Celtics should tell it like it is on Garnett’s knee

Oftentimes, people use the New Year as a fresh start, a time for new beginnings, and a time to correct the mistakes of the past. For the Boston Celtics, it seems that a change in the calendar did nothing for a change in their general approach when it comes to public statements regarding the injured knee of Kevin Garnett. In a story that is now in its 11th month, the Green Team has yet to come forward and tell the media, fans, and season ticket holders exactly what issues lie inside the NBA’s most valuable knee.As the Celtics take the court tonight in Miami, they will be without Garnett for the fourth consecutive game, and while missing a stretch of games here and there should not be cause for alarm, the lack of information coming out of Causeway Street certainly has Celtics fans getting antsy and looking for answers. While one can certainly respect the Celtics brass for being coy, and Belichickian when it comes to injuries, you can’t help the uneasy feeling you get whenever the Celtics management talks about Garnett. While certainly not a straight shooter, one of New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s beliefs is that any particular situation or player “is what it is.” If the Celtics wanted to learn something from the Patriots, maybe they should tell it like it is. Garnett “is what he is,” which is a 33-year-old player, coming off major knee surgery, who was drafted in 1995 and has logged more than 40,000 NBA minutes. Garnett is also still a superior basketball player, and more than capable of leading the Celtics back to the NBA Finals. Celtics fans pride themselves on being the brightest fans in the NBA, so why does the brass of the team they follow continue to insult their intelligence? Whether Garnett needs a game, a week or a month off, why not just be honest?After the Green defeated the Magic in Orlando on Christmas Day, fans learned that Garnett would need a couple of games off. Over the weekend, Celtics coach Doc Rivers announced KG would be missing additional time, saying, “KG’s still 10 days, maybe.” Rivers added, “There is some history at least when you hyper-extend knees; that takes a week, two weeks, three weeks sometimes. You kind of know it’s not going to be longer than that, but you don’t know how quickly he can come back from that.”They go from two games to three weeks just like that. When this reporter asked a member of the Celtics’ upper management about Garnett’s injured leg, he maintained that KG’s current injury has “nothing” to do with his offseason surgery. Whether that is a true statement, or more of a “Belichickian” comment, is yet to be seen. That being said, Celtics fans know that the team will not win a championship without a healthy KG, and judging by the less-than-forthcoming statements coming from the Celtics’ brass, it seems that they know that as well.