He needs a jump start
Slumping Shamet looking to get his shot back again
Landry Shamet has been in a shooting funk, and is searching for ways to snap out.
The Nets acquired the third-year sharpshooter in a three-team trade with the Clippers and the Pistons, but past the 10-game mark, Shamet admittedly has been dull.
In Sunday’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, he missed all four of his three-point attempts, punctuating one of the worst shooting stretches of his early career.
Shamet has averaged a career-low 4.7 points per game 11 games in. He shot just 26% from three (and 31% from the field) after making a name for himself as a marksman, averaging a 45% clip from deep through his first two NBA seasons.
That’s the reason why the Nets’ reserve shooter spent time at Barclays Center postgame on Sunday, getting shots up after a particularly disappointing performance.
“I know this isn’t me. It’s not who I am, and it’s not going to last forever,” Shamet said after Nets practice on Monday. “One thing I’ve always resorted to is doing extra, doing more. You know, when shit gets tough, just bite down on the mouthpiece, put my hard hat on and go to work.”
Shamet is one of a number of Nets players still trying to find both their role and their rhythm on the evolving, adapting team.
Spencer Dinwiddie is out indefinitely with a partial ACL tear; Kyrie Irving is on personal leave, has missed the Nets’ last three games and has no timetable for a return; and Kevin Durant returned Sunday after missing three games due to the league’s contact tracing process.
As a result, Nets head coach Steve Nash said everyone has moved up two spots in the rotation: one for Dinwiddie and another for Irving. Simultaneously, players are still learning each other, coming off a shortened offseason with roster turnover, trudging their way through a condensed regular season with almost no real practice time in-between games.
“Guys are having to share more responsibility than they are accustomed to, and then Kai being out adds to that, so guys are going two spots up the line, and getting more load and more responsibility,” Nash said. “But no one is going to cry for us. We have to continue to build and grow and work at it and figure things out.”
Shamet had opportunities. He played in every game and registered at least 13 minutes in all but one. He made at least two threes in three of those games, including a timely performance against the Atlanta Hawks where he made all five of his field goal attempts.
He also had four games with zero threes made — for contrast, Joe Harris made a three in 71 consecutive games — including a Dec. 27 0-for-8 performance against the Hornets.
Shamet doesn’t blame his shortcomings on the roster turbulence, or that more has been asked of him without the team’s two starting guards. He welcomes the opportunity, but has not been able to capitalize on it.
“I haven’t found a consistent aggression matched with a consistent efficiency yet. I wouldn’t say Kyrie being out has changed it one way or the other,” Shamet said. “I think I’ve been searching for it one way or the other. Shit, we’re 10 games in. I keep reminding myself about that. It’s not gonna be easy.
“Everyone thinks when you get on a good winning team, things just get easy, but in reality, it’s the complete opposite. It’s hard to win games, and it’s hard to be on a great team with high expectations. So we’re all working, we stay together, and my looks will come, and they’ll fall. I’m a knockdown 45% career shooter, so I’m not worried about this one bit.”
The Nets did not land Shamet for free. They traded the No. 19 overall pick to the Clippers, who then flipped that pick to the Pistons for Luke Kennard. The Pistons raving over Saddiq Bey, the 6-8 rookie forward who is shooting 44% on six three-point attempts per game. The Clippers are enjoying Kennard’s production, bringing eight points on 45% shooting from deep off the L.A. bench, but it cost them a four-year, $64 million deal to land him.
The Nets, a team knee-deep in the luxury tax, were never going to pay him that money.
Instead, the Nets kept their costs low, and acquired Shamet, owed just $2 million this season and $3.7 million the next. It’s a bet from GM Sean Marks on a player he hopes will outperform his current contract, just as he’s done each of the prior two seasons.
In a way, Shamet’s struggles are an embodiment of this Nets team as a whole. He is capable of more than he has shown, but is still finding his footing, still understanding where he fits in, and how that fit changes as the chess pieces come and go.
“It’s like everybody’s in that position, understanding their spots, what we all still need to do better, what we can add, what we need to do less of, so it’s a lot of give and take. That’s what winning is,” Shamet said. “So, the quicker that not only I can do that but we all can do that, we’re gonna put ourselves in a good position, but it’s gonna take time. It’s not easy.”