Mentorship, according to Rondo, is the greatest part of his connection with Garnett. From the time he took a young Avery Bradley under his wing, he paid it forward. All of the young players on the 2007-08 team – Rondo, Powe, Perkins, Allen, Gabe Pruitt, Glen Davis – moved on with the knowledge they had just been anointed by a legend “It was crazy. There were times I would catch myself saying man, that’s Kevin Garnett,” said Perkins. “In high school I had a pair of his shoes when he was with Jordan. I had a pair of those Nikes that he had, and I’m like man, that’s the Big Ticket. It really set the stage for my generation as far as big men coming into the league out of high school, like bigs wanted to be the next KG.