The question with the 20 million dollar answer is still, well, unanswered. How exactly is Kevin Garnett's knee? The first prognosis we heard was that it was great:

Garnett was cleared to play 5-on-5 basketball last week. But while his rehab has been as expected, the extent of the injury was not.

"No surprises, other than the severity of the injury," said Garnett. "I didn't know it was that bad."

Garnett was asked to clarify.

"It was just what we thought it was, but it was more than that," said Garnett. "Put it like this: a bone spur the size of this tape recorder ended up being the size of this microphone...It's pretty severe, but the best thing about it is I got it out of the way. I'm almost 100 percent going forward. The best thing about it is I'm playing without any pain, which is something I haven't had in quite some time."

 

Garnett playing without any pain? That's the best news anyone has heard about it since his surgery in July.  The path to the NBA Finals is that much clearer now, right? Not so fast. Tonight, we have this gem from Gary Tanguay:

At Celtics Media Day today in Waltham, I got a chance to talk exclusively with Celtics forward Kevin Garnett. KG told me that "the knee still gets sore" and that he is "working his way back into it". He has been playing 5 on 5 with guys the last week or so.

So - the knee still gets sore? Maybe KG wasn't lying earlier. After all, he said he was playing without pain, which could be 100% true. Maybe the pain kicks in afterward, and that's what he was referring to when talking with Tanguay. Regardless, the whole thing still seems murky to me. I'm not quite sure anyone, including KG himself, knows what to expect this season with regard to his knee. To say that his play will be scrutinized throughout the preseason is a given. Hopefully, in a few months, we can all look back at this and laugh, as we prepare to score tickets to next year's home opener and an 18th banner raising.