Is KG Injured or Just on a Recruiting Mission?

Last summer when Dan Patrick asked Kevin Garnett what he’d been up to since being acquired by the Boston Celtics, his response cut to the chase:

“I’m in get-Reggie mode.”

What he meant, of course, was that he was attempting to persuade Reggie Miller to come out of retirement and join the Boston Celtics. Those efforts fell short, but as we all know it was not for lack of effort on KG’s part.

In the end, Reggie decided his body just couldn’t take the grind of an 82-game season, and stayed retired. The Celtics filled the roster space with someone named James Posey, a bloke who can play a little D, shoot some threes, and, oh, by the way, is about 12 years Reggie’s junior.

So no biggie, really. Reggie’s loss was the Celtics gain.

The stakes are much higher now than they were last summer.

In the intervening months, Doc Rivers and company have proved they can play high-caliber basketball, perhaps championship basketball if all the chips fall into place.

One of those chips, many observers believe, is Sam Cassell. The Celtics are in need of a veteran, back-up point guard with some playoff experience, and Sam Cassell fits the bill. Unlike Damon Stoudamire, however, Sam can shoot the rock well and more consistently.

It just so happens that KG and Cassell are good buddies.

In fact, the last time Cassell sniffed the NBA Finals was as the starting point-guard for Kevin Garnett’s Minnesota Timberwolves. If your search the Web long enough, you will find several articles indicating that the Wolves were poised to beat the Lakers in the WCFs if Cassell had stayed healthy because Cassell was playing that well. Some of those writers are equally confident that the Wolves would have gone on to beat the Pistons.

In other words, an NBA title is unfinished business for Mssrs. Garnett and Cassell (though for Cassell it would not be his first).

Word on Celticsblog.com and elsewhere is that KG is now in “Get Sam” mode, wining, dining, and doing everything else he can do to get his buddy bought out and wearin’ da green ASAP.

Whether The Ticket’s Full-Court Press will get ‘er done is unclear and possibly out of his control. Still, he might as well make himself useful while he’s loafin’ it on the DL.

Hopefully, Doc also gave KG the names of some veteran bigs to visit on the recruiting tour.