Paul Pierce is in his seventh season playing alongside Kevin Garnett, teammates since the Celtics traded for Garnett and Ray Allen in the summer of 2007. And they’ve been friends since the two of them were in high school.
So if anyone could identify the cause of Garnett’s rough start this season, it’s his longtime pal. On Monday, Pierce said he thinks Garnett still will need more time to get used to his new surroundings.
“I think he’s still trying to make the adjustment,” Pierce said after the Nets practiced at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn as part of spending their Veterans Day with the troops there. “Kevin’s been one that’s always … he’s always been a guy that needed to feel comfortable, who needed to make an adjustment, the familiarity. And I think he’s still getting familiar with the offense and understanding where his shots are going to come from, the minutes played adjustment.
“Even over the past four or five years, it’s been an adjustment each and every year. Even on the Celtics, because the older he’s gotten his minutes have gone down and he’s been asked to do less. … He’s going to find his rhythm eventually and really find his groove.”
Garnett is famously resistant to change, and had to be sold on coming to Brooklyn by Pierce, Nets coach Jason Kidd and Deron Williams after the Nets and Celtics hashed out the draft-night trade.
But after finally relenting and agreeing to join Pierce and Jason Terry with the Nets, it has been a struggle for the future Hall of Famer so far this season. Garnett is shooting 32.1 percent from the field — including just 3-for-8 (37.5 percent) on shots less than 5 feet from the basket, and 5-for-21 (23.8 percent) on shots from 14 feet and in. Last year, for example, Garnett shot 64 percent on shots from inside of 5 feet, and 53.7 percent on shots within 14 feet.
“I’m not going to have him come and shoot early or late,” Kidd said. “He’s been doing it for 20 years. My job is to put him in his comfort zone, and for him to get in his comfort zone.
“So there’s nothing that we’re going to change. He’s getting great looks, he’s just got to keep shooting.”
Even more surprising than Garnett’s shooting struggles, however, is that the Nets are being outplayed while Garnett is on the floor. Through six games, the Nets are scoring 95.3 points per 100 possessions while allowing 107.6 points per 100 possessions with Garnett on the floor, according to NBA.com. Meanwhile, with Garnett on the bench, the Nets are outperforming their opponents, scoring 101.6 points per 100 possessions while giving up 96.6. While the season is in its early stages, Garnett detracting from the team is something few people would have expected to happen at any point.
While the most likely scenario is that over time — and a much larger sample-size — Garnett’s numbers at both ends of the floor will stabilize and resemble the ones he consistently has put up over the past several years in Boston, it doesn’t make the struggles the team is currently going through any easier for him to deal with.
“It’s frustrating, but I don’t think you put a timetable on something that you’re trying to get perfection,” Garnett said after Saturday’s 96-91 loss to the Pacers, when asked if the process of the Nets learning to play with one another was taking longer than he expected. “I don’t even know if you can put a timetable on something like that, although you’re trying to cut down on mistakes and trying to form chemistry and trying to be consistent with that.
“I don’t think a timetable is something you can put on that, especially when you’re in the process of working on it, but it is frustrating.”