endrity
05-26-2011, 03:56 PM
Ok, so a lot of people have scrutinized Durant's game more now that he made it to the big stage. However I think a lot of the focus is wrong. People are trying to center too much on the mental aspect, and asking Durant to be more demanding. Too me there are still to many holes in his game, weakness, that prevent him from even getting to the stage that he can dominate.
I have seen a lot of smaller defenders hassle him quite easily. He reminds me a lot of early Dirk, in that he is simply not strong enough physically, and smaller defenders can get underneath him, and strongly disrupt his balance. By having a much higher center of gravity and little strength, Durant loses his body control required to score.
On the other hand, compared to other tall wing players who have been extremely successful like McGrady and LeBron, Durant is not quite the athlete these guys were. They could put the ball on the floor and dribble a lot better than he could. They are also stronger, better built, with much better body control, and could attack the basket better.
To me he has to look at Dirk's development and model a lot of his game to Dirk's. He's never going to be the athlete Tmac or LeBron were. He needs to get stronger to push smaller guys a bit, but also learn how to shoot when those guys get underneath him. Dirk developed the one legged fadeaway to create the necessary space, and also a semi-post game at the elbow. Durant needs to find what his sweet spots are. Right now, he can easily lead the league in the regular season in scoring. But we've seen how Artest/Allen/Marion have gotten better and better throughout a series in defending him, and how physical defenders once they know his tendencies are able to shut him down.
Before he learns how to do that, we shouldn't even speak about his mental aspect.
I have seen a lot of smaller defenders hassle him quite easily. He reminds me a lot of early Dirk, in that he is simply not strong enough physically, and smaller defenders can get underneath him, and strongly disrupt his balance. By having a much higher center of gravity and little strength, Durant loses his body control required to score.
On the other hand, compared to other tall wing players who have been extremely successful like McGrady and LeBron, Durant is not quite the athlete these guys were. They could put the ball on the floor and dribble a lot better than he could. They are also stronger, better built, with much better body control, and could attack the basket better.
To me he has to look at Dirk's development and model a lot of his game to Dirk's. He's never going to be the athlete Tmac or LeBron were. He needs to get stronger to push smaller guys a bit, but also learn how to shoot when those guys get underneath him. Dirk developed the one legged fadeaway to create the necessary space, and also a semi-post game at the elbow. Durant needs to find what his sweet spots are. Right now, he can easily lead the league in the regular season in scoring. But we've seen how Artest/Allen/Marion have gotten better and better throughout a series in defending him, and how physical defenders once they know his tendencies are able to shut him down.
Before he learns how to do that, we shouldn't even speak about his mental aspect.