I just find this fascinating. I’m no shoe guy in any way. I own like four pairs and my basketball shoes are the same set that I wore as a freshman in high school. But for some reason, I just find the design of Kevin Durant’s shoes intriguing. I actually think I want a pair. (My wife begs me for them every day, but she needs kid’s sizes and alas, there are none.) I love how there is a story told and I love how connected he is with the model. This video highlights the features of the new KDII and some colorways. Though I’m not too psyched about the Laker colorway. WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY NIKE?
UPDATE: I can’t believe I missed this, but Clark Matthews makes a great point: “Anyone notice that at about the 1:25 mark, the designer pointed out something about the heal and said the feature meant ‘he won’t be popping out of his shoe.’ Tell that to Aron Afflalo.” After doing some hardcore investigative journalism, I believe Durant was wearing the KD1 when that play happened. Still humorous though.
Smart Thoughts makes a triumphant return, with a new logo! Big thanks to Colin for it.
Throughout the week some of you drop some brilliant or at least somewhat thoughtful comments and so this is a try at highlighting some of them. Disclaimer: It’s not that I necessarily agree with all of them, but they were interesting and for the most part, well put. Consider everything [sic’d].
Yeah, that Durant guy is alright. (justin): It’ll be tough to increase his scoring efficiency much more than it is currently. It’s probably possible that he’ll experience a few 50/40/90 type seasons a la Larry Bird, and with the increased free throw trips of this era, he could pull off some 62% TS seasons.. otherwise, there really isn’t much precendent for a wing player being that much better as a scorer than KD is right now. I think 50/40/90 is his peak as a scorer, and at his volume and ability to draw fouls, that’s up there in terms of historical significance. KD could score 32-35 points a game on those percentages with his kind of usage. Read more…
Empty the Bench looking at how teams are choosing defense over offense: “The 6-6 Switzerland product has started every OKC game next to Durant, Westbrook, and Green, averaging a lowly 6 points per. His perimeter D on twos and threes is the reason why he’s in the starting lineup. Sefolosha is athletic and intuitive, always in the right position and at the proper angle to make someone think twice about driving or pulling up for a jumper. His wingspan is immense, so he gets his hands all over the ball, registering 1.3 steals (top-25 in the NBA) and 0.7 blocks from the off-guard position. Not surprisingly, the Thunder’s Defensive Rating rocketed from 20th in the league a year ago to 6th currently.”
The AP with a nice story on KD: ”One by one, Kevin Durant has been taking the NBA’s biggest names and scoring his way right on past them. First Kobe. Then LeBron. Next up, Carmelo. With a tear that began just before Christmas, Durant has climbed into a virtual tie with Denver’s Carmelo Anthony for first place in the NBA scoring race. He’s had at least 25 points in each of his last 23 games – a feat none of the other superstars has ever accomplished and no one else has ever done at his age.” Read more…
The easy answer is: Dewayne White, Jr. who was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama twenty-three years ago. He attended Indiana University where he was a Freshman All-American and was the de facto star of a disappointing Hoosier era that ran out head coach Mike Davis and ushered in Kelvin Sampson. After his eligibility expired in 2008, White was selected by the Detroit Pistons with the 29th pick of the first round and promptly traded him to the Seattle SuperSonics.
By the time he signed his first professional contract the team was headed to Oklahoma City, and since then, pinning down what or who D.J. White is or will become is harder than figuring out who is Kaiser Soze.
Is he another example of Sam Presti mining gold at the end of the first round? Is he a guy who will cash three million dollars worth of salary without ever contributing anything of significance? Is he a budding offensive star or a garbage time hero? Is he injury prone? Does he have bad luck? Can he break into the rotation?
First off, happy birthday to my wonderful mother. Today, she turns [expletive deleted]. Hope it’s a great day!
Secondly, a small announcement: We are discontinuing the Zombie Sonics t-shirt. Thunder management had some issues with it and instead of making a big stink about it, we just thought it best to avoid any dust up and pull it down. But the other designs should be printed and re-stocked sometime very soon. So put those credit cards in a holster and get ready.
Chris Paul was named Western Conference player of the month for January. While Paul had great month, how does Durant not win this? 32 ppg, 8 rpg and 50-50-90 shooting? Come on! And then I see this from Hornets 24/7 after last night’s game: “I gotta say I was rather irritated by the Thunder announcers when they were complaining about how Chris Paul got the Western Conference Player of the month over Kevin Durant. They just couldn’t believe it. Paul went for 21 points, 12 assists, 5 rebounds, and 2.4 steals and his team went 12-5. Durant went for 32, 3, 8, 1.1 and his team went 8-7. I would think the last number in each of those lines may have swayed some people.” Oh. Well, I guess I disagree. Read more…
Kevin Durant is awesome. He’s a legit MVP candidate. He was fantastic once again against New Orleans with 30 points. We know this.
But this was Russell Westbrook’s game. He was huge on the offensive glass against Atlanta and he came up with an even bigger offensive board with 35 seconds left against the Hornets tonight. And the best part is, after sitting on the clock for 15 seconds, Westbrook finished off the extra possession he provided by knocking down a backbreaking jumper to put Oklahoma City up four with 15 seconds left. He flirted with a triple-double for the second straight night (26-8-10) and while KD will be the Thunder’s unquestioned MVP for the season, Westbrook was the MVP for the night.
And that’s what it takes to separate yourself from an average team with a superstar player, to a good team that actually may be able to compete with the best of the best. Instead of consistently relying on one guy to carry you, you can delegate to another playmaker to make it happen. Kevin Durant is going to be The Man 95 out of 100 times. But the fact that it’s looking like the Thunder can point to Westbrook and sometimes Jeff Green for that big play is more encouraging than anything else. Read more…
No rest for the Thunder. No time to be satisfied about a big win 24 hours ago. It’s up and out of Oklahoma City and on to the next one. And the next one happens to be pretty darn important. Read more…
Nike has “The Leap, 2.0″ for Kevin Durant. This time, it looks at KD’s connection to Barry Farms: ”Thing is, KD didn’t forget where his game was honed. Doesn’t hide from the clay courts that continue to shape his ever-expanding game. And actually loves coming home to strut his stuff against the best D.C.’s summer leagues have to offer. Maybe you caught him in action last summer at the Barry Farm’s Goodman League – a small neighborhood in Southeast Washington, D.C. Coined in honor of communal activist George Goodman, it’s a place where those who ball onward and upward can always return – especially if their expertise was born there.”
SportsNation votes on stuff about KD: “Kobe Bryant has the killer instinct. LeBron James has the NFL body. But if you were designing a player from scratch to play a game of one-on-one, wouldn’t the product look something like Kevin Durant? The Thunder star was at it again Tuesday, scoring 33 points in a win against the Hawks. It was his 22nd consecutive game with 25-plus point, the most since Allen Iverson did it 25 games in a row nine years ago.” Read more…
There’s just something about Jeff Green and big plays against Atlanta. Last time, he did it at the rim on Josh Smith. This time, he did it 23 feet away from the tin over Josh Smith. I guess Phil Connors isn’t the only guy living the same nightmare on Groundhog Day.
The Thunder grabbed a 13-point lead late in the second half, but Joe Johnson absolutely took the world over, scoring 10 straight points and keying a 15-4 Atlanta run. With 1:50 left, Oklahoma City was holding a 97-93 lead. Russell Westbrook penetrated, pump faked and kicked to Kevin Durant. Durant had an open look but he deferred to the more open Green. And Uncle Jeff paid it off with a loud 3 to essentially seal the deal for OKC. I think Brian Davis put it best: “YES YES YES YES YES.”
And while Green’s shot was the play of the night because it locked things up, it’s notable that we might not have even been there had Russell Westbrook not skied over Al Horford and Josh Smith for two monstrous offensive rebounds. The two boards led to four points for OKC and put Westbrook one rebound and one assists away from a triple-double (12 points, nine rebounds, nine assists). Read more…
Hold it right there. Before you skim this and just see whose names are bolded, watch this. (I actually like this one better, courtesy of a DT reader who was at the game.) Watch it and get ready for this game. I anticipate Josh Smith to come out foaming at the mouth and to try and block a shot into Loud City to make up for it. I guess what I’m saying is, this should be a fun game. Read more…
This is so cool. Wyn Douglas has put together an amazing transaction flow chart for every team. It’s an awesome visual way to see how each team was formed. Here’s the Thunder’s chart. Seeing “Kurt Thomas for unprotected first round pick” in graph form is still a beautiful thing. (via TrueHoop)
KD on the MVP chants: “Yeah I heard ‘em all right, I wanted to stand there longer so I could hear it more,” Durant said after Monday’s practice. “It was cool for the fans to think of me like that. To hear that MVP chant was pretty special.” Read more…
Uncle Jeff has been a bit of a polarizing player in the Thunder fan base. Is he the power forward of the future? Should he come off the bench? Should he be traded? Is he playing a role really well? Whatever you think there, right now, I don’t really care. Because this isn’t about that. More than anything, it’s to just simply look at Jeff Green’s home versus away splits. They’re kind of odd. Observe this spiffy table:
G
MIN
FG%
3P%
FT%
RPG
PPG
HOME
24
37.9
49.8
32.2
72.7
6.4
15.5
AWAY
23
35.3
38.1
26.2
82.1
6.0
12.9
Or if you don’t love the table, I’ve put together this very colorful chart that is highly scientific: Read more…
We all know Oklahoma City has had some offensive issues this season. OKC ranks 20th in offensive efficiency (105.9), which is an improvement from last year where OKC finished ranked 29th (102.9). So it’s gotten better. But at times, the Thunder’s offensive execution can be extremely elementary. To be honest, the entire offensive scheme isn’t complicated. I would say it hinges on three general principles: 1) Get Kevin Durant the ball in a position to score 2) Create off a drive and score/kick out to a shooter and 3) Get Kevin Durant the ball in a position to score.
But in more than one circumstance, bad execution has cost them late in the fourth quarter. Kevin Arnovitz detailed some of this in far better fashion than I could, but I wanted to dip my toe in the water and take a closer look.
So against Denver, I wanted to highlight five different possessions, all from the second quarter (thanks to reader Johnny for the grabs). Let’s take a peek. Read more…
Kevin Durant’s January numbers: 32.1 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 3.2 apg, 52 percent from the field, 53 percent from 3 (!), 90 percent from the line. So if the Bird Line is 50-40-90, Durant was 50-50-90 for January. Forget a 180 shooter, KD was a 195. Reader Dylan also tossed out, KD scored 481 points on 295 shots. That’s 1.63 points a shot. If LeBron’s thing is “Witness,” we need a Nike thing for KD. Watcher? Beholder? Testifier? Attestant? Someone rule on this.
KD sits down with Dean Blevins. KD says he’s not surprised one bit by the Thunder’s solid record. Also, Durant says while a scoring title would be nice and awards would be cool, he ultimately wants to be known as a champion. Atta boy. (And he reiterates AGAIN that he wants to be in Oklahoma City.) Read more…
