Other Members of the KG Wolves-Celtics Trade Starting to Produce

Following the announcement of the trade of Kevin Garnett to the Celtics for five lesser players, many people (myself included) decided that Kevin McHale had decided to stop at nothing in his attempt to get the Celtics another championship, and he was willing to end his career as a GM to make that happen. And most of the doubters have the entire first half of the season to point to as evidence, as the Wolves started a miserable 5-34.

However, over the last week, there are signs of life in Minnesota. Their extremely young roster has started to figure things out, and they have won 3 of their last 4, including victories over the Suns and Warriors. The loss was by a mere 1 point at Boston. I'm sensing a corner has been turned...

Ryan Gomes has increased his scoring by 5 ppg this month to 15.5 for January, and the improvement is in his shooting pct (44 to 50) rather than just attempts. He had a career high with 35 against the Warriors.

Al Jefferson is turning into a star, putting up 27 a game in his last 5 along with 13 rebounds per. His season stats are now 21 and 12, bolstered by his 40 and 19 standout performance against the Nets, a career high in scoring for him as well.

Sebastian Telfair, already considered a bust by many, has improved as well and might turn into a legit PG in the NBA. In his last five games, he's scored in double figures in every game, and is averaging 6.2 assists to only 1.4 turnovers. His shooting percentage is up, and his turnovers are down.

Meanwhile, other members of the team are stepping up. For example, McCants has shot over 50% from 3 point land in the last 5 games.

While their record will probably not look very good at the end of this year, there is a lot of hope for the future. Corey Brewer, Randy Foye, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Rashad McCants, Chris Richard, Craig Smith, and Sebastian Telfair are all 25 or younger. That is quite a list of high draft picks, many of whom had very successful college careers. They will add another high pick after this season. Expect this team to contend in a couple years.