RealGM

I was listening to Paul Pierce yesterday saying that Durant was the best scorer ever. He had a list of like 8 offensive attributes and KD was elite at all of them: 2P, 3P, finishing, FT, drawing fouls, ball handling, passing, etc. I thought about it more and he is also a well rounded defender who can defend the perimeter and defend the rim (leads the league in blocks). What is KD's weakness? Is he the most well rounded player ever?

Mental toughness

My gripe with Durant was always that he's not an elite playmaker. He is a decent-to-good technical passer and can find the open man, but I wouldn't say he is someone who creates chances at the highest level for his teammates, if that makes sense.

He doesn’t have a weakness. Leaving OKC felt treasonous.

Red Skies wrote:My gripe with Durant was always that he's not an elite playmaker. He is a decent-to-good technical passer and can find the open man, but I wouldn't say he is someone who creates chances at the highest level for his teammates, if that makes sense.

Mostly this, KD is one of the absolute best play finishers ever, but doesn't make things much easier for his teammates offensively. Probably a bit overrated on defense recently too, but has been solid on that end for awhile now.

Yep, that's mostly it. Handles aren't amazing either, feels like after his injury he lost some of that ability for whatever reason.

Edit: Actually a few others have made good ones, agree with Laimbeer on the ancillary offense, hes not a lead guy. Also he's a solid defender and his length helps but I really think if you're thinking he's near a DPOY that's overstating it a ton.

play-making, iso ball, inconsistent defense, ball handling, basketball iq is not in the all time great tier

Creating

He needs teammates to set him up

bondom34 wrote:Yep, that's mostly it. Handles aren't amazing either, feels like after his injury he lost some of that ability for whatever reason.

As long as they let him carry the ball they're good enough.

Red Skies wrote:My gripe with Durant was always that he's not an elite playmaker. He is a decent-to-good technical passer and can find the open man, but I wouldn't say he is someone who creates chances at the highest level for his teammates, if that makes sense.

Per his position, he’s absolutely an elite playmaker. He’s finished 2nd in APG among SF for 5 straight years, he can’t help one of the GOAT playmakers void of position played in his era. Imagine lebron played in the 90’s instead, who would KD be compared to say he’s not an elite playmaker?

Not to mention he plays off the ball far more than James who only averages 3 more APG

He is a servant.

He is too good.

He's a snake...

Post up on him. Get him to defend post play nonstop which will get him to lose some touch on his shot

I would say his biggest weakness if I were to nitpick is that you can't really have him bring the ball up on every possession and run an offense. He is at his best when the offense is initiated and the ball finds him. He had turnover problems when he was the primary ball handler in OKC and when Curry was out, the Warriors offense became more stagnant and less potent when KD was the one having to run the offense. Also prior to being in GS where he had a true offensive load, his defense was not as disruptive as it is now. Lastly, someone mentioned it prior, he is not mentally tough. The dude himself said he didn't want to run his own team and thats why he joined Curry. It is what it is.

Luckily for him, his weaknesses are completely mitigated on the Warriors.

InsanityKills wrote:He's a snake...

Looks human to me...

As others have mentioned, his inability to play-make at a high level consistently, and his mental fortitude, to a degree. The first one isn’t really a knock against him, but it’s just worth mentioning that he’s not a play-maker/facilitator at the level of some of his contemporaries/stars that came before him.

In late in 2016 he really struggled in isolation, specifically on drives. I don't believe he is able to he the primary ball handler or offense initiator for a team, which basically every other top 10-15 player could be.

RCM88x wrote:In late in 2016 he really struggled in isolation, specifically on drives. I don't believe he is able to he the primary ball handler or offense initiator for a team, which basically every other top 10-15 player could be.

Like Shaq, Wilt, Kareem, Russell, Duncan, etc.

OKC literally had a better offense in 2014 when Durant was running the offense during Westbrook's injury than it did with a healthy Westbrook that season. OKC had the NBA's #1 offense from 2010-2016, how does that offense look now?

But ya, KD has definitely struggled on drives no doubt. Just look at his ranks over the past 5 years

2014 #1
2015 #2
2016 #1
2017 #2
2018 #1

https://stats.nba.com/players/drives/?sort=DRIVE_PTS_PCT&dir=1&CF=DRIVES*G*4&Season=2013-14&SeasonType=Regular%20Season
https://stats.nba.com/players/drives/?sort=DRIVE_PTS_PCT&dir=1&CF=DRIVES*G*4&Season=2014-15&SeasonType=Regular%20Season
https://stats.nba.com/players/drives/?sort=DRIVE_PTS_PCT&dir=1&CF=DRIVES*G*4&Season=2015-16&SeasonType=Regular%20Season
https://stats.nba.com/players/drives/?sort=DRIVE_PTS_PCT&dir=1&CF=DRIVES*GE*4&Season=2016-17&SeasonType=Regular%20Season
https://stats.nba.com/players/drives/?sort=DRIVE_PTS_PCT&dir=1&CF=DRIVES*G*4&Season=2017-18&SeasonType=Regular%20Season

Never change Realgm, you guys really are the best

lolathon234 wrote:

RCM88x wrote:In late in 2016 he really struggled in isolation, specifically on drives. I don't believe he is able to he the primary ball handler or offense initiator for a team, which basically every other top 10-15 player could be.

Like Shaq, Wilt, Kareem, Russell, Duncan, etc.

OKC literally had a better offense in 2014 when Durant was running the offense during Westbrook's injury than it did with a healthy Westbrook that season. OKC had the NBA's #1 offense from 2010-2016, how does that offense look now?

But ya, KD has definitely struggled on drives no doubt. Just look at his ranks over the past 5 years

2014 #1
2015 #2
2016 #1
2017 #2
2018 #1

https://stats.nba.com/players/drives/?sort=DRIVE_PTS_PCT&dir=1&CF=DRIVES*G*4&Season=2013-14&SeasonType=Regular%20Season
https://stats.nba.com/players/drives/?sort=DRIVE_PTS_PCT&dir=1&CF=DRIVES*G*4&Season=2014-15&SeasonType=Regular%20Season
https://stats.nba.com/players/drives/?sort=DRIVE_PTS_PCT&dir=1&CF=DRIVES*G*4&Season=2015-16&SeasonType=Regular%20Season
https://stats.nba.com/players/drives/?sort=DRIVE_PTS_PCT&dir=1&CF=DRIVES*GE*4&Season=2016-17&SeasonType=Regular%20Season
https://stats.nba.com/players/drives/?sort=DRIVE_PTS_PCT&dir=1&CF=DRIVES*G*4&Season=2017-18&SeasonType=Regular%20Season

Never change Realgm, you guys really are the best

Yea, it's easy to have a high pts% with a low volume. I'm sure if LeBron only took 6-9 drives per game instead of 15 or 20+ he'd have a far higher points%.

Besides, what are those ranks in the playoffs. In 2016 he was outside the top 15 in pts% when he averaged over 9 driver per game.

And if you don't believe that Duncan, or Shaq or Wilt couldn't (or weren't) the primary offense initiators then idk what to tell you. Durant did a great job in 50 games for one season, but has never had to play that role at any other point in his career outside of the '13 playoffs and it didn't end that well.

He's a great player obviously, but you're talking about pretty small issues here relative to other great players. Compared to these other guys there are definitely areas offensive he is weak in, otherwise he would be a better player and a player capable of leading a title winning team, which to this point he hasn't been.