Paths cross once more

Raptors' Mitchell reflects on old teammate Garnett

When Kevin Garnett joined the Minnesota Timberwolves in 1995, Sam Mitchell was in his second stint with the team.

Almost from the start of his career, Mitchell was a journeyman, drafted in 1985 in the third round by the Houston Rockets and waived four months later.

He spent three seasons in the Continental Basketball Association, toiling in Rapid City, S.D., and Oshkosh, Wis.

"One of my favorite places in the world," Mitchell said of Oshkosh.

He made it back to the NBA in 1989 when the expansion Timberwolves took a chance on him. He turned the opportunity into a 12-year career with Minnesota and the Indiana Pacers.

"You do what you've got to do to get here," said Mitchell, now coach of the Toronto Raptors. "God knows I've done my share."

Garnett took a much different route. A standout high school player, he made the leap directly to the NBA after being selected with the fifth overall pick in the '95 draft. Garnett and Mitchell played together for seven seasons before Mitchell retired in 2002 and entered the coaching ranks.

The two reconnected in the offseason, after Garnett had won his first NBA championship.

"I was telling him how proud I was," Mitchell said. "And he was like, 'But you know, I've got to do this and I've got to do that.' And I listen to him, and what you realize is in his mind, he still doesn't think he's quite good enough.

"I guess that's what you have to have to be great. You don't believe what people say about you. I asked him, 'Do you ever sit down for two minutes and think about where you've come from your rookie year to where you are now, an NBA champion? He said, 'Nah, I'll do it when I'm retired.' "

Mitchell said he had the same doubts, but for different reasons.

"I had the fear of not being good enough, because I wasn't good enough," said Mitchell, who started only 322 of his 994 career games in the NBA. "So my fears were legit. But I guess the great ones have that."

Mitchell said he believes Garnett's work ethic has had a contagious effect on the entire Celtics roster.

"When you're around three players [Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen] that go that hard, are that accomplished, and demand that much of themselves, what do you do if you come off the bench? You cannot not go hard. You cannot not focus."

Mitchell said he expects the Celtics to make another run at the title.

"Once they have success and they start winning, it's a drug, man," he said. "Nothing can replace it.

Radja returns

Former Celtic Dino Radja roamed the Garden last night, in town during a week of vacation. Radja, drafted by the Celtics in the second round in 1989, averaged 16.7 points in four seasons (1993-97) with Boston.

"I still have a lot of friends here," Radja said. "I watched all the [playoff] games last season and I was rooting for the Celtics - Boston is my city and the Celtics are my team. I was here for four years and I will always remember them as good years."

Radja, from Croatia, was one of the first Europeans to break through in the NBA.

"When I came here, I broke the ice, along with some others, like [Vlade ] Divac and Drazen Petrovic, who is, in my opinion, the best player ever from my country."

After 11 years, Radja said, the place looked a little different.

"The atmosphere has changed a lot, because of the turnaround and them winning the title last year," he said.

Fighting words?

Reflecting on a two-year-old scuffle (it was mostly shadow boxing) with then-Pistons forward Antonio McDyess while he was still in Minnesota, Garnett said. "That wasn't no fight, man. Fighting is when I hit you, you hit me, and we scrap and we bleed and we shake hands at the end of the day. That wasn't no scrap. That was two guys trying to give their team an advantage." . . . Asked when he expects to make his season debut, guard Sam Cassell said, "Soon. Very soon. I'm 38 years old. I'm just trying not to wear myself out. It's a marathon, not a sprint."

Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com.