Modeling His Game, Kevin Durant Cites Kobe Bryant's Skill as 'Second to None'
By Dan Favale , Featured Columnist Mar 13, 2014
Below is a recent conversation I had with Thunder forward Kevin Durant, who talked extensively about his development and how Kobe Bryant’s mentorship shaped him.
It’s all about Determination and will. Team work and sacrifice. There will be ups and downs. But it’s about how you persevere through the tough times. There’s peaks and valleys in everything and it’s definitely an 82 game season. You’re going to see peaks and valleys. How you react to the valleys, calm and collected in the peaks. That’s what defines great teams with how you persevere.
How do you work on your game?
“Thinking the game more and working on my individual skills, ball handling, post ups and jump shooting. Just keeping the game fun. In the summer time, I play a lot of pick up and a lot of one-on-one just to keep the game fun and so I can react off of instincts. I play the game solely just off of how I feel out there and how the defense is playing me. I try not to be mechanical. That’s how I game is grown.”
Does any of that approach model anything after Kobe Bryant?
“Of course. He’s the greatest of all time. His skill is second to none. Him and MJ are neck and neck as far I think as far as skill. You can put in athleticism and be the best passer and strongest and quickest. But it’s about skill. I think that’s how his game is played. That’s why Kobe is the top two best ever in just having skill, footwork, shooting the three, shooting the pull up, posting up, dunking on guys and ball handling. It’s flat out skill. Him and Jordan are 1 and 1 a. They’re neck and neck as far as the skills are concerned.”
He plays his game no matter what, the intensity and focus and he will play to win. He also will do what he needs to do to get ready to play. If he sees a mismatch, he’ll take it down low and demand the ball. He’s one of those guys who will always bring the same intensity every time no matter who’s on the court.”
How would you compare yourself with Kobe on and off the court?
“Off the court, yeah, we’re different. On the court, we’re the same type of person I think. I think Kobe can appreciate that about me. I can tell. I’m going to go at him when I’m on the court. We’re going to throw elbows and talk trash. We’re going to talk [junk] to each other. I think he appreciates that how I play. I may be wrong. But I can sense when a guy has that mutual respect. I don’t give a damn who he is. He don’t give a damn who I am. We’re going to go at it. You can throw the names out the door. The guy in front of me, I will try to kick his [butt]. He’ll do the same with me.”
What’s Kobe’s personality like?
“He’s one of those guys that’s to himself and real quiet. That’s how it was being around the Olympics. He’s a great guy to talk to and somebody that I remember two years ago, called him at like 3 in the morning. They had a game the next day. I was picking his brain a little bit. He’s one of those guys who’s a night owl.”
What were you asking him?
“I was picking his brain about different situations in the game and how I can handle my teammates better and how I can approach the game a little better. I don’t think I told anybody that. But I texted him one night and said, Man I need to talk to somebody before playing the next day. It was three in the morning. He picked the phone up. That’s something I’ll always remember. When we play each other, it’s better now that we have that relationship because it was almost bragging rights.”
Some of the roots of what made Durant such an efficient scoring machine can be traced back to the summer of 2008 when he was trying to make the roster for Beijing and the team was given a day off in Las Vegas.
We'll let Durant pick up the story from there.
"We had the day off, but they said we could get some shots up if we wanted, so I decided to head over to the gym with [Oklahoma City teammate] Jeff Green."
"Kobe [Bryant] was the only guy on the bus headed to the gym, and that spoke volumes to me -- he's the best player in the game, yet he's always willing to come work on his game, so that kind of motivated me and Jeff," Durant said. "He went by himself, he got a lot of shots up, and by the time he was done you could see he had gotten better over that hour. Like I said, it was a big inspiration to me and Jeff."
Back in January, Indiana Pacers wunderkind Paul George called Bryant his all-time favorite player during an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live, even though he grew up rooting for the Los Angeles Clippers. That's the type of reach Bryant has. That's how long he's been around.
Unlike others, Durant and George won't stain anything Bryant has accomplished or spend time discrediting and tainting his legacy.
"When you look at me, Carmelo (Anthony), LeBron and Paul George, what we’ve done out there in this league is nothing compared to what Kobe did," Durant told Medina. "We live in a world of what have you done for me lately. We don’t remember the day before sometimes. Think back five, six, years ago what he was doing. It’s unheard of."
Real recognize real.
Agree 100%.
