I caught up with NBA Superstar Kevin Garnett recently. We talked about his childhood and what led to him to start playing basketball, his transition to the Brooklyn Nets, his thoughts on first-year Head Coach Jason Kidd, his charity work and more.
In addition to the clip below, I want to specifically highlight his response to my question, "Who's on your NBA Mount Rushmore?" because his response typifies the humble person that he is and shows the great appreciation he has for all of the legends in the game of basketball that have come before him:
"If you know anything about mountains and you know anything about mountain ranges you know it has multiple peaks and obviously some mountains are bigger than others. I won't disrespect the game by naming 1-5 players that have come before not only me, but everybody in my generation. The generations that have come before us have been the ones that have dictated our play, our style and I think as young people we have grown the styles into different ages...we wouldn't have known what a triple-double was if Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson didn't play the game. We wouldn't have known about rebounding and defense if Bill Russell and the great Celtics teams weren't assembled. We wouldn't have known about big-man dominance if it wasn't for a Wilt Chamberlain...I feel like if you don't have those guys you don't have the stats; you don't have the Olajuwon's; you don't have the David Robinson's and you don't have the different mindsets of players.
Nothing is original in this game. Everything has been copied, if not amplified more. So for me to put a mountain of 5-7 guys that would be totally disrespectful for the guys that have come before me and other generations. So I would answer that questions with I have a lot of respect for the guys and the generations that have come before me and that I can form and kind of say, "This is where I want to be in the NBA" and go out and do that."
