In case you missed it, NBA.com is making an effort to get serious in the world of blogging. Today John Schuhmann takes a detailed look at Kevin Garnett on the post.
See a blurb after the jump (but the whole post is worth reading)
So, let's revisit the Celtics' Scouting Report with some thought from their first two preseason games, which I watched last night, focusing on the offensive possessions where Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce were on the floor together (thank you TiVo).
First, let's combine the first two bullets...Boston had to do the deal. I think it was a great deal for Boston, but I don't think a lot of their opponents are too upset that they let go of Al Jefferson, because he was near 23 and 12 every night at the end of last season and when they threw it down to Al, a lot of teams had to double.
KG likes the ball at the high-post area. He's a great passer and he can put the ball on the floor with one dribble and get to the rim.
If you look at these two points together, you sense that the scout is saying that Jefferson can be more of a threat, because he does his work down low, while KG is a little easier to deal with because he plays further away from the basket, and you don't have to double-team him out there.By the way, there's also an interview with KG in SLAM magazine.
But if you watched the Celtics' first game against Toronto, you saw that the Celtics got KG the ball almost exclusively on the low block. If he got the ball in the high post, it was because they first tried to get it to him down low (but the defense prevented it by fronting or sagging), and then ran a downscreen for him as a secondary option.
And when he got it on the low block, it was very effective.
Against Toronto, they got KG the ball on either the right or left block 16 times by my count (remember, I'm just counting possessions where RA and PP were also on the floor), and they scored 27 points on those possessions. That's 1.69 points per possession, which is damn good. A few times, KG did the scoring himself, but mostly it was somebody else benefiting from a double-team.