Trading KG is a tough thing to take. But it was a necessary business move for a franchise that needs to put something in the win column and something else in the Target Center seats.

Basketball fans must love this deal, as the Woofs got five players and a couple 1st-round draft picks (remember those?) from the Celts. Reminds me of the Twins' Frank Viola trade (as a Frankie fan, that one killed me, though I liked the results eventually), or the talented bunch that came over in the Chuck Knoblauch deal.

Some of these Wolves-to-be are players to build around, and others will go away in a season or two with expiring contracts to help remedy Garnett's stifling salary.

Boston has been pretty bad the past few seasons (only three above-.500 seasons since Kevin McHale stopped playing), and now the Wolves have two handfuls of their players thanks to two huge salary-dumping trades.

KG fans, understandably, are crestfallen by all this. He was a model citizen off the court, and he did not complain throughout the bumbling of this moribund franchise. It will be interesting to see the season-ticket impact of Sebastien Telfair instead of the Big Ticket.

Come to think of it, pro sports fans here have gone through a lot.

For me, the Twins' trading of Rod Carew or the retirement of Kirby Puckett are pro events that hit me hard. (Of course I was six years old when Carew went to the Angels, so I got over it). But I found the Twins to be a team worth cheering for no matter what. They have overachieving players, a great manager and a very savvy front office. A Cy Young winner, an MVP and a catcher that owns a batting title doesn't hurt.

I used to blindly cheer for the Vikings, but they killed me with Gary Anderson's missed field goal against Atlanta in the NFC championship game and '41-doughnut' a couple seasons later. Killing off Daunte Culpepper with a cheap, inexperienced coaching staff and trading Randy Moss for nobody to save a few bucks before an imminent sale of the team was almost criminal. Zygi Wilf looks like a dupe to pay as much as he did for a gutted franchise with no stars, no hope for a real stadium and a fan base that drinks itself into a stupor every Sunday, rather than become concerned with on-field play.

I lived and died with the North Stars, until they shattered my icy heart by moving away. (I even attended the demolition of the Met Center on one of the coldest days of winter). I cannot afford to go to Wild games, and their playoff run three seasons ago was the only exciting thing they've done. 

So kudos to the T-Wolves for trying to do something about the future. But wouldn't you rather have Ray Allen and Paul Pierce trying to win a title with Garnett here?

Come to think of it, the Wolves drafted Allen in 1996...then traded him 10 seconds later for Stephon Marbury.

How'd that deal work out?

Isn't it ironic that Garnett gets traded to Boston because he can't get it done in Minnesota and now he's in the NBA Finals? Huh. Maybe he wasn't the problem afterall. Good luck to him in taking down the Lakers and getting that first championship ring. It's about time!

(Mollee Francisco is a staff writer for the Chaska Herald. She can be reached at mfrancisco@swpub.com.)