Does Durant really look good in his games? I have not seen him play. From the stats he is getting 21.7 pts per game by putting up 21 shots and only hitting .389 (.295 for threes); 5.4 reb and 2.1 asst is not bad but he looks like a major blackhole. Any comments?
I wouldn't call him a blackhole considering how weak his supporting cast is. I've seen him play a couple times this season and the kid is unbelievable. His FG% is bad but he can flat out score from almost anywhere on the court.
The question I have is should he win Rookie of the Year if the Sonics only win around 20 games? Hell, Oklahoma City...errrrr, Seattle would be lucky to get that many victories at the pace they're going.
Every shot he takes is a shot he is comfortable with - pulling up, fading away, spot up 3's, so it's not like he's chucking from everywhere. He's just not hitting them right now and is also struggling finishing at the rim. He has a beautiful shot fake where he drives it to the rack and finishes with a dunk, but he's not strong enough to do it consistently yet. Defensively, he's a disruptor with his crazy length and will continue to improve as the years go on. He'll never be a great playmaker, but he will be able to score with the best of them.
Durant will easily win rookie of the year if he keeps these stats up. Out of the past 15 seasons, only 4 ROY winners were on teams with winning records. ROY has always been a stats award first. The MVP award is usually based on team success. If Durant's jumper is going in, he's a great player. The problem is that he has no post up game at all. He has such long arms and great leaping ability. If he ever learned a jump hook or a baseline turnaround, he could put up 30 without even thinking...
He looks like a great player in the making who plays on a sorry team and is still feeling his way around in the NBA. The Sonics are so worthless that KD and Jeff Green are almost the only reason to watch them. I've watched them 3-4 times already and the two times the game was close, the other team shut KD down in the 4th quarter and no other Sonic could do anything. Against Detroit last night, the first half was so disgusting (it was 55-32 at one point) I turned it off. Looking at the box score today, turns out the Sonics made a game of it.
Durant is only 19 years old, he's just getting used to the NBA game right now. Carmelo and LeBron are probably the best comparisons to him. This is how Durant's rookie year stacks up against Melo and Bron's rookie seasons so far. Code: [b]Durant:[/b] 21.7 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.7 BPG, 38.9 FG%, 29.6 3P%, 77.1 FT%, 34:42 MPG [b]Lebron:[/b] 20.9 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 5.9 APG, 1.7 SPG, 0.7 BPG, 41.7 FG%, 29.0 3P%, 75.4 FT%, 39:30 MPG [b]Carmelo:[/b] 21.0 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.5 BPG, 42.6 FG%, 32.2 3P%, 77.7 FT%, 36:30 MPG So far, they look very very similar. Durant's FG% is lower than Bron and Melo's, but as the season goes on I think Durant's FG% will continue to rise. I don't think Durant has the overall talent that LeBron has, but I do think he's a better pure scorer than LeBron. I think Durant and Melo is a good comparison, both guys were awesome Freshman in college with insane scoring ability. As good as Melo is, I actually think Durant has a higher ceiling than him. I think it's too early to be worrying about Durant's low FG%. He's clearly shown that he has crazy scoring ability.
Durant is going to be special. He was the best freshman I've ever seen. Even better than Melo, who had my jaw on the floor every time I watched him play in college. Durant can create his shot from anywhere on the floor and has amazing ball instincts under the basket. It will be fun to watch him develop. Hopefully into a small forward instead of a 2 guard. If we're lucky, he'll be a Rocket some day.
Durant is no Tmac at 19. Tmac at 19 wasnt an offensive player, he was a defensive monster with crazy athletism. Durant just shoots.
