The Kevin Durant Thread (2016 - 17 Pt. 1)

[TheGOATRises007]

He's been their best player.

[StepBackCrack]

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[StepBackCrack]

Only his FT% has been a bit off this season which is pretty weird.

[KD35Brah]

I still feel his season is being underrated.

57.4 FG% / 43.0 3PT% / 83.0 FT%(career low, will rise)

27 Points Per Game (129 Ortg / 68% TS / .636 eFG%)
8 Rebounds Per Game
5 Assists Per Game(2.1 TOpg)
2 Steals Per Game
1.3 Blocks per game

30.8 PER
.317 WS/48

Drtg: -5.4
DFG% Diff(DFGA): -6.2(11.1)

Lowest USG% of his career(27.7)

[StepBackCrack]

It is an underrated season so far because many people hate him too much to admit that he has been incredible in this season so far. Based on his performance this season so far, he would be a very deserving MVP. People can hate him if they want but that doesn't make him less great of a player. He is playing better than ever this season and that can't be denied. He is playing elite D on regular basis now (which is a major improvement) and is unlocking his full potential on that end but his insane offensive greatness is overshadowing that so most people still won't give his improved D the credit it deserves. He has been a monster on both ends this season. Also the great thing about him this season is how he managed to put his best production ever without affecting any star on the team negatively and with having his lowest USG% in his career. He is getting his teammates involved as much as possible and fully embraced the ball movement system in such a short period of time. Steph, Klay and Dray can still be awesome whenever they want and Durant is doing a perfect job in making their life easier on court so far. His passing has been pretty good to say the least. His TO went down. His BB IQ is also something that never gets talked about but this season he is making the right plays almost everytime.

He will be underrated this season unfortunately and there is nothing that can be done about it because simply there is too much irrational hate on him this season. Objectively speaking, he has been phenomenal so far. Honestly, even as a fan of him, I never expected him to start the season in such fashion. I thought he would look great but not THAT great on this team.

[StepBackCrack]

What impressed me the most about him this season is his amazing D for sure. Such a major improvement in that department because now he is consistently great on that end. He helps Dray a lot on D and this team needs as much D as possible from KD after losing Bogut.

[StepBackCrack]

He had his first 25+/10+/5+/5+ game in his career tonight. His D tonight :

[Wall34]

OKC should have played him more minutes at the 4.

[The Heroes]

After KAT's big first quarter this guy switched onto him and held him to 6pts through the rest of the game while putting up 28/10/5 & 6 blocks on 10/17 shooting... His defense & athleticism are understated.

[StepBackCrack]

[GSP]

What impressed me the most about him this season is his amazing D for sure. Such a major improvement in that department because now he is consistently great on that end. He helps Dray a lot on D and this team needs as much D as possible from KD after losing Bogut.

I havent seen every Warriors game and maybe i just caught some bad Iggy ones, but to me it seems like Durant has been the clear 2nd best defender on the Warriors. Iggy is still their best perimeter defender but Warriors have Kd holding much more defensive responsibility than the perimeter with his big man duties.

[picc]

I'll start this off by predicting KD to be the most valuable player on the Warriors this season. Combining offense and defense, I mean.

I think he'll be much more important to the defense than Curry and much more important to the offense than Green.

So far so good at this point...

[StepBackCrack]

What impressed me the most about him this season is his amazing D for sure. Such a major improvement in that department because now he is consistently great on that end. He helps Dray a lot on D and this team needs as much D as possible from KD after losing Bogut.

I havent seen every Warriors game and maybe i just caught some bad Iggy ones, but to me it seems like Durant has been the clear 2nd best defender on the Warriors. Iggy is still their best perimeter defender but Warriors have Kd holding much more defensive responsibility than the perimeter with his big man duties.

Yeah, you are totally right. He has been clearly their 2nd best player on defense this season. I watched all their games and his D impressed me so much on regular basis. I didn't expect him to be that good on that end this season but his effort has been really incredible on that end. He is playing like an elite defensive player this season consistently. It's like he is in playoff mode in terms of effort on D every night and his defensive versatility is pretty valuable to the team. Tonight he literally played like Dray on that end which shows how ridiculously talented Durant is. GSW coaching staff are making the best use of him on defense for sure.

[StepBackCrack]

However, I'm a bit worried that his new huge defensive responsibilities might burn him out eventually. He really gives so much effort on both ends of the floor. Not sure he can sustain that. We will see.

[KD35Brah]

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[Hawk]

I'm sure Warriors will finish with the best record and Durant will maintain this level.

Second MVP.

[kayess]

My main disappointment with Durant going to GSW was that he might not be able to fully utilize his abilities on the roster; of course, this was before I thought they would keep Bogut, and now he's playing at an insanely high level, in a completely symbiotic team environment. That shot chart is ridiculous, though I wish the 0/1 wasn't there...

Still hate the fact that he kept saying it was the next step, and then saying he wouldn't have joined them if they won (as if that had any impact on what his level of play was going to be on this team). But these and many other things will fade into memory if he helps them be the GOAT team.

[clyde21]

This "coward" is tearing the league a new hole.

[StepBackCrack]

My main disappointment with Durant going to GSW was that he might not be able to fully utilize his abilities on the roster; of course, this was before I thought they would keep Bogut, and now he's playing at an insanely high level, in a completely symbiotic team environment. That shot chart is ridiculous, though I wish the 0/1 wasn't there...

Still hate the fact that he kept saying it was the next step, and then saying he wouldn't have joined them if they won (as if that had any impact on what his level of play was going to be on this team). But these and many other things will fade into memory if he helps them be the GOAT team.

I really think he deserves a chance to be judged fairly when it comes to his performances this season. I mean if you watched him closely this season, you would clearly see the massive effort he puts in on both ends on regular basis. He is on a great team but that doesn't mean he is relaxing or something like that. Not at all. In GSW, yes he doesn't have to carry as much offense but his defensive responsibilities just became pretty big and essential for this team to succeed after losing Bogut. He is doing everything on the court and that's extremely valuable to the team. So in the end, he still has to play as hard and as good as possible to make this team look great and he is delivering atm. I think he deserves credit for that so far but obviously people who don't like him won't give him the credit he deserves atm. However, that might change over time as you implied.

[StepBackCrack]