Kevin Durant and things he needs to improve on

dream_catcher_9 · Post #1 » by **dream_catcher_9** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 5:27 pm

What is the next step he needs to take?

Is it ball handling? He is a better ball handler this year, but he still has a long way to go to be solid in that area, and in some ways it has hurt him this year.

Shot Selection? A better shot selection would raise his efficiency and get others involved in the offense more.

Obviously he needs to improve his defense as does the whole team. Post game? Sure but he needs to get stronger for that to be a weapon. Which brings me to my next point. He needs to get stronger, it will help him in all areas of his game. Ball security the main thing it would help.

bbms · Post #2 » by **bbms** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 5:56 pm

Body constitution. More muscles. It's not really necessary to become heavier to bulk up. This would make him a better matchup to guard Melo, Rudy Gay and LeBron.

Passing. With his reach, he would be a formidable assistant.

Shot selection? Not really. His efficiency is so high that I don't think shooting less could get a significant raise on this because he is a superstar and won't get easy looks against good teams. He needs to polish his fundamentals and become a even more consistent shooter and ball handler. Not shooting less.

I think Kevin Durant needs to keep improving, but he needs improved teammates more than he has to improve.

Westbrook have to improve more than Durant, Ibaka have to waaaay improve more than Durant( hiscurrent ability vs his potential ability vs our team needs), Harden has to improve more than Durant, and so does Maynor, Sefolosha and Cole Aldrich,

Post #3 » by **slick_watts** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 5:58 pm

Durant's turnover rate is actually at a career low right now, and his defensive rebounding has also improved for the third straight season.

Most of the improvements for KD will come if the offense gets a little bit more sophisticated and / or the lineups get better. It's unreasonable to expect a huge spike in scoring efficiency - he's been at 58% - 60% TS for practically the last three seasons which is phenomenal.

Russell Westbrook's emergence has changed the offense a lot and KD is getting fewer attempts at the rim, and is taking more long range jump shots.

It's tough with a lot of our lineups to get good looks or find others. Thabo is useless on offense and Durant is usually on the court whenever Thabo is on. Westbrook isn't really a catch and shoot guy. Ibaka has unreliable hands.

More ball movement in the offense, overall, will benefit KD more than anything. I think he's been isolated too often this season, and when KD gets the ball behind the three point line and has to make something happen, it's not going to end well. Remember this dude is 7' tall practically, he should be getting more of his offense inside of 20 feet like last season.

I'd like to see him become more reliable on defense. He was better last year defensively, but so were most of the players.

dream_catcher_9 · Post #4 » by **dream_catcher_9** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 6:07 pm

slick, what aspects of his game would you like to see improved?

bbms, nice post. I think the biggest area he could improve on besides gaining muscle is his passing out of double teams. If he can consistently pass to the open man our offense will be more efficient and tougher to guard.

Post #5 » by **slick_watts** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 6:16 pm

What would I like to see, or what do I think we'll see? I'd like to see him become good at everything, but that's not very realistic.

I'd like to see him take fewer long range shots and work harder on catching the ball inside of the 3pt line. This year he's been settling for catches 23-25 feet out and it's tough for him to create offense from out there.

I don't think he'll ever be a great playmaker, but he still has plenty of unforced turnovers. Those should be cut down.

Getting stronger is obvious, but I think we've seen small improvements there over the past few years, and that's probably all we'll get.

Durant gets so few easy shots, it's amazing he scores as well as he does. He'd get more of them if he worked more consistently at getting better position on offense. But that's easier said than done, and like I said, I suspect the emergence of Westbrook has taken some of those opportunities.

Jimmy76 · Post #6 » by **Jimmy76** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 7:56 pm

post game post game post game, move in not out, especially if he's gonna stay a 3 (which I think he should)

bbms · Post #7 » by **bbms** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 1:33 am

Seems like the only Thunder that know post game basis is Westbrook.

Not even Harden that is the only one who knows how to pick 'n roll.

Devilanche · Post #8 » by **Devilanche** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:16 am

More so in the 4th quarter but it applies to the whole game.
Better ball movement/trusting his teammate/better decision making.Our offence on close games could be just horrid. Since durant and Westbrook are our 2 highest usage players this starts and end with them. It's not even the assist number just moving it around to find the open man. Side noteif thabo is to remain a starter his only off season assignment is to shoot 3s.

Bulking up. Whatever muscle he can put on. I think if he does put on some weight than he can work on his post game. He got an incredible height advantage if that happens. And with ibaka as the PF, the opponent PF can't just switch over to negate the advantage.

dream_catcher_9 · Post #9 » by **dream_catcher_9** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 6:49 pm

Is it just me, or has Durant looked much more confident in himself the past few games? He seems to be playing with much more force, and is being a bit more assertive. Even his dribble has been tighter recently.

Sinant · Post #10 » by **Sinant** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 7:03 pm

Something I've noticed this season (besides Durant turning the ball over less than ever, by a few tenths, but still), is that KD no longer has the highest USG% on the team.

His USG% has dropped from 32 to 30.7, and Westbrook's is now at 31.7(up about 6%).

bbms · Post #11 » by **bbms** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 7:15 pm

I think Durant feels more confortable off the ball. Last 5 he's been putting 3.8 apg. Even if our team struggles offensively when Harden is not playing. Westbrook has been bad.

Post #12 » by **slick_watts** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 8:00 pm

Russ' usage is too high.

Jimmy76 · Post #13 » by **Jimmy76** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 8:04 pm

slick_watts wrote:Russ' usage is too high.

given Harden's breakout I'd agree

I'd like to see Russ be more of a PG, post up more, and pick his spots more

I'm glad we're in more of a nitpicking phase than a "holy **** we have serious roster construction issues" phase

Devilanche · Post #14 » by **Devilanche** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 8:33 pm

slick_watts wrote:Russ' usage is too high.

I think an offseason whereby we spend some time on offense would help. We need to remember he wasn't a pass first point guard in college and all Brooks did was focus on defence the past 2 offseason.

Wouldn't hurt to upgrade from a playsheet to a playbook. He has already said that he needs to involve the team more at some time rather than try to take over. So long as he practise what he preach, it'll be better.

Side note: does usage include the 9 sec or more that Westbrook stand around waiting for the shot clock to run down before he attempt to pass or more likely dribble in the paint?

Post #15 » by **slick_watts** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 8:38 pm

Usage percentage is an estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while he was on the floor.

A big problem IMO is Russ not playing with any shooters a lot of the time.

Devilanche · Post #16 » by **Devilanche** » Sat Mar 19, 2011 8:52 pm

I.e. Thabo?

We'll either see less minutes for him next season or he'll develop some consistency on open 3 shot.

Gotta_B_KD35 · Post #17 » by **Gotta_B_KD35** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 2:07 am

Asserting himself to the rim and finding easier shots instead of taking long stepback and fadeaways while being guarded. Westbrooks rise this year caused a lot of teams to clog the paint and defense is heavier on Durant due to last year which resulted in Durant taking the most stupid shots. He needs to gain some muscle/weight to diversify his game in the post. His game is too predictable and adding some muscle/weight might give him more confidence to take it to the rack more and to post up.

dream_catcher_9 · Post #18 » by **dream_catcher_9** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 2:12 am

dream_catcher_9 wrote:Is it just me, or has Durant looked much more confident in himself the past few games? He seems to be playing with much more force, and is being a bit more assertive. Even his dribble has been tighter recently.

forget what I said there. I think the 2 biggest things he needs to work on are shot selection, and getting stronger. He takes the stupidest shots sometimes, and as far as strength, well it will obviously help vs. the in your face strong defenders that seem to bother him.

Post #19 » by **tsherkin** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 3:03 am

Shot selection is a start.

Lower body strength and working the post more, definitely.

Ball handling in isolation scenarios, definitely. He's an elite off-ball scorer because of his height and shot, and he's a wonderful slasher off of reversal or catching and driving hard off of ball movement elsewhere. He's not so good at most other aspects of offense, mostly because he's not a great ball-handler and he can't hold post position.

Absolutely great FT shooter, and this year he's been killing it right at the rim even more so than usual. Not an elite shooter beyond the foul line, though, he's actually not much different from Lebron in that range, but no one likes to talk about that because KD is a much less of a douchebag, and because he's a little better from downtown, so we assume that and FT shooting are all there is to "shooting." Ah well.

Shot selection is the big one; body strength, with that frame, he can't rush. KG didn't, KD can't either. He's not a post player, not really. He should work on being the roll man in pick-and-roll sets a little more, though, because he could really open up the interior for Westbrook by popping for the three and dragging his defender with him but otherwise rolling sometimes to mix it up.

OzThunder · Post #20 » by **OzThunder** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 5:21 pm

I haven't posted here for ages, but think i should start again...why not.

I think slick said it earlier, KD has to get his catches closer in. KD catching it inside the 3pt line is so much more efficient that outside. Outside he puts the ball on the floor and has to beat a defender off a dribble, help defense comes much earlier and he's a good 3 dribbles away from the rim.

If (and when (not very often)) he catches it in that mid range area, at the moment he often lets the defender crowd him and does the same thing, backs up, puts the ball on the floor and takes an off the dribble pull up (that he hits quite well), or fades away from the defender (that he also hits a fair bit from that range). What i think will raise his game to preposterous efficiency levels is if on those catches, he faces up strong and jab steps...creates space and gives him time to think. From there, if the defender crowds him, he can rip through or pump fake and go. From there a dribble drive off the jab step will be a one dribble strong move to the rack. The other advantage is he will be beating the first defender easily without having to use his inconsistent handle. If they give him any space you know he is going to hit that jumper 8 times outta 10. Really KD should be scoring without ever trying to cross someone over, he's too long and skilled to stop. He should watch alot of Melo's mid range game.