Nobody really cares about Garrett Temple, nor has anybody ever cared about Garrett Temple (except for maybe his parents, but even that is in doubt). Despite that whole “not caring” thing, Temple has put together an impressive ten-year career, something that nobody expected after he played for five teams in his first two seasons (appearing in a total of 51 games) and then went to play in Italy. The stats seem to indicate that Temple is slowing down as he ages (he’s 33 years old!) but, as far as I’m concerned, he can have that “vet who plays five minutes per game” for as long as he wants.
Now that Cryrie Virgin is definitely out for the rest of the season, role-players like Temple are going to have to step up even more boldly in order to drag the Nets’ lifeless, blood-sodden corpse to the playoffs. What awaits them there is the near-guarantee of getting curb-stomped by a far superior team in the first round, but for a team that had to go at it alone without their two superstars, any playoff seed is a success. History will look back at this team led by some dudes named Spencer Dinwiddie and Caris LeVert and say about them, “Well, they made the playoffs. That’s something.”
It is something indeed. And it’s a something that Garrett Temple will play a medium-sized role in.