The Most Versatile Scorer In NBA History

with each passing year Kevin Durant continues to add to one of the most consistent and complete careers the game of basketball has ever seen last season at age 35 he was sixth in the NBA at nearly 2800 minutes played and was named to his 11th all-nba team 14 years after he made his first all NBA team in 2010 when he became the youngest scoring champion ever averaging over 30 points a game at just age 21 he then went on to defend his scoring title not once but twice before snagging a fourth in his historic MVP

season where he made it very clear that we had never seen a score anything like this we'd seen all-time great Shooters like Ray Allen and Reggie Miller before we'd seen midrange assassins like Kobe Bryant and Dirk nitzki we'd seen explosive slashers like Michael Jordan and Dwayne Wade what we hadn't seen was someone Excel from all three levels in the way a young Kevin Durant did and up until that Jones fracture altered his athleticism a bit heading into the 2015 season I think it's safe to say that we were looking at the most versatile scorer in

NBA history Durant's true height has always been a mystery back then you'd hear 6'9 which we all knew was a lie and many will tell you that he's actually a legit 7f footer nowadays he's officially listed on the sun's roster as 611 which I think is pretty accurate and would make him as tall as a lot of team starting centers even back in the early 2010s what's even crazier is the sheer length though his 7'5 wingspan puts him in a rare class historically and some incredibly long legs enable him to cover virtually the entire court

and as little as just a few strides this absurd length when paired with the agility and burst of a young KD helped turn him into one of the game's most lethal transition scorers in many ways his open floor game reminds me of Giannis one of the biggest guys pushing the ball down the middle with speed and using his length to get to the rim with ease of course K never had the sheer power or strength of Giannis but I'm more focused on the explosiveness and how he'd use his strides to counter different defensive looks if

a Defender met him early to slow the push he could gather from outside the paint and still rely on those exaggerated steps to get to a layup or he could actually use his live dribble to create those openings often going to hesitations and crossovers to leave defenders in the dust the size and athletic tools when paired with his handle made him a true one-man fast break capable of taking on entire defenses and still finding ways to get to the rim in the rare event that the defense was able to get back and prevent him from

touching the paint he'd of course stop on a dime for a pull-up jumper I'm not just talking about from inside the ark either if he had enough room he'd pull up for the ever so controversial transition three and if he was away from the ball or trailing the play he was actively hunting for these types of shots that's because because without question KD is one of NBA history's most effective off to catch three-point Shooters it doesn't matter if he's above the break in either corner from any spot on the perimeter he's an imminent threat and

he'll make defenses pay for leaving him open the thing is an open shot for Durant isn't like an open shot for most Shooters as a result of his absurdly high release Point you'll have plays like this where Matt Barnes makes a perfect timed close out he just forgets to get a hand up on the near 7t sniper or how about this one where Anthony Tolliver a big forward does manage to get a hand up and it's like he's not even there we don't have catch and shoot numbers from before 2014 but since then he's been

incredibly efficient on these shots throughout the course of his career only falling below 38% once consistently Landing over 40 and peing at near nearly 50% in a season with the Warriors I know I said we don't have these numbers for his earlier years but what we do have is his overall three-point percentage and you'll notice that tends to correlate pretty well with how well he shot off the catch considering how efficient he was from deep in both 2012 and 2013 I think we can reasonably assume that his catch and shoot numbers were pretty good and

because of that ability to just shoot over the top of any closing outs he pretty much had unlimited access to these looks anytime he wanted so he'd hunt for them with his off ball movement sometimes it's as subtle as filling out space along the perimeter to find slight openings which he'd of course take advantage of but an underrated aspect of his outside shooting is how good he was on the Move meaning that the Thunder could Implement screening action with the intention of getting him a good look from three and when I say on the move

I mean to both his left and right unlocking so much flexibility within that OKC offense recently I've been playing prize picks a lot and I had no idea just how much it could enhance the experience of watching sports prize picks is the best place to get real money Sports Action join 5 million users and sign up today as you can now win up to 100 times your money with as little as four correct picks even better there's a a big time bonus going on sign up today and get $50 instantly when you play $5 you

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make an instant read off the catch I know I highlighted his shooting ability from deep but he did most of his work in the mid-range area where if he didn't have a shot right away he'd used one or two dribbles to hunt for a little bit more space and this is really tough to cover because when he flies off that screen not only does the defense have to worry about him rising up for a jumper but also him turning the corner on his way to the rim so the obvious counter is to not let him

receive that catch right well if a Defender ever tried to top lock the side of the screen Durant would just seal off the paint for an easy catch and finish he and Westbrook had incredible chemistry on these plays so he'd get a great deal of free points off of these backdoor lobs in general he was just a remarkable cutter the threat of him coming off that screen into open space when paired with his agility and how he' Juke his Defender again led to lots of easy buckets it was the same thing whenever they'd set up

handoffs his Defender trying to deny him the ball and with a simple fake he's exploding back door for points at The Rim then as soon as his Defender worries too much about the back door letting him receive the handoff while going under the screen well I'm sure we all know how that goes if he wasn't starting on the Baseline he was probably starting on the elbow to which they'd run him off of cross screens for some more of those quick hitting jumpers another interesting wrinkle they added though was using these cross screens as a decoy

instead of trying to free up for a jumper Durant's going to turn into the screener himself before slipping into open space where Westbrook finds him for a big time finish they actually used KD as a screener a lot more than I think people remember and he could really counter anything the defense threw at him as a roller if he caught the ball in the short roll and the help was late coming over he'd utilize his length with some of those sharp strides if he caught the ball in the short roll and the help was early

that created a mismatch to which he'd attack without wasting a fraction of a second and if that wasn't tough enough to defend he was an even bigger threat to pop out to the three-point line after screening again there wasn't much the defense could do to limit these opportunities even if help got there in time on the close out he'd rise right over the top with ease the key here is that because of his unique physical profile and ability to shoot the lights out of the ball there was absolutely no shortage of ways he could be

used as an off ball weapon and as a result the guy never stopped moving he was always filling out space running around screens slipping screens himself then after getting the ball his decisions were always instant even if he started with the ball after getting rid of it he'd either immediately cut or relocate to a different spot on the floor you can't lose the guy because he's a threat to score as long as he checked into the game and if you're thinking about helping and recovering think again because not only would he shoot over the top

of any close out he'd destroy them on drives to the basket sometimes though he'd attack a close out successfully only to run into a packed paint that's when the pull-up jumper took over this right here is probably the most notable and Infamous aspect of Kevin Durant's game for all of the off-ball wizard the freak mobility and fluidity at his size it's his of to dribble shooting that truly stands out above all I wouldn't say he was quite the mid-range scorer a decade ago that he is now because nobody is but he was still among the

best of the best back then hitting around 45% of these shots at Great volume the defense had to respect it if he came off a ball screen and saw a deep drop coverage that was like a lay up to him if he was working in isolation and not one but two Defenders smothered him well there's that absurdly high release point in my opinion he was undoubtedly at his best as an off the dribble shooter inside the ark but don't think he couldn't step out and bury the pull-up three again we don't have pull-up shooting numbers

before 2014 but that was his MVP year where he had to take more on ball responsibility and attack attempted considerably more unassisted threes than in any previous season of course times were different back then so instead of having a bunch of guys taking six seven eight pull-up threes a game Steph Curry led the NBA by a decent margin at five attempts Durant wasn't too far behind at about three but he was actually more efficient hitting just under 41% of these opportunities that shot is a total game Cher especially when it comes to attacking out of

the pick and roll because of that release point if his Defender goes under the screen he might as well just be handing him a quality look and the same goes for the positioning of the big if he's sitting back in a drop KD is going to take and make that shot with a great deal of consistency so more times than not bigs had to come up and meet him at the level of the screen and I mean at the level n is up near it but doesn't commit to the ball and gets a triple to

the eye the problem with bigs coming up to the level though is that when they jump out they're leaving themselves vulnerable to plays like this as KD happens to be a pretty explosive slasher I talked about the burst and Agility those really stand out when it comes to attacking slower footed players in space just like in transition he'll use his length to really exaggerate his handle whether that means a hesitation or a crossover or a combination of the two and once he gets the step there's no chance of recovering so it's imperative that he's met

with resistance before ever coming off the screen somebody has to be pre-positioned and ready to close that space then the point of attack Defender has to protect the opposite side because he's also a threat to reject the screen often times what you'll see him do is Spam those hesitations and Crosses over and over again until he finds an opening from there his length allows him to just eat up space even on a play like this where his Defender is expecting him to reject the screen and does a great job of staying in front he's able

to stop on a dime before redirecting into a new Lane I can't stress enough how absurd it is that he's able to move with the level of fluidity he does at that size we've seen freak athletes at 7 ft finding one with that much control and balance while still being explosive is a complete outlier though and when you pair that with the ball handling skills of a small guard you're left with someone who could pretty much get wherever he wanted as a result of being so tall and lengthy his handle was never the tightest and

he was somewhat susceptible to ball pressure but being able to cover so much ground is also what made him so deadly all he really needed was a nice hesitation that vicious cross over and great timing for when and where to make his move because he was so quick to process the defense and react that meant staying in front of him was more than a oneman task his go-to was this hanging left-hand hesitation if he had space to take that first step he'd explode on a drive left and what made this move so effective is that

he could also use it to get into one of those pull-up triples so it became a game of read and re act if he hesitated and his Defender dropped back on the drive he'd shoot right over the top of them but if his Defender bit on the pull-up threat and put a hand up he'd start his attack where the rest of the defense was at his Mercy Durant was never the highest volume driver on the planet but he Blended the perimeter shooting with interior scoring very well during his younger days whereas now he'll only get

to the rim for two maybe three attempts a game back in OKC he was typically closer to four or five which might not sound like a big difference but gives his scoring a much higher floor when you consider how good he was at converting in the 2014 season he made 77 a half% of his shots at The Rim third in the NBA behind just Brandon Wright and LeBron James for a much larger sample we could look at the first 5 years of the 201 10's decade and he still made a very impressive 73.3% good for

third behind those same two guys I feel like KD's not remembered much for his in-game dunking but if he had space to leap off of one foot he'd put anybody on a poster and I mean anybody Roy Hibert was arguably the game's best rim protector at the time and KD punched it on his head it was imperative that whoever was coming over to help wasn't late because if he had enough space to take off vertically he'd end up doing things like this help had to meet him early taking away that one foot leap but not

too early because then he'd go back to using his length to carve out a finishing angle from the floor or the two would work together on a play like this where he steps around the first helper before taking off to put a second one on a poster with that said these powerful finishes only accounted for a fraction of his interior scoring for Durant it was more about his buttery soft touch I talked about his stupidly long arms those gave him an unlimited amount of angles to sneak the ball around Rim protectors for some of the

purest finger rolls you'll ever see I mean seriously the audacity to even attempt something like this let alone kiss it off the glass with Precision is just unheard of so he was tough to stay in front of the way he paired the threat of his pull-up shooting with that burst agility and handle led to many great drives after beating his man he was even tougher to stop from scoring as he could get Above the Rim Go reverse adjust his shot to any angle with Elite touch in short he was one of the game's best interior

scorers but even on those plays where he started to drive yet wasn't quite able to create an angle to the rim he had all of the answers like I said earlier his go-to was that hanging leftand hesitation he could also throw that straight into a crossover and if his Defender thought Drive he'd pull up for a jumper of course he could do the same but reversed a right hand hesitation into a cross left before stepping back for a bit more space on the jumper the key here is that no matter how well the defense plays

his initial move because of his size he could always get a shot up over the top of them and as a result of being one of the best shooters ever it's not like he's forcing these looks or even settling these are efficient shots that lead to good team offense that's why he needed less space to operate than arguably any other all-time great scorer he'd go into the playoffs with multiple non-shooters on the floor a loaded paint and yet time and time again he found ways to produce this especially stood out whenever he faced up from

inside the ark he'd used jab steps to threaten the drive and all he needed was an inch of space to rise up for one of his mid-range layups on this one Parsons reacts to a jab right and that's all it takes for KD to essentially get a warm-up jumper and here's a real similar play except JR Smith overplays the jumper so KD uses that jab right as his first step to create an open dunk he could take that first step in either direction here's one where he Jabs right before driving left with the exact same

result and all of those same rules I talked about earlier still apply if the help is late good luck if he takes that first step and the paint is packed he's going to find quality offense over the top of his Defender turnaround jumpers were actually a very big part of his Arsenal which stood out whenever he decided to play out of the mid post he had a little bit of Dirk to his game often going to this right shoulder bump one-legged fallway jumper and sometimes he'd add one dribble to this move for a little bit

more separation what stood out most about his back to the basket scoring though is how comfortable he was turning over either shoulder for these fadeaways take this game against the Blazers for example their strategy was to send help from the middle of the floor to which he'd counter by spinning in the opposite direction to set up his jumper and it didn't matter matter what side he started on the double comes he turns Baseline and makes it look routine over and over again they tried this and they knew how he'd counter but it just didn't matter

to be honest though that's pretty much the story of a young Kevin Durant scoring Arsenal for a lot of all-time great scorers you can pinpoint one type of play that they mastered for guys like Shaq and Kareem it was all about post-ups for a guy like Steph it was all about screens whether that be out of pick and roll or flying around away from the ball Kobe and MJ had the triangle offense that featured lots of isolations and don't even get me started on what James Harden was doing in the late 2010s but I think

what stands out about Kevin Durant is the sheer versatility in how he'd get his points and how easily it came within the flow of his team's offense he'd get some points in transition maybe a three or two while spotting up some jumpers off of screens a couple back door Cuts some isolation buckets and by the time that final buzzer rolled around he probably had 30 on some of the best efficiency you'll ever see I can't stress enough how absurdly efficient this guy was and continues to be every year in 2012 is when he made that

big leap and in 2013 he had his most efficient season ever at more than 11% ahead of League average true shooting in 2014 he had his best overall scoring season where he was 9% ahead of average while leading the league at 32 points a game from there it's been smooth sailing of U efficient scoring every single year as he's made a name for himself as one of NBA History's Greatest scorers but when I think about which version of Durant was truly the best from purely a bucket getting perspective Ive my mind immediately goes to that

threeyear stretch he had right before his first foot injury the way he put together the open floor and halfcourt game the way he Blended the off-ball Brilliance with three level on bball scoring the athleticism and the shooting this was the most versatile scorer the game of basketball has ever seen if you enjoyed this breakdown make sure to drop a like subscribe and turn my post notifications on to be first on more content if you're interested in my more in-depth research make sure to check out my website and social media profiles you can find those links

in the description feel free to let me know down in the comments what you think of Durant as always I hope you all have a great day and I'll catch you guys in the next one