Kevin Durant & Kyrie Irving- 21-22 Thread

[tsherkin]

I feel like people forget OKC MVP KD who wasn't quite the mid-range God he is today,

I dunno about that, he was a fantastic mid-range scorer in OKC. About 41% of his total FGA/g came from 10-23 feet and he shot 43.8% from 3-10 and 42.1% from 16-23. Obviously, he shot better in Golden State because he was facing less coverage and all that, but he was an outstanding mid-range monster previously.

[O_6]

I feel like people forget OKC MVP KD who wasn't quite the mid-range God he is today,

I dunno about that, he was a fantastic mid-range scorer in OKC. About 41% of his total FGA/g came from 10-23 feet and he shot 43.8% from 3-10 and 42.1% from 16-23. Obviously, he shot better in Golden State because he was facing less coverage and all that, but he was an outstanding mid-range monster previously.

Don't get me wrong, I know he has always been a fantastic mid-range scorer but I do think he started focusing more on that part of his game in GS. Partially due to the awesome spacing provided by them but I do think it goes beyond just the spacing in GS. His mid-range shooting has actually been better in Brooklyn with terrible spacing than it was in GS.

OKC Durant = Excellent Mid-Range Scorer
GS/BK Durant = Historically efficient Mid-Range Scorer

Just mainly pointing out that he relied on attacking the rim a little bit more in his younger OKC days, as is usually the case when it comes to the age/skill curve.

[tsherkin]

Don't get me wrong, I know he has always been a fantastic mid-range scorer but I do think he started focusing more on that part of his game in GS. Partially due to the awesome spacing provided by them but I do think it goes beyond just the spacing in GS. His mid-range shooting has actually been better in Brooklyn with terrible spacing than it was in GS.

I'm sure he has improved over years of training and in-game practice, absolutely. I'm just saying he was humongous to begin with, so there's only so much to be gleaned from that. There is also the abbreviated sample of his time in Brooklyn, because he's basically played one season's worth of games in the RS as a Net (90 games played, so a shade more).

Just mainly pointing out that he relied on attacking the rim a little bit more in his younger OKC days, as is usually the case when it comes to the age/skill curve.

This is certainly true. That said, his career average %FG from 0-3 is 73.8%. It's 71.5% with the Nets, 69.3% with the Warriors and 75.4% with the Thunder. Not a huge difference. We're seeing a drop from .407 career FTR, .426 with the Thunder, to .356 with Golden State and .377 with the Nets though, which helps highlight what you're talking about, sure, but he's also finishing in close at the best rate of his career.

0-3, his FG% is 73.6% on his career, 72.3% with the Thunder, 77.0% with the Warriors and 78.2% with the Nets.

Just some food for thought.

EDIT: Just to add, I see what you're saying and I'm most of the way there with you. Just adding some extra details because I don't think it's a LARGE change just yet.

[The High Cyde]

KD is essentially a “big man”, will be even more so as he gets older cause he won’t be moving like a guard either, and the more imperative it is that he gets an actual point guard to set him up where all he has to do is rise up or turnaround and shoot.

This was however, one of his best offensive seasons, could be due to the ungodly amount of minutes he was playing. Nash couldn’t save the dude from himself here.