Garnett Reunited with Marbury
The Boston Celtic’s trade to obtain Stephon Marbury this week is interesting not just because of Marbury’s recent problems in New York.
It is also fascinating because the Celtics are the defending NBA champions and they have brought in someone that many fans believe is a problem player. ESPN reported that the Celtics Big Three - Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen - all approved of the trade.
So time will tell how wise a move it was.
It was also an interesting trade because of some earlier NBA history. Marbury was drafted fourth and Allen fifth in the 1996 NBA Draft. Marbury was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks and Allen by the Minnesota Timberwolves, then the two teams traded players (Milwaukee also gave up a future first round pick to obtain Allen).
The trade put Marbury and Garnett together. Garnett was Minnesota’s first round pick
the year before. Marbury and Garnett played together for two full seasons and part of a third, from 1996-1998. (Marbury was traded to New Jersey after 18 games of the 1998-99 season).
The pair helped a young Minnesota franchise to its first 40-win season and its first playoff berth in 1996-97. The Wolves were swept in the first round by Houston that year.
The next season Marbury and Garnett led the Timberwolves to their first season over .500 but they again lost in the first round of the playoffs. The Wolves had a 2-1 lead in the best of 5 first round playoffs that year but the Seatle SuperSonics came back to win the series, 3-2.
That is ancient history but the previous success might be part of the reason why Garnett wanted the Celts to trade for Marbury. The Lakers have looked pretty strong this year. Will this trade boost Boston enough to help them win back to back NBA titles? Time will tell.
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