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View Full Version : So, remember that talk about Kevin Durant...?



the_ouskull
10/11/2009, 03:16 AM
It was a while back... anyway, I'm not saying I was right, or that someone else was wrong or anything like that. Don't get me wrong.

I'm just throwing this out there for those of you that 1) love basketball, 2) root for the Thunder, and 3) may or may not think that I know what I'm talking about. I just happen to think that it's a really good, and even thought-provoking, article.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-45-35/The-Kevin-Durant-Conundrum.html

the_ouskull

Sooner24
10/11/2009, 01:55 PM
Why is this on the Sooner basketball forum and not the Thunder forum? :confused:

the_ouskull
10/11/2009, 03:26 PM
Because I tend to internalize things more than most, and, generally don't give a sh*t about arbitrary rules like in which forum a post belongs. And because Kevin Durant is a former player from Tejas, and it's OU/Tejas week, and things like college-to-pro don't really matter. This week, you're a Sooner, or you're the enemy. (A&M gets to be Switzerland... the country, not what would be the most bad*ss amusement park of all time.)

the_ouskull

Collier11
10/11/2009, 03:29 PM
Great player who will only get better

the_ouskull
10/11/2009, 05:23 PM
Perhaps. Care to discuss the link?

the_ouskull

Collier11
10/11/2009, 06:09 PM
I didnt read it, I was busy earlier. I just wanted to throw in my two cents as a KD fan and a Thunder season ticket holder.

I will read it in a bit and respond

Sooner24
10/11/2009, 07:50 PM
Because I tend to internalize things more than most, and, generally don't give a sh*t about arbitrary rules like in which forum a post belongs. And because Kevin Durant is a former player from Tejas, and it's OU/Tejas week, and things like college-to-pro don't really matter. This week, you're a Sooner, or you're the enemy. (A&M gets to be Switzerland... the country, not what would be the most bad*ss amusement park of all time.)

the_ouskull

So in other words you screwed up.

Sooner04
10/11/2009, 08:22 PM
Move thread here please! (http://www.soonerfans.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=35)

Collier11
10/11/2009, 08:31 PM
The first thing I would say is that you can provide any statistic to win almost any argument when it comes to a sport, the fact of the matter is, if you watch the Thunder there is no way to deny that Durant makes a positive impact on that team. The things that he is inefficient at are comparible to what AI is inefficient at, but we both know(even myself being an AI fan) that Durant does not have the same personality traits as AI.

Does Durant have to force shots sometimes, yes. Does he really have anybody on this team that is a consistent scorer or shooter to take the pressure off of him, no. Green is as close as they come, Westbrook is a slasher and a darn good one, but at this point in his career he isnt a shooter.

There is more pressure on Durant to perform big when he is on the court, therefore he will be more of a risk taker until Coach Brooks feels like he can trust the other players.

Also, the two positions that are typically primary scorers in the NBA, power forwards or shooting guards, he usually doesnt gaurd those guys.

Another thing, the Thunder are more or less a expansion team, our 3 best players are 23 or younger. We havent been good the last two years and that was expected.

The article points out how bad his +/- was the last two months of the year but anyone who followed the team would know, by the end of the year the team had run out of gas and was getting drilled quite a bit.

Lastly I would say that when a 21 yr old is your superstar/best player and the team runs thru them, you are apt to see worse play, especially in this situation. For one, the team is so young and inexperienced. For two, Durant being the main guy and so young is going to do things that a Kobe or Lebron or Dwade or any other number of superstars wont do cus they play for better teams and they are more experience.

Gandalf_The_Grey
10/11/2009, 08:37 PM
The issue I have with this logic is that when Kevin Durant isn't playing, the game is usually well over. So Kevin Durant is playing when Lebron James is playing, when he isn't on the court...Jamario Moon is playing, I can see how that would skew this stat. I don't really believe in these really vague asinine stats that people throw around.

Collier11
10/12/2009, 01:29 PM
Kevin Durant has fired back at a blog that was critical of his contributions to the Oklahoma City Thunder.



Durant

Durant, who led the Thunder in 2008-09 with 25.3 points per game in his second season, defended his dedication and work ethic in a series of Twitter posts Sunday.

Durant, 21, presumably was writing in reaction to a blog by ESPN.com's Henry Abbott citing Durant's plus-minus, which Abbott said revealed the forward is "killing his team."

Plus-minus indicates the points a team produces relative to the scoring of the opponent when a player is on the floor.

"Everybody that is doubtin me as a player and my team as a whole," Durant wrote, "..all i can say is that we all are tryin and workin our hardest!"

In the Thunder's first season in Oklahoma City since relocating from Seattle, Durant often carried his team, which finished ahead of only the Los Angeles Clippers and the Sacramento Kings in the Western Conference standings.


TrueHoop: The Kevin Durant Conundrum
A shocking piece of news: The Thunder have, over the past two seasons, consistently performed worse than normal when forward Kevin Durant is on the floor, Henry Abbott writes. Blog


• TrueHoop: Memo to a Young Baller


"What more do u want? let me be the player i am...i come to practice everyday..and push myself to my limit, God has put me n a gr8 position!!" Durant wrote on Twitter.

In his TrueHoop blog posting headlined "The Kevin Durant Conundrum," Abbott chronicles Durant's dominant physical attributes, relative youth and expectations that are approaching "ridiculous" proportions.

But he transitions into the perceived downsides of Durant's game, the thrust of which outlines the reasons Durant might be dragging the performance of his teammates into a rut.

"Just as it's undoubtedly a challenge for young Kevin Durant to perform the duties of a superstar, it may also be hard for his young teammates to know how to account for his abilities," Abbott wrote. "In other words, when Durant is benched, [Russell] Westbrook, [Jeff] Green et al can make basketball decisions more or less as they have their entire basketball lives.

"When Durant, superstar-in-the-making, is on the court, his teammates would presumably be aware of that."

But Durant points to his supporters, which likely include many of those who helped sell out the Thunder's 2008-09 season-ticket allotment in five days.

"I love all the REAL basketball fans who appreciate hardwork, passion and love for the game..and not jus 'plus and minuses'...wateva dat is!" Durant wrote.

starclassic tama
10/12/2009, 05:37 PM
i just can't see this as a real issue. number crunching taken too far. durant starts and plays most the game. during that time, our team usually loses the game and durant comes out when the other team is usually ahead. so we make little mini runs to make the game look respectable. anyone who actually thinks that we are better without durant is foolish. but i think it does speak volumes about his defense, which he obviously needs to improve to enter the upper-echelon of NBA players. he will, he's young.

kbsooner21
10/16/2009, 11:02 AM
That's an idiotic article imo

Gresho Murford
10/20/2009, 10:05 PM
skull, if this is your proof that you know about bball then you got problems

the_ouskull
10/21/2009, 01:12 AM
I know enough to know that I don't have to prove anything. Everybody has problems. I have solutions.

But, before everybody goes all t*ts-up defending a Tejan, there ARE follow-up articles... and it's not like the guy was saying that he thought that K.D. was a bad player, either. FAR from it. He was saying that it was a mystery that a player of his caliber would have that kind of effect...

...so far, this season, Durant has been playing much better in terms of that rating, too. He's also apologized for saying what he said, admitting that he didn't read the entire article either - perhaps like many of you, no?

But what do I know about basketball?

the_ouskull

starrca23
10/21/2009, 08:02 AM
KD is gonna be a good player for a long time. There is a reason this guy writes blogs instead of coaching or managing...
Stats never tell the whole story: When is KD on the floor? During crunch time, not when the game is out of reach (in either direction) and the other teams have scrubs in. When does KD get the ball? Last year, he got it a lot when the shot clock was almost at zero and they needed him to bail the team out. Where does he get the ball? Because most teams knew he was the one they had to keep the ball from, he recieved the ball 30-34 feet from the basket quite a bit. Even LeBron has trouble from that spot.
Interesting article, but not the whole story at all.

the_ouskull
10/21/2009, 05:20 PM
Yeah, except that if you check out basketballreference.com, they do a pretty good job of refuting that whole, "he gets the ball with little time left on the clock" argument. He jacks up a lot of shots early in the shot clock, too.

But, as I've said from the beginning, it's his defense that will determine his value as a player, ultimately. He's getting better in that regard, but it's somewhat disconcerting that it's taken him this long to take an interest in it., as well.

the_ouskull