Darnell Mayberry wrote about the increase in Kevin Durant’s 3-point shooting, noting that KD has already attempted seven more 3s this season than all of last year. And there are still 10 games left.
Reader Dave looked into it a little deeper and sent in this note and chart:
“The chart shows a methodical decrease in 3-point shots over his first season when he was shooting 3′s in the sub-30% range. Then, as he worked to increase his percentage, you can clearly see a slow rise in his 3-point attempts (as a % of his overall shots from the field). He has plateaued at around 36% from three for his career…it will be interesting to see if his 3-point shots as a percentage of his field goal attempts continue to increase or not.”
@gr8ball83
lol
@Jax Raging Bile Duct
a few games ago he was getting in the post, that seemed to work pretty well
@f5alcon
I mean, to be fair, I don't think your opinion on women is false, haha
@james1
One thing we discovered in yesterday's comments is that KD is getting assisted on more of his FG right now than he ever has in his career. So someone is doing something to get KD looks at the rim besides himself.
@gr8ball83
lol, yeah, probably something you can do, i probably am not the right guy to find a solution for you though, considering i am just out of a relationship and think women are evil,lol.
@f5alcon
I gotta come up with some negotiating angle...
@gr8ball83
Ouch... I'm going to be having a similar talk with my fiancee. But, I think she will just opt to stay home or go out with the girls. But my ticket situation is still in flux.
@gr8ball83
will probably turn into you being the one in loud city and her having the better seats.
@Grolgar
Can't wait to have the "well, you can come to the games, but you have to sit in the upper level with someone else" talk with my fiancée... I'm sure she'll take that well.
gr8ball83 :@f5alconI dunno, I think its gonna be worse this year. It sucks cus I split season tickets, 20ish games apiece with someone, now we have to figure out how to split the playoffs, should be interesting…
I'm in the same boat. 4 of us split 2 seats...
I think the only reason his 3 pointers have increased is because that's the easiest way for him to get good looks. I still think our system needs to change to get KD moving more to get better looks closer to the basket. The post up at the 3 point line with everyone else on the otherside of the court just isn't a great play. Richard Hamilton movement against the bigger stronger defenders will free him up. It's harder for them to grab you if you are moving all the time. That also gets everyone else in position to be a threat (instead of having everyone standing on the other side of the court together). Run those bigger defenders to get better looks closer to the basket.
@f5alcon
I dunno, I think its gonna be worse this year. It sucks cus I split season tickets, 20ish games apiece with someone, now we have to figure out how to split the playoffs, should be interesting...
@kfmsooner
I just don't know why we saw it earlier in the season, only to have it disappear.
@gr8ball83
i think what happened was season ticket holders bought up the max they could last year and tickets were going for 10X face value online and so they wanted to stop the scalping of playoff tickets.
@f5alcon
I don't know what changed this year, but its way different than last year. We got 4 extra lower level ones last year, 1 section over from our regular ones. This year they said we could only get 2 extra tickets, and they'd be in Loud City.
@gr8ball83
i didnt try, i forgot to.
did anyone else with season tickets try to get extras for the playoffs? I'm not super happy with my results....
@Bryan
I think a low post game is KD's next evolution, as it was Jordan's. When KD can do that, he will be unstoppable. He would have a sweet turnaround jumper. He just has to be strong enought physically and mentally to handle it night in and night out.
@justin
Also, it helps to have that shot in your arsenal to keep defenders honest. Defenders have to consider you a "triple threat" to drive, dish or shoot. Unfortunately, defenders have finally figured out that if they crowd him (and keep their arms low), they can limit his shot while still making it difficult for him to drive. Most players can get right past you if you crowd. KD not so much. He's too long to but the ball on the floor from that far out.
He might actually be better off to ad a pick-n-roll to his game. If he can initiate a PnR and pay it off with regularity, players will have to back off of him a little.
And what happened to that post game we had all hoped for? He's so tall. Get him the ball down low against opposing SF's.
Totally ot, but the crowd in Athens is just nuts. Everyone in green, waving flags, on their feet chanting and jumping non-stop...
is the graph some kind of running average or just career % until that point?
The only problem I have with Durant and his 3PT shooting is that he takes too many off the dribble. He's fine on catch and shoot. But that 'dribble into a 26 foot three point attempt' thing should be cut down a bit. He'd have a higher 3PT percentage if he had more discretion with his shot selection out there, but sometimes that is all the defense will give him.
Fellas, SI has us at 3 in the new power rankings
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/britt_robson/03/29/power.rankings/index.html
He shot 42 % his soph year, and shot over 50% during Jan of last year. He shot 54%% also in the worlds - some people argue that it is the shorter 3pt line, but one writer said he toom ost of his threes 3-6 behind it. I think he will continue to improve his shot. Especially now that he has better screeners. I think next year he goes over 37% nad will hover around 40% for the next 6-8 years
KD is a great scorer. You live with it when he misses shots. Kobe Bryant has won 5 championships...
Kevin knows, and everybody else knows, that he can get into that "zone". Like he did against Portland earlier this season when he hit 4 threes in a row.
Unfortunately, KD can waste a lot of possessions trying to get into that "zone". At some point, you have to say "hey, I just don't have it tonight". And then try other things. But shooters always have that mentality that if they can just hit that groove...
I think KD's mentality about shooting jumpers is: if I miss, keep on shooting... the shot will come. This particularly seems to be the case with 3-pointers. He's trying to will himself back to form.
I know that a lot of shooters have this idea. And it may be valid, to a degree. Nevertheless, at some point in a game, Kevin has just got to concede that his shot isn't going, and use drives to the rim instead.
He was much better about this last season. Maybe his ankle (or other factors) really is inhibiting him.