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Kevin Garnett is already yelling at his Timberwolves teammates. In a good way.

Kevin Garnett

Kevin Garnett

AP

The Kevin Garnett homecoming to Minnesota isn’t just a marketing ploy for a franchise about to miss the playoffs again, it’s a chance to bring a leader and teacher into a young locker room. Minnesota is loaded with inexperienced but talented players who need to be shown how to be a true professional. They need a mentor.

Garnett is already teaching lessons.

And doing it in his own style, which means a lot of yelling. Andy Greder of the Pioneer Press has the details.

During Tuesday’s early afternoon practice, Garnett twice yelled at burly center Nikola Pekovic to get back on defense.

“I think nobody in (Pekovic’s) career yell at him to run back on defense, so that’s good,” Ricky Rubio said...

With Garnett’s help, Rubio said he can become a more vocal point guard.

“I don’t know how to do it yet. I’m too nice, so I hope he teach me that bad side,” Rubio said. “That (will) help team to improve.”


The other lesson is about work ethic — Anthony Bennett got to the team’s weight room at 11 a.m. expecting to be the first guy there and found KG had been there 90 minutes already.

I don’t know if Garnett is going to stick around for a season after this one, but even if he is just there a couple months he can show these young players a lot. And I mean show — KG has the ring and still walks the walk (even if his body doesn’t respond like it once did). This franchise will be better off for these couple months (or however long it lasts).

This is the kind of thing the Sixers should do, but that’s a different story.