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Mason Plumlee said he had a brief conversation with his mentor, Kevin Garnett the other day but what the 38-year-old told the 24-year-old should make Nets fans feel relieved about KG's return. It's about unfinished business.
"He said he feels great," Plumlee told Andy Vasquez. "He’s hungry, too, for this season. He didn’t like how last season ended. I think everybody. You have a team with guys who are used to winning and be successful and they didn’t like how last season ended. So everybody has a hunger, a drive, going into next year."
The Nets front office have long said they expect Garnett back, but this was the first time a teammate reported on how and what he feels. The comment was included in a Vasquez story on how the team is increasingly motivated by both what happened last season and the off-season punditry that has them finishing in the lottery (and giving up their first rounder in a swap with Atlanta.)
Vasquez quotes a Grantland assessment of the Brooklyn off-season this way: "THIS IS WORSE THAN EAST RUTHERFORD."
Plumlee, like Brook Lopez and Andrei Kirilenko earlier in the month, dismissed it all. "[It’s] definitely motivating," Plumlee said earlier this week. "For sure there was more hype going into last year because of the big trade and a second year in Brooklyn, but I just think the media and people don’t take into account how much better a team can get with players they already have."
Garnett in particular also has to be happy with something Lionel Hollins said this week, that rigid time constraints are a thing of the past. As Scott Fontana of amNY reported, Hollins said he has no intention on limiting KG's time on the court, or that of any of his other veterans. "Everyone's going to play whatever minutes they deserve to play," Hollins told amNewYork while observing the U.S. men's basketball team practice at the PNY Center.
- Nets' off-season does not impress - Andy Vasquez - The Record
- Lionel Hollins doesn't plan to limit Nets veterans' minutes - Scott Fontana - amNY