Entering his 20th season in the NBA, Kevin Garnett can certainly be classified as a guy who has been around the block. Garnett has made 15 All-Star games, won the NBA Championship once, was named MVP once, plus a host of other amazing accolades.
For a lot of NBA players, that kind of resume would be a good enough one to retire on, especially at the high (for basketball) age of 38. Many people thought KG’s 2013-14 season, his first with the Nets, would be his last in the league, an idea only strengthened by his inconsistent play last year. The fact that he was only able to play 54 regular season games didn’t help.
However, as we head into the 2014-15 campaign, Garnett is back and will probably have to play a decently-sized role for the Nets and their new coach, Lionel Hollins. The Brooklyn starting lineup hasn’t been set in stone yet but odds are that Garnett will be penciled in as the power forward.
After shooting 46 percent or better in every season of his career, KG put up a brutal 44.1 percent in 2013-14, highlighting how his once-lethal jump shot has faded significantly.
Breaking down his field goals by distance, his best medium-distance zone was 10-16 feet from the basket (roughly 47 percent) while he put up a ghastly 30 percent in the 3-10 feet area. Oddly enough, he seemed to shoot better the further he was from the basket, meaning he just couldn’t finish the few (around 17 percent) shots he had in that part of the floor.
Another aspect of this shot analysis (all data from Basketball-Reference.com) is that nearly half of Garnett’s shots last season were further than 16 feet from the basket. What’s interesting to note is that–for the rest of his career–KG had never taken more than 42 percent of his season’s shots from 16 feet or further.
So to recap: In the 2013-14 season, Kevin Garnett put up the worst shooting percentage of his career and by far worst offensive production. He also, by percentage, took the most 16-feet-or-further shots he ever has. I don’t really think that’s a coincidence.
He’s aging, out of his prime, and on his way out of the NBA. But that does not mean, at all, that Kevin Garnett is done being an impactful player in the NBA. There’s a reason the Nets traded for him, and if he can just change his shooting habits to those that suited him well for 18 seasons, who knows how helpful he can be to Brooklyn.
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