The Kevin Durant Thread (2017 - 18)

[Andy123]

He's the MVP favorite for this season imo. The award usually goes to the best player on the best team or one of the top 2/3 teams and the Warriors are likely to finish with a clearly better record than anyone else with Durant putting up some crazy efficiency scoring numbers. The likelihood of anyone putting video game raw stats like Westbrook and Harden last year is pretty slim too.

Harden is the heavy favorite... For this year .
Awesome numbers , winning team ,undisputed team carrier plus never won MVP ...

[Woodsanity]

KD MVP favorite? Curry is easily better this year....

[Harsh Lesson]

KD MVP favorite? Curry is easily better this year....

Na, but I’m open to hearing your argument as to why you believe so. Keep in mind that KD is threatening 50/40/90 while playing as well as anyone in the league defensively.


Btw, do people only pop into the KD thread to downplay his form and or talent? It’s really strange and something that appears unique to Durant.

[Woodsanity]

KD MVP favorite? Curry is easily better this year....

Na, but I’m open to hearing your argument as to why you believe so. Keep in mind that KD is threatening 50/40/90 while playing as well as anyone in the league defensively.


Btw, do people only pop into the KD thread to downplay his form and or talent? It’s really strange and something that appears unique to Durant.

Curry has better PER, BPM, RAPM and on/off numbers. Like I said its not really close. KD is a very good player but he is not the catalyst for the Warriors, Curry is.

Curry is just much more impactful on offense with his gravity. KD has the defensive advantage but its not big enough to compensate for that and the numbers show it.

[Harsh Lesson]

KD MVP favorite? Curry is easily better this year....

Na, but I’m open to hearing your argument as to why you believe so. Keep in mind that KD is threatening 50/40/90 while playing as well as anyone in the league defensively.


Btw, do people only pop into the KD thread to downplay his form and or talent? It’s really strange and something that appears unique to Durant.

Curry has better PER, BPM, RAPM and on/off numbers. Like I said its not really close. KD is a very good player but he is not the catalyst for the Warriors, Curry is.

Curry is just much more impactful on offense with his gravity. KD has the defensive advantage but its not big enough to compensate for that and the numbers show it.

Right, so all you have is stats without context. Fortunately, basketball is deeper than that otherwise Wilt would be universally considered the GOAT. Anyhow, keep your off topic comments in the appropriate topics please and thank you. This ones for appropriately praising KD for the phenom that he is.

[Woodsanity]

Na, but I’m open to hearing your argument as to why you believe so. Keep in mind that KD is threatening 50/40/90 while playing as well as anyone in the league defensively.


Btw, do people only pop into the KD thread to downplay his form and or talent? It’s really strange and something that appears unique to Durant.

Curry has better PER, BPM, RAPM and on/off numbers. Like I said its not really close. KD is a very good player but he is not the catalyst for the Warriors, Curry is.

Curry is just much more impactful on offense with his gravity. KD has the defensive advantage but its not big enough to compensate for that and the numbers show it.

Right, so all you have is stats without context. Fortunately, basketball is deeper than that otherwise Wilt would be universally considered the GOAT. Anyhow, keep your off topic comments in the appropriate topics please and thank you. This ones for appropriately praising KD for the phenom that he is.

Its more the reverse than anything. People look at KD's pretty raw stats and think he is better when his impact isn't even close to Curry's. Anyone who watches games will know Curry is the MVP and its not close. Curry's ability to warp defenses and basically give KD and co easier looks cannot be replicated by anyone in the nba currently.

There is a reason why the Cavs kept doubling Curry and basically let Durant get easy looks all series. Looks like you are the one not watching games. I said my arguments how about making a good one for Durant instead of insulting people?

These player threads are not meant to only praise a player. Durant has been impressive yes but more impressive than Curry? Nah and I really don't like either player.

[Harsh Lesson]

Curry has better PER, BPM, RAPM and on/off numbers. Like I said its not really close. KD is a very good player but he is not the catalyst for the Warriors, Curry is.

Curry is just much more impactful on offense with his gravity. KD has the defensive advantage but its not big enough to compensate for that and the numbers show it.

Right, so all you have is stats without context. Fortunately, basketball is deeper than that otherwise Wilt would be universally considered the GOAT. Anyhow, keep your off topic comments in the appropriate topics please and thank you. This ones for appropriately praising KD for the phenom that he is.

Its more the reverse than anything. People look at KD's pretty raw stats and think he is better when his impact isn't even close to Curry's. Anyone who watches games will know Curry is the MVP and its not close. Curry's ability to warp defenses and basically give KD and co easier looks cannot be replicated by anyone in the nba currently.

There is a reason why the Cavs kept doubling Curry and basically let Durant get easy looks all series. Looks like you are the one not watching games. I said my arguments how about making a good one for Durant instead of insulting people?

These player threads are not meant to only praise a player. Durant has been impressive yes but more impressive than Curry? Nah and I really don't like either player.

Haters, hate. Have a good one.

[Harsh Lesson]

I’m in the business of disrupting and contradicting, old, tired, lazy narratives such as those championed by Woodsanity:

KD was 12 of 15 on contested shots in Game 5, and 45 of 78 for the series. Durant’s overall efficiency was through the roof in the Finals, as it was all season, but it was his shot-making that set him apart. And it wasn’t merely Oklahoma City-era isolations — Durant moved off the ball, coming off of screens, flashing to the hoop and establishing in the post. He used his size to find mismatches all over the floor. Put another way, Durant played Warrior ball. The Cleveland defense did its best to stay with him, but when a nearly 7-foot-tall small forward catches and shoots just 5 feet from the rim, it’s a better shot for him than for just about any other player in the league. And for Durant, that remains true out to 28 feet and beyond.

It was that same length that allowed Durant to frustrate the Cavs near the basket all series. LeBron restored a few points to his field goal percentage on drives thanks to a flurry of made baskets to close Game 5, but Durant frustrated him with single coverage much of the series. Overall, he allowed just 47.8 percent shooting at the rim on plays he defended. He was so smothering that he eventually became a deterrent: When Kevin Love would catch the ball in good position against him, he would take a few half-hearted post dribbles and throw the ball back out. Better to reset the offense than to try KD.

Durant became the third player to win NBA Finals MVP in his first season with a team, following Moses Malone with the Philadelphia 76ers and Magic Johnson during his rookie season with the Los Angeles Lakers. He and Curry combined to form one of the best pairs in Finals history. But the breadth of Durant’s accomplishments this series can be appreciated only by acknowledging what it means that the Warriors truly needed Durant.

Golden State won 73 games in the 2015-16 season, yes, and they have All-NBA talent all over the court. But as the last three games of this series showed, the margins are still razor-fine against the Cavaliers. If one or two shots fell differently in Game 3, and one or two calls went another way in Game 5, Cleveland could just as easily be taking a 3-2 lead back to Quicken Loans Arena. It didn’t happen. And the fundamental reason why it didn’t is that every time the series or game or quarter seemed to be slipping away, Durant was there to reel it back in. He was the port in the storm. And for a tempest like Golden State, that’s the most valuable thing in the world.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/fivethirtyeight.com/features/they-are-kevin-durants-warriors-now/amp/

[Harsh Lesson]

The simplest, most holistic answer is having two of them on the court creates space for both, relieving them of the pressure of creating offense every single play. It’s not Durant’s team or Curry’s team; it’s THEIR team.

But that would be a boring, mature answer not worthy of creating multiple Twitter accounts to address. Instead, let’s look at some statistics and go play-by-play through actual video of the Finals....

The first thing that probably jumps out at you is that Curry created a LOT more points for Durant than Durant did for Curry (almost four times as many!). This makes sense as Curry is meant to be more of a facilitator and Durant more of a finisher, but i was still surprised by the big difference

I was also surprised by how much of his own scoring Curry generated himself. It really stands out when you watch the supercut video. Curry generated 78% of his own scoring, while KD generated 61%. The Warriors collectively produced more points for Durant than Curry, 26-25. In fact, not counting the bizarre Game 4, Curry produced more points solo than Durant did, 89-83...

The Verdict

Curry directly created a lot of points for Durant in the 2017 Finals, through a combination of gravity, passing and screening, about 8 PPG on average. He continues to be an underrated player, and would have been a plausible Finals MVP.

Durant created a lot of points through individual excellence, about 21.6 points per game. So it is unfair to say that he was carried by Curry or the system. The video shows he made numerous difficult contested shots. He was a very deserving Finals MVP, especially considering his defensive contributions.

...

Thus, we judge, In the matter of Curry’s effect on Durant’s Finals offensive production, that Curry is very underrated by mainstream pundits and fans, but somewhat overrated by his strongest advocates.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.goldenstateofmind.com/platform/amp/2017/9/22/16341440/nba-finals-2017-warriors-durant-curry-most-valuable-player


Read & weap

[clyde21]

Curry has better PER, BPM, RAPM and on/off numbers. Like I said its not really close. KD is a very good player but he is not the catalyst for the Warriors, Curry is.

Curry is just much more impactful on offense with his gravity. KD has the defensive advantage but its not big enough to compensate for that and the numbers show it.

Right, so all you have is stats without context. Fortunately, basketball is deeper than that otherwise Wilt would be universally considered the GOAT. Anyhow, keep your off topic comments in the appropriate topics please and thank you. This ones for appropriately praising KD for the phenom that he is.

Its more the reverse than anything. People look at KD's pretty raw stats and think he is better when his impact isn't even close to Curry's. Anyone who watches games will know Curry is the MVP and its not close. Curry's ability to warp defenses and basically give KD and co easier looks cannot be replicated by anyone in the nba currently.

There is a reason why the Cavs kept doubling Curry and basically let Durant get easy looks all series. Looks like you are the one not watching games. I said my arguments how about making a good one for Durant instead of insulting people?

These player threads are not meant to only praise a player. Durant has been impressive yes but more impressive than Curry? Nah and I really don't like either player.

Pretty much this.

[Harsh Lesson]

From reddit;

Before anyone tries to bring up wide open looks. Golden State shot 56.06 TS% excluding Durant, Durant was at 69.80%, +13.74% over expected

Proportionally, Durant actually got the fewest open or wide open looks of any player in the Finals by a considerable margin. Only 27.8% of Durant's shot attempts were considered open(no defender within 4 feet). Other notables include 38.7% Kyrie, 49.6% LeBron, 48.3% Curry, 55.7% Thompson, 47.8% Love, and 52.8% Green

He also got less total open looks per game(6.0 of 21.6 FGA) than Kyrie(9.4 of 24.6), LeBron(11.6 of 23.4), Curry(8.8 of 18.2), Thompson(7.8 of 14.0 FGA), Love(6.4 of 13.4 FGA) and only slightly more than Green(5.8 of 11.0 FGA).

He was actually contested on 15.6 of his 21.6 FGA/game, he just shot an outrageous 66.9 eFG% on contested shots including 59.1% on contested 3's, which made up 73% of his 3's in the Finals.. He shot 52.9 eFG% with a defender 0-2 feet away(super tight) and 69.8 eFG% with a defender 2-4 feet away(tight).

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/6hc6ae/kevin_durant_is_the_most_efficient_scorer_in_nba/


Must I go on, or can we get back to our regularly scheduled programming?

[PaulieWal]

Nope, just nope. Good example on this page on how to not engage another poster when you disagree with them.

[Statlanta]

Watch on YouTube

So he just verbally said that he emulates Tracy McGrady which is very poignant considering how both were viewed at the height of their respective powers. I just think his height/dribbling limitations have limited him to have the same paint presence T-Mac did

[thekdog34]

The Warriors Didn’t Need Kevin Durant To Be This Good

While Durant may be the story of the season, the Warriors’ dynasty was built and is still being propped up by Curry’s ability to throw the ball into the hoop from great distances. Provided he keeps being able to do that, expect Golden State to keep the game broken.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-warriors-didnt-need-kevin-durant-to-be-this-good/

[cpower]

The KD over Curry case has closed after 14. KD continued to be the ultra productive scorer and Curry becomes the ultimate offensive anchor. The individual defense advantage by KD is not enough to move the needle.

[KD35Brah]

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[Harsh Lesson]

He's the DPOY of the year so far for me. Best combination of perimeter defense and rim protection since Garnett.

[JordansBulls]

The guy is showing why he is the best Forward in the league still.

[RCM88x]

He's the DPOY of the year so far for me. Best combination of perimeter defense and rim protection since Garnett.

Despite the fact he has a negative DRPM?

[yoyoboy]

He's the DPOY of the year so far for me. Best combination of perimeter defense and rim protection since Garnett.

GS is going to have to be a lot better defensively for him to win it.

With Draymond, a DPOY, a great defender in Klay, a good defender in Curry, a great to occasionally elite defender in Iggy, a great defender in David West, good defensive big men in Zaza and McGee, and other rock solid defenders in Jordan Bell, Livingston, etc, there's really no reason Golden State should only be 7th in DRTG, just ahead of the Lakers. So if he's actually having DPOY impact outside of just the rim protection, then something isn't adding up.