Steve Adams: Kevin Garnett’s trash talk makes you question whether playing basketball is worth it

Steve Adams: Kevin Garnett’s trash talk makes you question whether playing basketball is worth it
Dan Feldman Mar 13, 2015, 10:10 AM EDT




Kevin Garnett has a reputation for picking on only smaller players.

Whether or not he actually leans that direction, Garnett affected at least one big man with his intense trash talk.

Thunder center Steven Adams, via Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman:

“KG and (Kendrick Perkins), those two are ridiculous,” Adams said of the legendary smack-talkers. “They make you question, like, why you are playing basketball and stuff. You’re like ‘Why am I doing this?’ It’s really weird, you get depressed.”

Has Garnett ever specifically targeted Adams?

“Thankfully, he doesn’t talk to me,” Adams said. “But he was talking to Serge once and I was like ‘Woah, that’s some stuff.‘ I cannot repeat it.”

How about when Garnett starts talking to himself?

“Yeah, it’s like really weird,” Adams recalled. “He’s talking to himself, but he like makes you feel bad because he mentions you in it. You’re like, ‘What the hell? This is crazy?’ I walk away so I don’t hear it because then, I don’t know, I’ll get real sad.”

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Adams is a confident guy. Now, I really want to hear what got under his skin.

Unfortunately for Adams, if Garnett gets wind of this interview, the veteran will likely have much more to say when the Thunder and Timberwolves meet tonight.



bob
MY NOTE:  I love New Zealanders.  In all my travels over the years some of the nicest, friendliest, most helpful people I've been with were the Kiwis.  Their country is drop-dead gorgeous too.  Maybe that's why he's having such a hard time wrapping his mind around KG's trash-talking.  Gotta let it roll off your shoulders, big guy, this is the bigs you're playing in and KG is an alpha dog.  As far as KG picking on smaller players, him and Blatche went at it a lot when Blatche was in Washington and Brooklyn before KG got there.  He had a thing going with Kevin Seraphin too.  He pulled a "Lance" by blowing in David West's ear.  He called Charlie Villaneuva a "a cancer patient".  He is famous for mocking Dwight Howard, telling him to "put on your make up, clown!".  I have no idea what Dan Feldman is talking about when he says "Kevin Garnett has a reputation for picking on only smaller players."  KG is as constant as the tide.  He is going to be in your face, talking smack, no matter who you are, all the time.


.

Thank God he wasn't around when Larry Bird was playing, he would have been crying. Grow up big boy, this is the big's, there have been more trash talkers in the league than you will ever realize. KG is just on the tail end of his trash talking days!

Rosalie

There has always been rash talking in basketball.  Silent Sam Jones is perhaps the best illustration of a surprise verbalizer with his "Too late" line.  What's different is a matter of degree.  And the entertainment philosophy that makes rock stars out of basketball stars feeds their egos to the point where simply succeeding on the court isn' enough for them.  They need the extra dimension of what (in my mind) self-congratulation.

And it certainly feeds the needs of many (probably the majority of) fans who lack the confidence in their own qualities and therefore prefer to live vicariously through mouthy sports heroes.

Sam

Bob,

Garnett does have a reputation of verbally attacking smaller and European players.
This article goes back over 4 years.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/garnetts-bully-act-goes-too-181700093--nba.html

Garnett was always a punk and a bully, but because he was an all time great player, he got away with it.


Steven Adams does need to man up and get over it.
He's a big, tough and smart dude.
He needs to accept that trash talking occurs and be more mentally tough.

Garnett was never above any extracurricular activity to distract an opponent. You'd love him on your team; hate him as an opponent. He came here and changed the culture of a long losing team and was esteemed by his teammates. He didn't care whether opponents liked him. Can't see anything wrong with that.

His approach is like that army motto: no better friend; no worse enemy.

If, even at the current respective ages, Garnett had to go up against Robert Parish, I bet it wouldn't be long before KG would experience a Lame Beer shivver.

And someone who could have beaten the hell out of both Garnett and Parish was Gene Conley.  Unless Jim Loscutoff got to them first.

Sam

I'm purposely staying away from the board, its too bad some members here, not all, but some are so oversensitive they can't take a little rubbing that isn't even close to real TRASH TALKING....and like little kids being picked on, which they weren't, they have to report to Sam. Were just talking hoops here, it can get specific and opinionated, but thats it, guess I'm different.

Put it all on me, Cow.  No one convinced me to do anything I wasn't poised to do, believe me!  And all I did was to identify what was becoming a stylistic posting problem (not a official infraction of board rules) and apprise you of it, in a respectful, private, non-confrontational manner in hopes of getting responsible cooperation from a valuable board member.  From the outset of this forum, I've issued an open invitation for members to contact me if there are any concerns with the board because that's the only way I can become aware of some situations and monitor the extent of others.  I'm sorry you elected to make the matter public.

I hope you enjoyed the latest Celtics' comeback tonight.  How about if we get back to discussing basketball?

Sam

Hi,
I think it's been discussed many, many times before.
At such high skill and athletic level every microscopic advantage can bring a win. If your opponent blushes when you say word fuck 5 times in his face, let's do it 20 times and he'd miss that crucial shot. It's called psychological warfare, it's part of the NBA. If you can't take it go buy NBA league pass and watch the games on TV.

AK