My Timberwolves friend asked me the other day, what would the Celtics record be if they had Big Al instead of KG.
Five hundred or just above, I replied.
He laughed out loud for a good eight seconds.
Al doesn’t play defense and he can’t pass, I said. Nor is he known for his quarterbacking skills. These are the three hallmarks of the team that started the season 29-3, defense, passing, and Garnett yelling out instructions at both ends of the court.
Give me a break, he said.
Big Al puts up some nice numbers, and that’s about it, I said.
Funny, he observed, that’s what they used to say about KG.
Upon further review, my buddy had a good point.
Now that we’ve seen the Celtics play 6.5 games without The Ticket, we know a little bit more of what they would look like had KG stayed in Minnesota, and it’s not all bad.
On the other hand, without KG it would have been extremely unlikely that we would have landed Posey or House, and we wouldn’t have rid ourselves of some of the youngsters like Gerald Green and Sebastian Telfair.
So maybe the Cs would have won 22-23 games out of their first 32 with Big Al instead of the Big Ticket (I'll be generous for the sake of argument). But they definitely wouldn’t be playing this kind of D or passing with the same degree of proficiency.
Defense wins championships, and puts you in contention to win championships.
Piling up double-doubles doesn’t.
Just ask Elton Brand.
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