Over this past week, you may have seen former Boston Celtics center Kevin Garnett — one of the most popular players in NBA history — in gripping commercials sponsored by Crown Royal. Crown Royal’s partnership with Garnett is one where there’s mutual enthusiasm between the two parties and understandably so.
Celtics Wire, part of USA Today’s Sports Media Group, was granted an interview with Garnett where he would discuss the Crown Royal Water Break campaign, along with interesting basketball gems.
The balance between having fun and being responsible
Asking Garnett how his partnership with Crown Royal came about, the 15-time All-Star showed that he’s actually a legitimate fan of the whiskey right off the bat and recalls first seeing their signature bags in his childhood.
“First off,” says KG, “I’m a huge fan of Crown. I grew up, my mom had the Crown Royal bag full of quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies. You know what I’m sayin’? They approached me about this particular project, I posted a lot of interest on my end. Being responsible and hydrating and staying royal.
That’s the basis of it.”
However, it’s more than about his affinity for the beloved brand, as the message for the Crown Royal Water Break campaign caught his attention as well.
As an athlete, one could already determine that hydration is a priority. However, even for the non-athletes in the world, KG believes that it’s important to take the time to make sure you refresh yourself with water. Especially when you’re drinking alcohol, whether you’re celebrating or just having a good time.
“So many times, when we’re drinking or we’re turnin’ up or promoting being lit or staying turnt, no one ever says in between that, ‘hey man, have a water’ or ‘hydrate a little bit.’
To Garnett, Crown Royal’s message is simple: “Hey, it’s ok to turn up and go hard but throw a water in there. We’re promoting hydration and having a water break and staying royal.”
While Garnett hasn’t been seen associating himself with many brands, he makes it clear that he wants his partnership to be long-lasting.
If other chances for endorsements or partnerships arrive, he’s “all about opportunity.” Still, KG is enjoying the here and now, saying “the Crown Royal relationship is solid. It’s cool. I’m enjoying it. It was fun doing this. I love the message. I see us doing future business.
Right now, it’s a campaign. We’re running this campaign throughout the football season. I’m glad it’s back. I’m glad sports are back.”
“I like Crown,” exclaims the Hall of Famer. “I like Crown a lot.”
Of course, this might be the most recent time that Garnett has been on your TV screen.
However, if you saw Area 21 or Uncut Gems, you know the Big Ticket is meant for the screen.
Speaking on the topic of Uncut Gems, where KG would play himself as a member of the Celtics, Garnett expresses that he didn’t even think he could mess up the role.
“They told me when I was playing yourself, I thought like ‘Man, can you really mess up being yourself?”
I can’t mess up being me. If I mess up being me, it’ll be a terrible thing for everybody, you know what I’m saying? But I had a lot of fun, man. I thank the Safdie brothers for having me in the movie. Shoutout to Julia Fox, shoutout Adam Sandler… the whole crew. It was a great experience.”
Honestly, the most interesting thing about KG’s forays onto a television screen is that he always seems to be being himself.
With the conversation switching gears to basketball, KG unleashed a myriad of takes
Naturally, CW had to ask Garnett at least one question about the Celtics, who he played for from the 2007-08 season to the 2012-13 season after spending his first 14 seasons starring for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Asking KG whether or not he believed Boston was a legitimate Finals contender, the former MVP notes that he thinks “the bubble has converted and changed the ability of being a contender to a reality.”
“I think the ability to win with the bubble, on how it was set up – I think it’s up for grabs,” muses Garnett. “I think the team that meshes, and I think the team that meshes and shows a bit of chemistry, will have an edge in all of this. The Celtics seem to be coming together at the right time.”
“[Jayson] Tatum looks very comfortable,” Garnett continues. “[Jaylen] Brown looks very, very comfortable. Like, Kemba… the three off them look like they’re on the same page with whatever the schemes are, whatever the agenda is… All of those guys, their core guys are on the same page, which is what you want going down this road of elimination and just the stakes of each game.
I see this wide open. But the Celtics, to me, are coming together better than – if not [the] Miami Heat – are coming together beautifully and at the right time.”
Speaking of the Heat, who the Celtics are currently facing in the Eastern Conference Finals, KG’s statement about the bubble converting the ability of being a contender to a reality rings true.
“Listen, if you would have told me Miami was going to sweep Milwaukee before we started this,” says an incredulous Garnett, “I think everybody on this line would have been like ‘you’re crazy.’
But this is the bubble. You don’t have the fact of travel, you don’t have some of the homecourt advantage. It’s one room, it’s one gym, it’s two rims, it’s one ball. Let’s get it. And a bunch of schemes, you know what I’m saying? The bubble life is interesting.”
That’s also highlighted by the success that Boston has managed to have after losing one of their best players in Gordon Hayward, who suffered a Grade 3 ankle sprain in Game 1 of the team’s first round series against the Philadelphia 76ers.
However, according to KG, the Celtics’ ability to gel wasn’t in spite of Hayward’s injury but because of it.
“I love Gordon [Hayward] to death,” says Garnett. “I just don’t know where it fits in the growth of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. You have a trifecta, you know? And it just looks at times like he doesn’t fit or he tries too hard. It just looks like he doesn’t fit.’
Expounding upon why the team would develop more chemistry without Hayward, KG explains that “with him out, it’s a simplicity for Marcus Smart to come in and play a certain way. It seems like a simplicity for Kemba Walker to come in and play a certain way… Tatum. It just seems like a more simplistic system when those four, or those three, are kind of working.”
“I’m no coach or anything,” Garnett says. “I’m just an observer and I’m a student of energy or chemistry. And I’m just watching how that whole dynamic looks when Gordon is off it.”
Nonetheless, KG understands the importance of having your roster being fully healthy and all players being available.
“… This is the time when you need all of your stars, you need all of your pieces. It would be a great thing to have him coming back…”
Garnett, who won a championship with Boston in 2008, says that he can “definitely see [the Celtics] in the Finals” thanks to their chemistry. One still has to wonder whether or not Boston will be able to strike the balance between chemistry and talent that’s shown itself to be as important as ever this postseason.
To that question though, can you imagine if the Celtics — or any team, for that matter — had a prime KG with them for their playoff run? Hailed as one of the most highly-skilled and dominant players of all-time, it’s not difficult to see Garnett fitting in with today’s style of play.
Would KG be more dominant in today’s game?
Describing what he was like as a player, Garnett says that he “was very passionate about the game. I played the game with a tempo, I played it with a certain temperament… I thought I was a lot less calm as an older player. I also did little things. I noticed that, a lot of times in this time of basketball, I lot of guys slip picks… We actually set picks and did some of those small intangibles”
Further comparing the difference between the era in which he played and the era where he just observes, KG notes that “You don’t really get hit a lot in this style of play. It’s really run n’ gun, d’ing up, being able to guard one on one.
Guys pull up so much that you wouldn’t really… [if] you could handle the first two moves and keep the guy under control like that, you could play in today’s game. You know? There’s not a lot of moves, there’s not a lot of force. When there is, it’s heightened and it stands out… Today’s game is all finesse, it’s all moves, it’s all space, it’s all creating space.”
“You don’t have to worry about some of the physical parts of this game which will actually take a toll on your body,” KG says. “Take a toll on you overall. You can actually finesse and shoot jumpers and step-backs and two-dribble pull-ups, one-dribble pull-ups… three-point trailing.”
With that, Garnett concedes that his style would have meshed better in today’s game.
“Yeah, my game would probably suit, probably a little better, for this type of style that’s going on today.”