Durant: I've Been Hitting The Weight Room "A Lot"

[ReaLiez]

stay away from the weight room Durant. Look what happened to Tmac.

[Johnny Firpo]

A lot of success in the post is about training and skill rather than just mass. Of course mass helps, but it isn't the solution. KD just needs to work on it, plain and simple.

Generally i would agree, but Durant really is rail-thin. He could definitely use some mass, especially on his legs, as some of us already stated. It doesn't have to be much, just a couple of quality pounds. It could definitely make him more effective without slowing him down. If anything, he could become a little more explosive.

[Forbes]

Something he needed to do. But how's that jumpshot gonna look?

[mvpshaq32]

Shouldn't be the main focus of his offseason.

What he should work on is off-ball movement and awareness, especially if he plans on playing long term with Russ

[kobe808lak]

stay away from the weight room Durant. Look what happened to Tmac.

Does anyone have the Tmac video of him working out... His trainer should have been fired immediately. Horrible form on just about every exercise. Not surprising he had so many injuries.

[hongdayuan]

might be just me, but adding muscle could mean he can withstand more contact which could take away his FTA which earned 1/3 of his points

[oceanlife]

stay away from the weight room Durant. Look what happened to Tmac.

I don't know that looking at select cases is the best way to decide if someone should or shouldn't hit the weight room. I could easily counter by saying to look at MJ, Pippen, and Rodman during the last 3-Peat where each gained muscle to offset the effects of age. But nothing is so black and white, especially in fitness.

I think it's better to think of things in the context of the players game. If Durant wants to bang in the post more he needs to be much stronger which will entail a certain workout regiment that will involve heavy lifting. But if he's just looking to keep his explosive first step as he enters his late 20's he's going to still need to weight train, just differently than if he wants to be a post player.

[j-ragg]

Don't think gaining loads is what he needs anyway.

[koolcrud]

Sometimes it doesn't help. I remember both Kobe and Bosh adding muscle at some point in their career to mixed results.

IIRC.. Bosh put on like 15-20lbs of muscle prior to his last season with the Raptors, and he started the season at a different level. He couldn't sustain it however, and he only maintained it for like 2/3rd of the season.

As for Kobe, I found an article that said he started the 04-05 season at 235lbs, and for the next three years he averaged 27.6, 35.4 and 31.6ppg.. I'm not sure if he cut it all before the 05-06 or what, but it seems to have helped.

I think it'll help KD. He seems to run out of gas every season trying to carry that team. Hopefully the extra bulk will help him absorb the punishment.

For players in their prime, adding muscle never hurts. It should definitely help Durant.

Kobe was actually around 225 at his biggest, using the now famous 666 workout. It was only when his knee started flaring up during the Pau era that he decided to lean down. But during that stretch at 225 he was a monster. He had the strength to post-up small forwards and rebound in traffic, but he was still quick enough to be the best 2-guard in the league.

Durant should watch film of Garnett's post game and midrange game. He has similar length as KG to get his shot up over anyone, but he has even further range. He'll be able to play some minutes at the 4 if he adds some muscle. He's next in line for best player in the game. With a post game he'll be unstoppable.

He already plays a ton of minutes at the 4, not just some (he spent 25% of last season at the position). And he's already unstoppable.

[Purch]

IIRC.. Bosh put on like 15-20lbs of muscle prior to his last season with the Raptors, and he started the season at a different level. He couldn't sustain it however, and he only maintained it for like 2/3rd of the season.

As for Kobe, I found an article that said he started the 04-05 season at 235lbs, and for the next three years he averaged 27.6, 35.4 and 31.6ppg.. I'm not sure if he cut it all before the 05-06 or what, but it seems to have helped.

I think it'll help KD. He seems to run out of gas every season trying to carry that team. Hopefully the extra bulk will help him absorb the punishment.

For players in their prime, adding muscle never hurts. It should definitely help Durant.

Kobe was actually around 225 at his biggest, using the now famous 666 workout. It was only when his knee started flaring up during the Pau era that he decided to lean down. But during that stretch at 225 he was a monster. He had the strength to post-up small forwards and rebound in traffic, but he was still quick enough to be the best 2-guard in the league.

Durant should watch film of Garnett's post game and midrange game. He has similar length as KG to get his shot up over anyone, but he has even further range. He'll be able to play some minutes at the 4 if he adds some muscle. He's next in line for best player in the game. With a post game he'll be unstoppable.

He already plays a ton of minutes at the 4, not just some (he spent 25% of last season at the position). And he's already unstoppable.

Except in the playoffs when Chris Paul, Tony Allen and Danny Green can all force him into contested long jumpers

[KingDavid]

He's still skinny as ever, don't think he'll put on that much from now until October and if he does he'll most likely lose it.

May have to look into what Noah did that one summer that he went to "Gold's Gym".

[HoopsterJones]

MJ did the same thing early on in his career to build strength to beat the Pistons. Hope it works out the same for KD.

[JellosJigglin]

IIRC.. Bosh put on like 15-20lbs of muscle prior to his last season with the Raptors, and he started the season at a different level. He couldn't sustain it however, and he only maintained it for like 2/3rd of the season.

As for Kobe, I found an article that said he started the 04-05 season at 235lbs, and for the next three years he averaged 27.6, 35.4 and 31.6ppg.. I'm not sure if he cut it all before the 05-06 or what, but it seems to have helped.

I think it'll help KD. He seems to run out of gas every season trying to carry that team. Hopefully the extra bulk will help him absorb the punishment.

For players in their prime, adding muscle never hurts. It should definitely help Durant.

Kobe was actually around 225 at his biggest, using the now famous 666 workout. It was only when his knee started flaring up during the Pau era that he decided to lean down. But during that stretch at 225 he was a monster. He had the strength to post-up small forwards and rebound in traffic, but he was still quick enough to be the best 2-guard in the league.

Durant should watch film of Garnett's post game and midrange game. He has similar length as KG to get his shot up over anyone, but he has even further range. He'll be able to play some minutes at the 4 if he adds some muscle. He's next in line for best player in the game. With a post game he'll be unstoppable.

He already plays a ton of minutes at the 4, not just some (he spent 25% of last season at the position). And he's already unstoppable.

That's not really playing the 4 though. It's just being named a 4 by default and continuing to play the same way. What I meant by play the 4 was switch to a more traditional post-up/face-up 4 like KG was.

If he starts working on it now he can be KG from 15 feet and in and KD from outside while still in his prime in a few years. He's already one of the most unique perimeter players we've seen because of his height and range, with a post game I think he'd catapult himself in the GOAT discussion.

[Prokorov]

Sometimes it doesn't help. I remember both Kobe and Bosh adding muscle at some point in their career to mixed results.

This. Added bulk helps you fight through hits but it can also slow you down and decrease your quickness. The best is to find the right balance for your type of game.

the guy is a bean pole. its not like he is going to put on 30 or 40 pounds where it is going to negatively impact him. the extra mustle will only help.

[stronglikebull]

kd needs to squat and deadlift..quick explosion on both..absolutely needs to bulk up there is no question about it. There is absolutely no justification for him not bulking up..or at least gaining a lot of pure strength so he can stand his ground. Yes basketball is a sport that isn't extremely dependent on strength for the most part but durant is rail thin and doesn't seem to be a wiry strong like chris bosh was. Imagine kd with his jumpshot and skill set but with increased athleticism and strength.. he would bully the league.


LOOK at it this way. Lebron is the best athlete in the sport of basketball ever..what really seperates him from the rest. We always here that lebron could play football which means that lebron is very powerful and has a lot of functional strength that many athletic guys did not have. Hit the weights and hit them hard..you can't go wrong.

[WhatsaTDot]

Thread needs to be renamed to

2014 Offseason Broscience Thread

[Teen Girl Squad]

kd needs to squat and deadlift..quick explosion on both..absolutely needs to bulk up there is no question about it. There is absolutely no justification for him not bulking up..or at least gaining a lot of pure strength so he can stand his ground. Yes basketball is a sport that isn't extremely dependent on strength for the most part but durant is rail thin and doesn't seem to be a wiry strong like chris bosh was. Imagine kd with his jumpshot and skill set but with increased athleticism and strength.. he would bully the league.

I agree but you are taking it too the extreme. That is not KDs game nor will it ever be. He needs to get a little bit bulkier and stronger, just so that he can hold position and get around double teams/picks better. He's still a bit prone to being zoned out by bigger/more physical players (you'd have thought that he learned that after getting shutdown by Artest in 2010 and Lebron in general when guarded by him). Getting a bit heavier/stronger would help him overcome some of his problem matchups. He shouldn't go extreme though as that will hurt his quickness, shiftiness, and rip-move flailing get bogus FT game pretty hard.

[Shock Defeat]

Taking conditioning advice from Kendrick Perkins is a bad idea.

Taking advice from a top 50 center last year is a bad idea???

You know he sucks when you have to qualify him as top 50 when there's only 30 teams in the league.

That was the joke, can't believe 48 people (amount of likes this post got) needed you to explain it to them. :bang head:

and it's worse that the guy who thought up the joke only has 3 likes

[Beffiosa]

Sometimes it doesn't help. I remember both Kobe and Bosh adding muscle at some point in their career to mixed results.

This. Added bulk helps you fight through hits but it can also slow you down and decrease your quickness. The best is to find the right balance for your type of game.

Well, its easy to add strength and power without adding lean body mass.

[aal04]

Sometimes it can help.

MJ got his arse handed to him by the bad boys.

Hit the gym and took some protein and suddenly became goat.