contenders, then even if you're one of the best stars in the league, it's hard to get enough respect when the freshness fades. The spotlight can't hit you, you can only walk alone in the dark.
But in the pursuit of freshness, strength and fun, people's needs will inevitably become convergent and single. We often hear a word in our lives today called "inner volume", NBA media is in the inner volume, and NBA stars are also in the inner volume. If you don't roll, you will be far from the core of the discussion of this alliance. That's the core reason why the league is growing stronger today: You can only be recognized if you're on the most competitive team. Maybe Garnett realized the day was coming 11 years ago, so he left James with the famous "loyalty can sometimes hurt you because your youth will never go back." ”
The wheels of the times are rumbling forward, and one new age star after another is practicing Garnett's advice with his actions. The regular season ends today, and a new legend is on the way.
But in the new era, there will be no one like you after all.