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Assist/TO ratio is pretty bad, haven't watched many Thunder games but I suspect he's trying to force the issue in terms of play making. You're either a very talented play maker from day one or not at least at the forward position(in most cases).

What Durant should be continually improving is his defense and his rebounding(which has improved).

I can see his peak being something like 28 8.5 and 4 50+% shooting which is still an amazing feat since only Oscar Bird,Wilt,Kareem,Malone,D-Rob were able to accomplish those numbers.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy Durant is working on his game. If that dude can learn to be a distributor, we are looking at a player that will rival Lebron for best player in the leauge.


However, Durant isn't even on Kobes level in terms of playmaking, so how is he modeling his game after Lebron?

His teachers told him to be a more complete player....but he should not force it!

I don't think he's forcing the issue. He's been forced to work as playmaker because of Harden's departure. He's been asked to accumulate Harden's functions. That's why he has more the ball with him and why he shots less: off the dribble jumpshots are usually the worst shot possible.

He's much better working off the ball focusing only in scoring.

bbms wrote:I don't think he's forcing the issue. He's been forced to work as playmaker because of Harden's departure. He's been asked to accumulate Harden's functions. That's why he has more the ball with him and why he shots less: off the dribble jumpshots are usually the worst shot possible.

He's much better working off the ball focusing only in scoring.

Yeah, Durant's because asked to work outside of his strengths too much, and it's a mistake. He's not good at this kind of on-ball work. He's dominating the boards, scoring with awesome efficiency (more so than usual)... And OKC is doing alright. They're on 57-win pace, they're 7th at either end of the floor, I dunno that's it a huge deal. It's aesthetically ugly, and he's being asked to do a little too much, but still.

I'll say this, Durant taking his 3s from 5+ attempts a night to <3 is a good thing. He's always taken too many dumb threes

Do people realize that durant is averaging the same amount of turnovers as last season? An that was with a terrible start, he's only averaging 2.7 turnovers per game over the last 6 games

OKC in general is getting fewer FGA because:

- TOV% up
- ORB% down
- FT/FGA up

Durant's looked more like himself the last few games though.

28reloaded wrote:Do people realize that durant is averaging the same amount of turnovers as last season? An that was with a terrible start, he's only averaging 2.7 turnovers per game over the last 6 games

This. He had like three 6 turnover games and two 4 turnover games to start the season. Sine then, it's been 2 and 3 turnover games with solid assists numbers.

He's never going to be LeBron in the "plyamaker" role, but he's getting better at it, and is starting to make better decisions.

Man, it seems like people hate on Westbrook just for the hell of it.

This IsMy House wrote:

CB-Blazer wrote:

Massamba wrote:KD made a choice. Have the Kobe Bryant approach to the game or LeBron's. He chose LeBron James.

This comment has so much fail in it,

I dont think so, from the past couple games I've seen from KD hes been playing a lot like LeBron with the penetration and kicking it out and moving the ball around. He has even said he wants to get his assists up this year.

you dont think so because you're a Heat fan

And I rather have the Kobe approach than the LeBron approach

5 rings>1 ring

he's probably better off as a more athletic version of dirk.

A lot of this is down to ibaka's improved offense.

TheGarden wrote:
you dont think so because you're a Heat fan

And I rather have the Kobe approach than the LeBron approach

5 rings>1 ring

Right because I'm a Heat fan means I notice Durant trying to get more people involved in the offense and help raise his assists numbers. I guess the fact that he actually is doing that is completely irrelevant. The Kobe approach/LeBron approach I truly dont think has anything to do with the amount of rings. Kobe had a pretty solid piece in a prime Shaq to get him 3 rings, and then a nice piece in Pau to get another 2. Ya LeBron has Wade/Bosh but its their 3rd year together. Only time will tell how many he can get

This is intelligent on the Thunder's part imo. He's learning to be a better playmaker. He can always revert to the offball player which comes naturally to him.

To be the MVP and a great late game option he's going to have to be good at making plays for himself and not just coming off screens. That **** was defended easily in last years playoffs. There were some games when Durant was denied the ball too easily. Putting the ball in his hands as a playmaker will make the Thunder more effective late in the game. He's the team's best option and making him learn to be a great playmaker will only do good things for this team.

Right now we're seeing the growing pains with the high turnovers but he will be better at it and the Thunder will be better for it. Westbrook will also be able to do something we havent seen much of, which is shoot open jumpers and slash. I have a feeling the Thunder will be a very different team later in the season than what we're seeing now.

sir G Wallace wrote:I havent watched OKC games but why is this so? As good as he has been shooting this year he should shoot more. So why is he averaging only 16.6 shots a game? Is it due to a bad reason or good?

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/stats/_/i ... vin-durant

This is because he is expanding his game in all facets. He is rebounding more, passing more and playing better defense.