Kevin Garnett retired from the NBA just six days ago, and he’s already received some offers to come back as a coach.
His top offer thus far: the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers. Not a bad place to start a coaching career.
Kevin Garnett #5 of the Boston Celtics laughs off a call. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)
The Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue, who coached Garnett in Boston, told reporters Thursday he would “definitely make a spot for him if he wanted to come back and coach.”
Garnett’s retirement received a rather subtle reaction when compared to the recent retirements of Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan, but there’s a reason Lue already wants him to come back and coach.
“He was just like LeBron,” Lue told Cleveland.com. “One of the easiest guys to coach as far as being a superstar, as far as telling him what to do, they would do it.”
“If they didn’t like what you were doing, they’d call you out to the side and tell you. They’d never call you out in front of everybody. Just having respect for everybody from the janitor to the owner. That’s our motto,” he said.
Garnett served as a kind of player/coach in his final years with the Minnesota Timberwolves. That is widely believed as the reason for his return to the team he began his career with, which now has a roster full of young, talented players.
Garnett coaches up the younger players. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
Following practice Thursday, Lue told reporters he and Garnett have already talked about the possibility. “I know his wife is pushing for it a lot. Brandi is pushing for it, trying to get him to come and coach. He says he’s not ready yet,” Lue said. “He goes back, ‘I might do it,’ but he’s back and forth. We’ll see.”
Garnett plans to be in Cleveland for the Cavaliers opening night ceremonies on October 25. Perhaps he will watch them raise the franchise’s first championship banner and decide he’s going to stick around.
Maybe if Lue offered him an official player/coach position, he would jump on it. “He says he’ll be around a lot,” he added. “We’ll see.”