After Rajon Rondo tallied 20 assists for the second time in nine games in a 107-89 victory against the Raptors on Saturday, new Celtics teammate Jason Terry declared him an NBA Most Valuable Player candidate — and even Rondo himself admitted “MVP is in the picture” — but Kevin Garnett saw this coming three days after first coming to Boston five years ago. We’ll let the league’s 2004 MVP explain.

“I’ve never played with a point guard who is in control of the flow the way he is,” said the 14-time NBA All-Star. “Probably if anybody comes to mind I’m thinking Sam Cassell. He was pretty good at controlling the flow; he could score the ball. But as far as both ends, controlling the game, understanding the flow, knowing when to slow it down, [Rondo]‘s probably the best at it. He’s very conscious of the game from both ends. Usually, you have a point guard who’s a scoring point guard or you have a point guard on the other side of the ball, which is the defensive side, but but as far as 48 minutes on both sides of the ball, he’s the best at it.

“I’ve always looked at someone as the MVP as someone who makes his player not only better, but is able to dictate the game from different stat-wise, is able to get rebounds, does multiple things for his team. That’s personnel. That’s preference. Obviously, I’m going to be biased, because I play with him, and I see his growth and I see how hard he works, but when it comes to his presence on the game, that’s hard. That’s up there with the modern day Kobe [Bryant]s and LeBron [James]es and all that, so I think he gets his knock, because he doesn’t score the ball and all that stuff. But when you look at the overall package, it’s unbelievable what he’s doing.

“After the third day when I first got here, we were doing pickup without you guys knowing, and you could see his potential from how he was dictating the pickup games. I’m not saying he was scoring the ball, but he was dictating a lot of plays from both ends. I evaluate the game from not just a scoring perspective, but a defensive perspective, too. I told him a long time ago, when I first met him, that he had the potential to do both — that he had the energy and the IQ to do both — and it was up to him. Obviously, you all see what this product is coming out to be, and the future is whatever he wants it to be. I’ve always said with Rondo it’s always between his ears, and consistency is everything. Whatever you put into this, that’s what your’e going to get out of it, and he’s doing a great job of it.”