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Garnett likes Wolves' offseason make-overThe Timberwolves had their busiest offseason in team history this past summer, but while general manager Kevin McHale was rebuilding the team, the player he was rebuilding around was doggedly silent on the subject. Kevin Garnett finally touched on it Monday. "I'm excited about the year. Everybody is excited to see how we're going to look, including ourselves," the star forward said. "It's cool." Garnett, who spent a large part of the summer in California, spent Monday zipping around the Twin Cities. He was at Target Center as General Mills unveiled a Wheaties box featuring the 7-footer gracing the cover, and he attended the launch of a Web site designed to help minority students reach educational and career goals at Minneapolis North High School. "It's good to end the summer on a note like this," he said. "I can come chill with the kids and get their feedback on the program." Garnett declined to comment on his contract status, and kept basketball talk to a minimum. The Wolves have an extension offer on the table, and his agent, Andy Miller, is expected to meet with McHale this week. Garnett is entering the final year of his six-year, $126 million contract. If there is no agreement before the season starts Oct. 29, talks will end until after the season, when Garnett will become a free agent. Garnett is eligible for 105 percent of the last year of his contract, meaning he could go from making $28 million to $29.4 million next season. After that, Garnett, who could receive up to a five-year extension, would receive a 12.5 percent raise every year. It is believed the Wolves are offering a five-year extension for nearly $100 million. If Garnett decides to test the free-agent market, no other team can pay him as much money as the Wolves because of the salary cap. The Wolves are not restricted by the salary cap. In eight seasons with Wolves, Garnett has led them to seven playoff appearances and been all-star six times. Last season he was the most valuable player of the All-Star Game. Yet, Garnett has not led Minnesota past the first round of the playoffs. The Wolves had home-court advantage for the first time in team history last season, but lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games. Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Salary cap gives Wolves a good chance to sign GarnettCertain friends say that, from certain angles, New Jersey Nets president Rod Thorn looks as if he's aged three years in one. Staffers from the Orlando Magic still speak bitterly about a smart-aleck newspaper poll taken seven years ago, as if that alone was responsible for driving away their super-sized superstar. The traumas and institutional scars suffered by NBA teams that sweated out a franchise player's impending free agency soon could be the Timberwolves to bear if Kevin Garnett chooses not to sign a contract extension before next summer. The Wolves already have made an offer to the All-Star forward through agent Andy Miller and, at one point this summer, the two parties were believed to be within $8 million; the team was said to be offering $92 million over five years, with Garnett's side seeking $100 million. The gap seemed even smaller, too, when Wolves owner Glen Taylor, in an interview last week, said good-naturedly: "It won't be a matter of money. I'm probably going to overpay him anyway. He's my guy, and I'm going to take care of him." Then again, the delay in finalizing veteran forward Gary Trent's one-year contract might relate to Miller's ability to deliver Garnett; Trent also is a Miller client. Garnett and Miller will be in town Monday for a charity function at Minneapolis North High School, and the agent said he expected to talk with Kevin McHale, Wolves vice president of basketball operations. "I'm not answering any questions about it," McHale said last week. "We don't have a deal." Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Stein: Wolves gave KG words of WisdomThe season hasn't even started and Prediction No. 1 of 2003-04 is already in some jeopardy. Kevin Garnett is indeed considering a contract extension from the Minnesota Timberwolves, after I fearlessly predicted on Aug. 4 that he wouldn't sign before the season. It was a prediction based on the belief that Garnett at least wants to see what it's like to visit other teams next summer and hear how they operate. What changed? A recent visit by Wolves management to Los Angeles, where Garnett now spends his offseasons, apparently has convinced KG to rethink that plan. Until August, the expectation even in some Wolves circles had Garnett intent on exercising his right to test the market next July. That's even though Minnesota can pay him far more than any other team, and even though the teams Garnett would figure to have serious interest in, like Houston, won't have anywhere near the cap room to make him a representative offer. One team insider, after the fearless prediction, went so far as to say: "I don't think KG has ever seen another home locker room. He just wants to check things out." Wolves owner Glen Taylor and general manager Kevin McHale must have sensed that because they soon were in L.A. to discuss the parameters of an extension package. Taylor told ESPN.com on Friday that he made a detailed presentation to Garnett's financial adviser and has maintained phone contact with Garnett this offseason to discuss the club's many roster moves. What's unclear is how Garnett will respond. Besides the riches it can offer, Minnesota also has presented Garnett with a slew of new teammates: Latrell Sprewell, Sam Cassell and Michael Olowokandi, most notably. That combination could convince Garnett to sign a five-year extension before Halloween, which naturally is the Wolves' preference. Then again, even if Garnett gets the feeling during Minnesota's first few practices that the 0-for-7 playoff hex is about to be exorcised, he might still elect to hold off until the offseason so he can visit the Rockets or the Pistons or perhaps another title contender. Taylor said he's "optimistic" Garnett will sign the extension before the season because "it would just seem to me that there are more reasons to do it than not do it." When the subject was broached earlier in the summer, Taylor added, Garnett's reaction was, "Let's see the team you put together first, and I just said to him, 'That's fair enough.' "(Signing Garnett) is the only thing that's left to do," Taylor said. "We've done everything else we could possibly do. Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Timberwolves Sep 2003 Archive
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