Pro basketball Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett has launched a new podcast with Stephen A. Smith called the KG and Stephen A. Smith Show. The podcast is already drawing headlines, as Garnett kept it real about Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo and other notable young bigs, including Evan Mobley and Paolo Banchero.
Garnett used the three big men to talk about his appreciation for the next generation, but he wondered what steps they'll take to improve year over year.
“I use Bam because I love watching him. I love his style. But I’m also watching the league of young guys. Watching Mobley, I’m watching Bam. I’m watching all the younger guys in here, right? And each time I watch them, I sit here with guys that have never played in the league and we all sit here and talk, right? But I sit here and I go, ‘Damn, I wanna see what Bam brought this year that’s gonna make him one of the best bigs this year.’ I wanna see what Evan Mobley gonna bring this year. I wanna see what Paolo gonna bring.”
He said it’s disappointing when what he sees doesn’t match what he expects, which tells him a player did nothing in the summer.
“I’m sitting here just articulating the league, bro. Just looking at it, right? And I get so disappointed when I go away with of not what I expected to see versus what I’m looking at. And then that tells me you did nothing in the summer.”
Garnett said he knows what goes on in the offseason, pointing to players who come back with the same injury.
Article Continues Below“I know what goes on in the summer. I know when you go work on something, when you have an injury in April, I know when you get to July, you don’t have an injury anymore. I know a lot of these injuries that these guys are continuously coming back having the same injury to the next…You didn’t fix it during the summer. So what did you do…”
He said he’s holding the league accountable and urged players to seek out better sources of improvement.
“I’m just holding this league accountable. Bro, that’s all I’m saying. And you know what? I love all you trainers out here who are actually training these guys. But for guys to go from 1.0 to 2.0, you gotta come to the wax, man. You gotta go to a player that emulates or somebody that can give you league sh*t to take you to an advantage. Because if you ain’t getting an advantage, you’re just doing what you’re doing, bro.”