- KD came into the league already really really good.
- And while he has fine tuned his offensive moves he has not really improved in a few key departments to become a GOAT level player
- KD never really elevated his defense in the way that Lebron or Tatum have.
- KD never really elevated his passing.
- KD is not even a good 3 point shooter. Far more seasons below 36% than above and career 35%.
- His handle seems the exact same as it was on Day 1.
- KD practices Jumpers in the Club, but is that all he practices in practice?
Nice try sneaking in Tatum there.
In case you didn’t know, KD career 3 point percentage is 38.7 compared to Tatum’s 37.5.
Another fun fact, voters actually placed KD into their DPOY ballots before whereas Tatum never received even a third place vote.
He’s a much better passer/decision maker and defender now than he was in OKC.
Also better defender. There was a stretch he was really good and underrated at defense
you Celtics fans can’t really just enjoy your 1st championship since 2008 and 2nd championship since 1986?
What do you mean evolve? most players don’t evolve, they strengthen their strengths and work on their weaknesses, in which case KD has.
Defensively it’s just night and day.
True shooting is a rookie was 52%. 65% over the past 5 years.
His three-point rate has about doubled since he came into the NBA.
His rebound rate was just over 10% when he came in and has consistently been just under 20% since.
His assist rate was around 12 or 13% early on and is consistently between 25 and 30% since
His block rate has nearly doubled.
Like you say, he came into the NBA shooting under 29% from 3. He’s been over 40% the past 5 years and 39% for his career now (not 35%, are you sure you know who Kevin Durant is?)
No way you actually believe this?
I agree to an extent but that’s what the true superstars of this league are like. They already are amazing when they get into the league and most of the development comes from getting used to the speed and physicality of the game as well as learning to pick your spots better. KD was already a multi time scoring champion by his mid 20s and average over 30 in the finals against a prime lebron heatles team. Hard to get much better than that
He shot 29% from 3 on 2.6 attempts his rookie season. His shot improved substantially from there. So did his defense and passing. His handles used to be an issue, defenders would regularly poke the ball away. That’s become a non-issue now.
This is cap af. His entire game is more refined and smoother since he came in the league
That don’t mean he’s perfect, he has a few flaws of course but cmon now.
“KD never really elevated his defense in the way that LeBron or Tatum have”
My guy this is just not accurate, and tells me you either haven’t seen early footage of KD’s defense in Seattle/OkC, haven’t watched recent footage of his defense in Brooklyn/Phoenix, or just don’t understand defense period. The extent to which he has gone from “offense-first wing who is pushed around by most power forwards and viewed as a weak point in a scheme” to “versatile help defender who is Phoenix’s best defensive piece by quite a bit” is…obvious? Glaringly obvious? To anyone who knows or watches ball?
facts, and you didn’t even mention his GSW stint, where imo he peaked defensively. there were times when kd was arguably as important to their defense as draymond, crazy as it sounds
Some warriors fans were pushing the DPOY narrative when he had good defensive stats in 2017-2018 and while that was never really realistic, he had great counting stats, put energy into defense and got a shit ton of blocks by studying how the switch defense pushed opponents to shoot and then blew up a bunch of shot attempts.
Part of it was not having to carry as heavy an offensive load while in the warriors, but he took that extra energy and put it right back onto the court.
This is excellent analysis. You should tweet this to him.
OP doesn’t want that smoke
He’s a better passer than he was his first few years tbh. His defense is a lot improved compared to his early years as well. He’s also a better shooter than he used to be as well
Kd is a complete offensive player. Everything he does got better from when he first got in the league. People don’t remember this as much but when he first got into the league his handle didn’t allow him to break people down off the dribble as much as you would think. But as others have mentioned his passing/decision making went from average to very good for his position. He made the evolutions in his game melo didn’t really care to. Melo had the same ability and would flash it but kd became more consistent with it
He literally had a 55/40/90 season while averaging 27 two years ago. If that’s not the most elite scorer then no one is.
After this post, I think he is no longer in the top 250 best players.