To play or not to play?

That is the question that will be surrounding the Boston Celtics and Kevin Garnett this preseason.

After watching the team struggle to find an identity on the defensive end of the floor from February to their elimination from the playoffs in May, the Celtics organization and their fans are eager to see KG step onto the parquet floor once again, donning the green and white. Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers have been some of the few that have actually seen him on the floor working out and playing in scrimmages recently and they both say he looks good.

And while this is great news for Celtics fans who are already envisioning Banner No. 18 being raised to the rafters, I think we need to take a step back and look at how the team should handle Garnett throughout the early part of the season.

The last time we saw a healthy Garnett on an NBA floor, he was one of the best defenders in the League. His length and agility made it incredibly difficult for opponents to get anything by him. His jumping ability made it almost impossible for anyone within ten feet of him to get off an uncontested shot.

Fast forward about ten months and questions surround the man who has New England’s second-most talked about knee, behind Tom Brady. Garnett is 33 years old and has never had to come off an injury like this. How will it affect his jumping ability and range of motion? Can he come back and be the dominant defensive force he was just last year?

There’s no question that he’s going to have to test it out in game situations in order to fully trust it and he’s going to be rusty after being away from NBA competition for over half a year, which is why he needs to play during the preseason. However, the Celtics need to be cautious with him and the handling of his minutes.

Very cautious.

As much as all Celtics fans want to see the man play, October and November don’t matter too much in the NBA and I’d rather see him on the floor at 100 percent in May and June. We all know about KG’s intensity and desire to get out there, but the worst case scenario for both Garnett and the Celtics would be for him to re-injure himself in a meaningless game and waste another opportunity at an NBA title.

The Celtics must make sure they find a way to control Garnett when he wants to push himself and stay out on the floor. Without him, the C’s are done.

How do they do that?

Fortunately, they don’t pay me to figure that out.

Ryan Desmarais can be contacted by e-mail at rdesmarais@fanhuddle.com

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 at 9:10 pm and is filed under News Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.