Last night he showcased these skills for Minnesota for 48 minutes. His shot making ability hurt them in so many ways. Coming off pin downs and spotting up was his weapon of choice.
When Minnesota’s defenders tried to crowd him, Durant just took the ball off the dribble and attacked the mid range and pain area. Wit his size and length it’s easy for him to simply shoot over defenders. WHen you try to bring size and crowd him he simply puts the ball on the floor and gets his defenders on his hip.
Notice 5 defenders collapse whenever he puts the ball on the floor, which he’s beginning to read defenders well where he finds open spot up players and post players cutting off of the ball. With his ability to make shots, put the ball on the floor , as well as find open teammates Durant is becoming a true triple threat scorer.
When working with young wing players, I always tell them to become a shotmaker first. Have a skill that draws defenders to you, this way when they lunge out on a closeout to get to you now you can use that against them to drive in the paint. With Durant his ability to make shots opens up his drives. Then he can use his ability to put the ball on the floor and thats when his length and athletic ability come in.
Durant doesn’t just run around and try to finish everything at the rim. He’s a shotmaker first, driver second, and now he’s developing his ability to see the floor and also post up. As a young player you need to develop your skills from the ground floor up. Don’t practice circus moves with 8 spins and a eurostep finish. Take a page out of someone like Kevin Durant’s book and be simple with your game. Not many shots in this video were circus shots. He took what the defense gave him.
Great player to try to emulate.
