The Kevin Durant Thread (2016 - 17 Pt. 1)

[StepBackCrack]

It was embarrassing watching Durant and Brook fail so often and so badly at the end of games last season. Donovan did nothing to reign in westbrook or durant, and watching them force the action with no plan was an embarrassment to the game.

Durant has a real coach now, and he's on a real basketball TEAM. No more JV coach. A pg who is the exact opposite of brook's in-efficiency.

Durant has a new lease on his basketball life. Which is bad for league parity. And brook has a chance to win the award he truly cares most about: the individual MVP. But it destroys his chances of winning a championship.

This breakup reminds me a bit of a poor man's version of shaq and kobe splitting apart. Only brook won't get his championship and durant likely will.

Yup. Coaching is extremely important. That alone I believe will make Durant a better player in GSW. The gap between Kerr and Brooks/Donovan is huge. Durant is gonna learn a lot from Kerr. Regarding Russ, he is a great player but I think he was a bad fit for Durant. That's all. Steph compliments him much better as a PG. They will build a great chemistry together and we already saw flashes of that in their last preseason game.

Unfortunately for brook, I don't think he's a good complement to or for anyone. Durant should've been ideal. He's a catch and shoot player who doesn't need the ball in his hands most of the time. Durant is incredibly efficient.

Brook will mix like oil and water with any superstar caliber player. He's exactly in the situ he wants to be in: a situ which allows him to max out his own stats, but which unfortunately leaves him in a competitive no man's land: good enough to make the playoffs, but not good enough to win a championship and not bad enough to ever get a decent draft pick. OK will be a one man show/treadmill team while brook is in his statistical prime.

I see where you are coming from. I'm not a fan of his game but I would still consider him a top 10 player. It's really much better situation than not having a superstar/star at all so it's not too bad for OKC. In any case, I feel we are going off-topic with this discussion. Let's try to keep it about Durant and what he is doing in his new team.

[StepBackCrack]

Same with the off-ball game. He's been lauded for his scoring skillset off the ball since like 2010 - this isn't something new at all.

I agree with this to an extent - but there were a fair amount off people who watched him a lot who said that he mainly spotted up off the ball, ran off a pindown or set on ball screens. He was still effective off-ball due to his large gravity but he wasn't elite at it like say, a Curry who literally does everything when he doesn't have the ball in the hands. And from what I watched of OKC, I felt the same. For the most part it was a very simple, but effective, system there that didn't ask/require/encourage Durant to do much else when he didn't have the ball in the hand.

But from what I've seen in the 5 games this preseason, its completely different. Apart from the Toronto game Durant has been very active every second on the court, and he seems like he's maximising his potential of being that off-ball stud he was perceived to be for a long time.

Spot on.

[KD35Brah]

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[StepBackCrack]

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He always been such a hardworker. This isn't surprising.
Btw, do you think he can average 9+ rebounds per game this season?

[KD35Brah]

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He always been such a hardworker. This isn't surprising.
Btw, do you think he can average 9+ rebounds per game this season?

He has said he wants to average 10+ rebounds this season.

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He grabbed 8 in the 1st half on opening night.

The way that night ended probably gave him even more motivation to average more. Along with playing more minutes at the PF spot(25.8% minutes at PF in 2016 compared to Barnes ' 55.5 % of minutes at PF last year), i think it's possible. We'll see

[KD35Brah]

He will defnitely average 9+rpg this season.

10 rebounds in the 1st half. 8 in the 1st half last game.

Turnovers will drop a lot this season as well.

[rcontador]

KD is getting his stats but he really needs to learn how to move the ball, GS-style. Amazing how much less fluid they look than last year, and how much of that stems directly from his tendency to hold the ball for 3+ seconds at a time. I'm sure he'll figure it out, but wow -- right now he's making them actively worse.

[KD35Brah]

KD is getting his stats but he really needs to learn how to move the ball, GS-style. Amazing how much less fluid they look than last year, and how much of that stems directly from his tendency to hold the ball for 3+ seconds at a time. I'm sure he'll figure it out, but wow -- right now he's making them actively worse.

Right.

If you were watching the game, you would see evryone is missing wide open shots.

The offense looks off with or without Durant in the game.

Not sure why the entire team looks off, but singling out Durant out of nowhere doesn't make sense.

[RSCD3_]

KD is getting his stats but he really needs to learn how to move the ball, GS-style. Amazing how much less fluid they look than last year, and how much of that stems directly from his tendency to hold the ball for 3+ seconds at a time. I'm sure he'll figure it out, but wow -- right now he's making them actively worse.

Right.

If you were watching the game, you would see evryone is missing wide open shots.

The offense looks off with or without Durant in the game.

Not sure why the entire team looks off, but singling out Durant out of nowhere doesn't make sense.

Well durant did have like 6 possessions when he went straight hero-ball. I mean he made it a lot of the time but the ball movement stagnated for awhile and he was the one taking a lot of shots there.

Durant looks better but he still is gonna have his habits creep up from time to time.

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[KD35Brah]

KD is getting his stats but he really needs to learn how to move the ball, GS-style. Amazing how much less fluid they look than last year, and how much of that stems directly from his tendency to hold the ball for 3+ seconds at a time. I'm sure he'll figure it out, but wow -- right now he's making them actively worse.

Right.

If you were watching the game, you would see evryone is missing wide open shots.

The offense looks off with or without Durant in the game.

Not sure why the entire team looks off, but singling out Durant out of nowhere doesn't make sense.

Well durant did have like 6 possessions when he went straight hero-ball. I mean he made it a lot of the time but the ball movement stagnated for awhile and he was the one taking a lot of shots there.

Durant looks better but he still is gonna have his habits creep up from time to time.

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He was hot, they were force feeding him the ball with Andre and Shaun out there. I know exactly what you are talking about.

But blaming KD for this game is asinine.

[rcontador]

KD is getting his stats but he really needs to learn how to move the ball, GS-style. Amazing how much less fluid they look than last year, and how much of that stems directly from his tendency to hold the ball for 3+ seconds at a time. I'm sure he'll figure it out, but wow -- right now he's making them actively worse.

Right.

If you were watching the game, you would see evryone is missing wide open shots.

The offense looks off with or without Durant in the game.

Not sure why the entire team looks off, but singling out Durant out of nowhere doesn't make sense.

What I saw was KD going to the bench, then Curry scoring 11 in like two minutes. The team is off because none of its superstars can play themselves into rhythm, because their touches are being sucked into a black hole.

I mean, again, this will get a lot better. But I absolutely do blame Durant for how enormously regressed the Warriors look on offense, right now.

[Wall34]

lol at KD being a black hole.

[KD35Brah]

KD is getting his stats but he really needs to learn how to move the ball, GS-style. Amazing how much less fluid they look than last year, and how much of that stems directly from his tendency to hold the ball for 3+ seconds at a time. I'm sure he'll figure it out, but wow -- right now he's making them actively worse.

Right.

If you were watching the game, you would see evryone is missing wide open shots.

The offense looks off with or without Durant in the game.

Not sure why the entire team looks off, but singling out Durant out of nowhere doesn't make sense.

What I saw was KD going to the bench, then Curry scoring 11 in like two minutes. The team is off because none of its superstars can play themselves into rhythm, because their touches are being sucked into a black hole.

I mean, again, this will get a lot better. But I absolutely do blame Durant for how enormously regressed the Warriors look on offense, right now.

Now KD is a black hole.

If KD is a black hole, what is Klay thompson?

Whole team was just sloppy and cold, not because of this supposed ball hogging from KD. Whole team looks like they haven't even slept.

Jogging into sets and defensive lapses. Not sure why Kerr isn't saying anything to these guys, really slow initiating action.

[StepBackCrack]

KD is getting his stats but he really needs to learn how to move the ball, GS-style. Amazing how much less fluid they look than last year, and how much of that stems directly from his tendency to hold the ball for 3+ seconds at a time. I'm sure he'll figure it out, but wow -- right now he's making them actively worse.

Right.

If you were watching the game, you would see evryone is missing wide open shots.

The offense looks off with or without Durant in the game.

Not sure why the entire team looks off, but singling out Durant out of nowhere doesn't make sense.

What I saw was KD going to the bench, then Curry scoring 11 in like two minutes. The team is off because none of its superstars can play themselves into rhythm, because their touches are being sucked into a black hole.

I mean, again, this will get a lot better. But I absolutely do blame Durant for how enormously regressed the Warriors look on offense, right now.

I think people really need patience. This team won't perfectly click from the get go. Duran't isn't the only new player there. Chemistry isn't built overnight. Needs time. It's only the 2nd match in the season for this new team yet people already saying that Durant ruined the team. That's ridiculous imo. This team should be given way more time of play and then you can judge it.

[DreDay]

He was playing much more in the system in the preseason. He's still obviously amazing, but seems like it'd take more time for it to be natural.

[dc]

What I saw was KD going to the bench, then Curry scoring 11 in like two minutes. The team is off because none of its superstars can play themselves into rhythm, because their touches are being sucked into a black hole.

I mean, again, this will get a lot better. But I absolutely do blame Durant for how enormously regressed the Warriors look on offense, right now.

Someone else pointed something out worth noting: the W's shot poorly from 3 tonight but managed 122 points. That wouldn't have happened last year.

Stretches of ISO ball from KD isn't a bad thing. Gives them a chance to set their D when he gets to the FT line. Also Steph/Klay/Dray (statistically) run a staggering amount of miles on the court every game, largely due to their passing/ball movement offense. A guy who can ISO and make a parade to the FT line when the game bogs down can bail them out and also save everyone's legs over the long haul.

But yeah, they are out of sync right now. No doubt about it and they need to fix it, but a great ISO scorer isn't necessarily a bad thing to add to the W's offense.

[StepBackCrack]

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[KD35Brah]

Doesn't mean much, but 2 games in he's averaging 14rpg and 2bpg.

Can definitely see him averaging 10rpg and 1.7bpg.

25ppg(65% TS), 10rpg, 5apg, 1.5spg, 2bpg, 3.0TOpg could be a possibility for his season averages.

[The High Cyde]

Man he's gonna beast on this team! Durant is still a deadly player.

However, this teams interior defense is gonna be a problem. The team is gonna throw back in the hole what they dug out.

Gotta fix that. You had a relative scrub in Tim Frazier kill Zaza on TV tonight...haha

[Wall34]

Doesn't mean much, but 2 games in he's averaging 14rpg and 2bpg.

Can definittely see him averaging 10rpg and 1.7bpg.

25ppg(65% TS), 10rpg, 5apg, 1.5spg, 2bpg, 3.0TOpg could be a possibility for his season averages.

I think he may average another point or two thinking more like 26/27 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 4.5 apg, 2.7TOpg.

Since he's playing more 4 a career high in blocks and rebounds is definitely a possibility. GSW have more ballhandlers so i see KD maybe not dribbling in as much space as he use to which means maybe less than 3 turnovers a game but that might be thinking too optimistic.