Doc Rivers praises Kevin Garnett

In the offseason, Boston’s big three era officially came to an end. About a year after guard Ray Allen left the Celtics to join the Miami Heat, head coach Doc Rivers left the Celtics to take the same job with the Los Angeles Clippers and swingman Paul Pierce and big man Kevin Garnett were dealt to the Brooklyn Nets.

Rivers was back in Boston’s TD Garden for a charity event Wednesday and wound up talking to WEEI. He asked about Garnett.

“Fans never got to see Kevin’s personality,” Rivers told Justin Barrasso of WEEI. “I wish the city got to know Kevin more. He’s the single best athlete that I’ve ever been around as far as being a team guy. He’s as ‘team’ of a star as I’ve ever seen. A lot of stars are stars, but he’s unselfish, to a fault at times, but every coach should be able to coach Kevin Garnett just to see what a true team player should be.”

Rivers obviously has strong feelings for Garnett and is a little upset about the way comes off to fans. He is not a very well-liked player.

“He did a lot of good things that people don’t know,” Rivers said. “When rookies came in, he would bring them up to my office. He’d sit them down, and then he would bring his tailor in and say, ‘If you want to be a pro, you’ve got to dress like a pro.’ And he would buy each rookie two suits, and he did it every year. To me, that says a lot about Kevin Garnett as a teammate.”