Kevin Durant

By David Friedman(Doc319@yahoo.com) 3) Dallas Mavericks: Reasons for hope: As I mentioned in my Dallas preview for Lindy's Pro Basketball, "The high scoring trio that led the Mavericks to the 2006 NBA Finals--Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard and Jason Terry--is supplemented by future Hall of Fame point guard Jason Kidd and four-time All-Star Shawn Marion." The Mavericks have the talent and depth to be a championship caliber team. The Oklahoma City Thunder are assembling a nice young nucleus but they will take their lumps for at least one more year before threatening to claim a playoff spot. It is nice that most commentators have belatedly acknowledged that Kevin Durant belongs at small forward, not shooting guard; of course, I figured that out before Durant played his first reg...   [read the full post]

By Doc319@yahoo.com (David Friedman) The most fascinating storyline in Oklahoma City, one that will have ramifications for years to come and could very well determine the future of the Thunder, concerns Kevin Durant. Shortly after the Thunder--then known as the Seattle SuperSonics--drafted Durant, Coach P.J. Carlesimo announced that he planned to shift Durant from forward to shooting guard and I immediately expressed skepticism: Q: "In the early part of your NBA career you have predominantly been playing shooting guard but since Coach Brooks has taken over he has switched you to small forward. Tell me about that adjustment and what are some of the differences in playing those two positions. What is the advantage of having you at small forward?"   [read the full post]

By David Friedman I watched Durant play in the Summer League and evaluated his game objectively without resorting to baseless hype. I wrote several posts here describing exactly what I saw, including Durant Hardly Dominant as Summer League Concludes and Kevin Durant--Shooting Guard? I don't mean to pat myself on the back--well, maybe I do just a little bit--but if you read those posts you will discover that Durant's production as a rookie has been exactly what I predicted. Right now he is a one dimensional player and the only category that he performs well in is free throw percentage. Unfortunately, Durant cannot take advantage of that because he is not good at drawing fouls, which is something else that I correctly predicted despite the fact that he did dr...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman In Miami, 4-11 is not the number you call for information but the record of the city's pro basketball team. At this rate, the Heat will be dialing 911 before long. While Shaquille O'Neal sails off into the sunset of his career, young Kevin Durant authored the best performance of his rookie season, scoring 35 points as the Sonics beat the Pacers 95-93 to claim their first home win of the season. Everyone is calling for Isiah Thomas' head but, as I've said all along, if Thomas would give "Starbury" the ax then he could prevent the blade from coming down on his own neck. Let's take a closer look at three of Friday night's games: The Score: Boston 95, Miami 85 The Score: Seattle 95, Indiana 93 The Score: New York 91, Milwaukee 88   [read the full post]

By David Friedman Dwight Howard is becoming perhaps the dominant low post force in the NBA and that is a big reason that Orlando has an NBA-best 9-1 road record after a 110-94 win in Seattle. Howard scored a career-high 39 points and controlled the paint at both ends of the court with 16 rebounds and five blocked shots. Hedo Turkoglu also had a double double (15 points, 10 rebounds), helping Orlando to overcome a subpar game by Rashard Lewis, who shot just 3-19 from the field in his return to the city where he started his NBA career; he finished with nine points and 10 rebounds. Starting point guard Jameer Nelson (six points, three assists, five rebounds) and his backup Carlos Arroyo (two points, a career-high 14 assists) each played exactly 24 minutes, with Arro...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman The Bottom Line: Durant shot his typically poor percentage but he did not jack up quite as many shots as he normally does and that is part of the reason that Seattle only lost by five instead of the nearly nine points that they have typically lost by this year. ESPN commentator Hubie Brown made some interesting observations about Durant during the game. Brown noted that Durant's 6-10 height should give him an advantage at shooting guard but because Durant has no back to the basket game that advantage is largely nullified; meanwhile, at the other end of the court Durant has to chase around smaller, quicker scorers on a nightly basis. Brown added that Durant must gain upper body strength and lower body bulk so that he can hold his ground on the bloc...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman 1) Kobe Bryant, LAL 30.4 ppg 2) Kevin Martin, SAC 28.0 ppg 3) Tracy McGrady, HOU 27.3 ppg 4) LeBron James, CLE 26.6 ppg 5) Carmelo Anthony, DEN 26.3 ppg 6) Richard Jefferson, NJN 26.0 ppg 7) Carlos Boozer, UTA 25.4 ppg 8) Baron Davis, GSW 24.8 ppg 9-10) Allen Iverson, DEN 24.0 ppg 9-10) Yao Ming, HOU 24.0 ppg 11) Paul Pierce, BOS 23.6 ppg 12) Steve Nash, PHX 22.9 ppg 13-14) Ray Allen, BOS 22.6 ppg 13-14) Kevin Garnett, BOS 22.6 ppg 1) Kevin Garnett, BOS 15.8 rpg 2) Dwight Howard, ORL 14.7 rpg 3) Marcus Camby, DEN 14.3 rpg 4-5) Chris Kaman, LAC 13.5 rpg 4-5) Zach Randolph, NYK 13.5 rpg 6) Emeka Okafor, CHA 13.2 rpg 7) Zydrunas Ilagauskas, CLE 13.1 rpg 8) Shawn Marion, PHX 12.9 rpg 9) Carlos Boozer, UTA 12.6 rpg 10) Al Jefferson, MIN 12.4 rpg 11) Tyson Chandler, NOH 11.6 rpg   [read the full post]

By David Friedman Some young NBA players (Durant only played one year of college ball and just turned 19) either struggled initially or did not receive much playing time as rookies because their teams had a veteran who played the same position--but even those players (guys like Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady and Dirk Nowitzki) blossomed fairly quickly into All-Star level players. Many truly great pro players made an impact right from the start--from Bill Russell to Wilt Chamberlain to Oscar Robertson to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Julius Erving to more recent stars like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan. LeBron James was very good from day one and is now a perennial MVP candidate. Maybe Durant will follow the KG/Kobe/T-Mac/Dirk model...   [read the full post]

By David Friedman Brown and Jones, like all of the other NBA Europe Live Tour broadcasters, were not actually at the game in London; they were in a studio in the United States. At halftime, ESPN2 showed some highlights from other preseason games and Jones asked for Brown's take on various matters. One question that Brown addressed is whether or not Kobe Bryant's earlier trade request will be a distraction for the Lakers. Brown rejected that notion, declaring, "Kobe Bryant is the number one player in the league. We know that he is the best two guard. This is a true assassin. He proved to people in the Olympic qualifying (the FIBA Americas tournament) that he not only can score the basketball but he can defend any perimeter player in the game. He is one of the great compe...   [read the full post]