Lionel Hollins believes Kevin Garnett will be back in Brooklyn

If there's one thing you should know about Kevin Garnett, besides his phenomenal defense, intensity and All-NBA talent, it's that he says nothing during the offseason. Nothing at all.

KG likes his privacy in the summer and it's hard to blame him. He's on stage for seven or eight straight months out of the year. Give the guy his downtime. Not to say you should feel sorry for the multi-millionaire, it just makes sense why he gets the hell out of town after the final whistle blows.

So it should come as no surprise that Garnett hasn't said anything about playing the upcoming season with the Brooklyn Nets or if he's decided to hang up the high tops. His new coach, Lionel Hollins, says he's been told Garnett would be coming back.

From Bleacher Report's Jared Zwerling:

No, I haven't talked about that with him, but all reports that I have [from team management] is that he's coming back. It's his right to make that decision or change his mind if he has decided to come back or not come back. I'm not worried about that. That's out of my control. That's a decision that KG and his family have to make, and I'll leave it with him.

Garnett is set to make $12 million this season. Even for a guy who has made over $315 million in his career, not counting endorsement deals, it's hard to pass that money up.

Besides the money, Garnett must still feel he's got something left in the tank. Here's where this gets rough for me.

KG is the man. He's my all-time favorite player and always will be. I didn't even really know what basketball was until I watched a Celtics game against Minnesota and saw this guy ripping rebounds, dunking in peoples' faces, blocking shots with an incredulous look on his face, making amazing passes, hitting some nice jumpers, talking more trash than a sailor, becoming the definition of intense and essentially carrying an entire team on his back. It was something magical.

I want KG to keep playing. Forever. The day he calls it quits, I don't know what I'm going to do. Thankfully, Boston has a nice up-and-coming guy who I'm pretty excited about in Marcus Smart. Hopefully, he can be my next KG.

As much as I don't want KG to retire, it's so hard to watch him play now. He's a shell of himself. It's like having the dog you grew up with start to get old and can't walk up or down stairs anymore, starts groaning when it gets up or lies down and looks at you like, "What am I still doing here?" You just can't let go, as selfish as it is.

The beginnings of that downfall were starting to be felt here in Boston. I used to argue until I was blue in the face that Garnett was just as good, if not better, than Tim Duncan, as they both hit their primes at the same time. Sadly, I can no longer make that case. Garnett's body just hasn't been able to hold up. A guy who was essentially an iron man in Minnesota and his first season as a Celtic had one big injury his second season in green and all of a sudden all those minutes, games and banging down low seemed to hit him at once. Father time is a son of a bitch.

I'm glad to hear that Garnett isn't done. With Brook Lopez coming back and Mason Plumlee looking to build off a nice rookie season, Garnett should see his minutes cut to a comfortable level. Even if he only plays 15 minutes per game, if he can still show flashes here and there of being "The Big Ticket" again, that's all I'll need.

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