Durant to Suns

[1tinsoldier]

I agree that he can be insufferable at times but let's cut back on the nick names.

so while asking to "cut back on the nick names" you, as Super Moderator, endorsed the propagation of "insufferable" with a thumbs up to the bully's comments and they all had another good laugh at my expense.

all i did here was apply common sense to predicting outcomes of the Suns mistakes and suggest changes to avoid what just happened again in the playoffs. Yes, i occasionally got defensive and pushed back hard when the bullys pilled on.

sadly, this forum is insufferable, unsustainable, and unusable for many intelligent posters with divergent opinions who come and go, because a handful of nasty posters are allowed to dominate the pecking order and call the shots

 

[gmabel830]

so while asking to "cut back on the nick names" you, as Super Moderator, endorsed the propagation of "insufferable" with a thumbs up to the bully's comments and they all had another good laugh at my expense.

all i did here was apply common sense to predicting outcomes of the Suns mistakes and suggest changes to avoid what just happened again in the playoffs. Yes, i occasionally got defensive and pushed back hard when the bullys pilled on.

sadly, this forum is insufferable, unsustainable, and unusable for many intelligent posters with divergent opinions who come and go, because a handful of nasty posters are allowed to dominate the pecking order and call the shots

Been holding that one in a long time, huh champ?

 

[OLIVER13]

KD was just on a Twitter space arguing with people about not being top 5,
And RAGE QUIT

@LegendOfWinning

If anyone is interested.

 

[elindholm]

KD was just on a Twitter space arguing with people about not being top 5,
And RAGE QUIT
@LegendOfWinning

If anyone is interested.

In the league, right now? He's not.

 

[Phrazbit]

KD was just on a Twitter space arguing with people about not being top 5,
And RAGE QUIT
@LegendOfWinning

If anyone is interested.

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Durant is such a thin skinned weirdo...

 

[Mainstreet]

In the league, right now? He's not.

It's pretty close after Jokic, Giannis and Embiid.

 

[Proximo]

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Durant is such a thin skinned weirdo...

Really?

That's ridiculous in so many ways.
First you should never argue your own greatness in public, that's a bad look.
Second you shouldn't engage with nobody's on twitter as if their opinion matters.
Third getting angry that you can't change someone's mind on the spot when the name of the chat is KD is not top 5 show's a total lack of understanding of humans. Nobody is going to admit they are wrong on a show titled the exact opposite. They wouldn't do it to save face publicly, and they wouldn't do it because cognitive dissonance is an actual thing.
Forth it's 100% not worth it even if he somehow changed their mind, all it would do is prove KD is way too sensitive again and give his critics more evidence to call him weak.

 

[Mainstreet]

Really?

That's ridiculous in so many ways.
First you should never argue your own greatness in public, that's a bad look.
Second you shouldn't engage with nobody's on twitter as if their opinion matters.
Third getting angry that you can't change someone's mind on the spot when the name of the chat is KD is not top 5 show's a total lack of understanding of humans. Nobody is going to admit they are wrong on a show titled the exact opposite. They wouldn't do it to save face publicly, and they wouldn't do it because cognitive dissonance is an actual thing.
Forth it's 100% not worth it even if he somehow changed their mind, all it would do is prove KD is way too sensitive again and give his critics more evidence to call him weak.

Engaging in discussions on twitter using your own name is just asking for trouble. It's the wild west out there.

 

[Hoop Head]

Bad look for KD. He's not even #1 on this team. He's probably top 10 in the league but he needs to prove it rather than say it on Twitter. Send the dude a pic next year at this time of you holding the O'Brien trophy.

 

[Proximo]

I'm not gonna lie, I just started listening to this and it's nuts. Everybody on there is just saying he never goes to the rim anymore and he sucked in the playoffs. All he could say is I can still go to the rim whenever I want, and I just missed shots. He's trying to talk calm and they just get more and more hostile to him till he leaves.

This was the definition of a no win situation.

 

[Phrazbit]

I'm not gonna lie, I just started listening to this and it's nuts. Everybody on there is just saying he never goes to the rim anymore and he sucked in the playoffs. All he could say is I can still go to the rim whenever I want, and I just missed shots. He's trying to talk calm and they just get more and more hostile to him till he leaves.

This was the definition of a no win situation.

Shoulda used a burner account.

Devin Currant.

 

[Covert Rain]

This isn’t the first Twitter fight either. Dude needs to stay off social media.

 

[Carolinacacti]

In the league, right now? He's not.

Not sure KD is playing his best basketball ever but it’s close

 

[Yuma]

Not sure KD is playing his best basketball ever but it’s close

This is the KD I am used to watching. I have watched him wherever he's played. The years in Golden State the Splash Brothers always threw him the ball when they couldn't get open with 2-3 seconds left in the shot clock, and KD would bail them out on offense almost every time. He was spectacular in those years because of the way he was used. He had almost zero easy shots on GS but he kept right on making shots.

From watching him over the years, he is turning the ball over more now, but he is also more of a play maker now. Setting guys up for easy baskets is a new phase he's entering. He has done this in the past, but he seems to be more focused on this in PHX. Seems like he's doing it with more frequency with us.

 

[BirdGangThing]

I think they said this is the most points KD EVER scored in this amount of games to start a season

 

[95pro]

I think they said this is the most points KD EVER scored in this amount of games to start a season

Ton of minutes too

 

[1982baskets]

Durant's true value will be shown when we run him in small doses at the 5. Right now people only see an elite scorer that doesn't lead to enough wins by himself (2-7 in Durant only games, while 6-1 with Book/Durant, 1-3 with Beal/Durant). So Book is the MVP of the team at the moment. Doesn't mean the value of Durant should be negated.

Vogel was saying that they will eventually move Durant to the 5 as it's a must in the NBA. Once we have Beal back, I suspect we'll go smaller. Especially with the issues we've had to close games and lose leads in the 4th Q (Probably would be 12-4 if we closed decently). Vogel was saying Durant is one of those rare players where he has enough length and defensive ability to enable you to play small ball, but not small that you suffer on the boards and rim protection as much. You'll see this maybe play out in the playoffs or eventually. I really appreciate Nurk's (and Eubanks) efforts. Against elite offense and teams, their defensive coverages will be vastly different if Durant was at the 5 vs Nurk. This is when I think we may see the real overall value of a special talent like Durant.

I hated giving up the young core players and picks too, but in order to get a special talent like KD, you have to be willing to pay the price.

 

[BirdGangThing]

Durant's true value will be shown when we run him in small doses at the 5. Right now people only see an elite scorer that doesn't lead to enough wins by himself (2-7 in Durant only games, while 6-1 with Book/Durant, 1-3 with Beal/Durant). So Book is the MVP of the team at the moment. Doesn't mean the value of Durant should be negated.

Vogel was saying that they will eventually move Durant to the 5 as it's a must in the NBA. Once we have Beal back, I suspect we'll go smaller. Especially with the issues we've had to close games and lose leads in the 4th Q (Probably would be 12-4 if we closed decently). Vogel was saying Durant is one of those rare players where he has enough length and defensive ability to enable you to play small ball, but not small that you suffer on the boards and rim protection as much. You'll see this maybe play out in the playoffs or eventually. I really appreciate Nurk's (and Eubanks) efforts. Against elite offense and teams, their defensive coverages will be vastly different if Durant was at the 5 vs Nurk. This is when I think we may see the real overall value of a special talent like Durant.

I hated giving up the young core players and picks too, but in order to get a special talent like KD, you have to be willing to pay the price.

When did Vogel say we "would eventually move KD to the 5"? I don't remember that at all

 

[1982baskets]

When did Vogel say we "would eventually move KD to the 5"? I don't remember that at all

The Suns will be without Kevin Durant, who was initially listed as questionable but soon was downgraded to out ahead of tonight with right foot soreness. In his place takes Keita Bates-Diop, somebody Vogel has spoken highly about in the past:

"I like Keita’s (Bates-Drop) length and defensive versatility; he can help us on the boards. A lot of times, you go small and your small ball is too small, you have the shooting necessary and the switch ability necessary, but you don’t have the size to rebound or protect the rim and KD gives us a little bit of all of that. We haven’t done it a lot, so the offensive organization can be a little bit better.”

https://www.si.com/nba/suns/gameday/phoenix-suns-reveal-starters-memphis-grizzlies

A few of his interviews he has alluded to KD being ideal for small ball. My assumption is that we don't view the current lineups as small ball. Small ball would have to be KD at the 5, with some combination of Booker/Beal/KBD/Allen/Gordon/Little. Pretty sure KD played some 5 in his run with the Warriors.

 

[BirdGangThing]

The Suns will be without Kevin Durant, who was initially listed as questionable but soon was downgraded to out ahead of tonight with right foot soreness. In his place takes Keita Bates-Diop, somebody Vogel has spoken highly about in the past:

https://www.si.com/nba/suns/gameday/phoenix-suns-reveal-starters-memphis-grizzlies

A few of his interviews he has alluded to KD being ideal for small ball. My assumption is that we don't view the current lineups as small ball. Small ball would have to be KD at the 5, with some combination of Booker/Beal/KBD/Allen/Gordon/Little. Pretty sure KD played some 5 in his run with the Warriors.

KD's already been the tallest Sun on the court at times but I still haven't seen him play Center - all good tho amigo

 

[1982baskets]

KD's definitely been the tallest in some lineups, but I wouldn't call any lineup with Eubanks or Nurk "small ball". I don't think they will do it a ton, but definitely in today's league you need to have some lineups that are potent without a Center. So far our 2 main lineups have Centers. Both of whom are not particularly good at spacing the floor. Neither Nurk or Eubanks are seen as a 3 point threat by the defense.

Definitely think it is wise to develop a lineup with KD at the 5 you can rely on. He'd be your stretch 5 and someone that can get you some boards and use his length defensively at the rim.

 

[Ronin]

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[Ronin]

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[Hoop Head]

I was looking at some stats, KD is averaging his second most PPG ever here at 31.4 a game. This is the 3rd time he's cracked the 30+ mark and both others were in OKC. His MVP year in 2013-14 he averaged 32.0 while shooting 50.3 FG%, 39.1 3pt%, and 63.5 TS% with 7.4 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 2.0 stocks* a game.

This year he's 31.4 ppg, 53.3 FG%, 52.2 3pt%, and 65.7 TS% with 7.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 1.9 stocks* a game.


Another crazy stat, KD is shooting 53% from 3 as a Phoenix Sun during the regular season. He was a 40% shooter in Brooklyn, 38.4% in GS, and 38% in OKC. That doesn't make sense. I know, smaller sample size but that's crazy he's almost 13% above any other stretch.


*stocks are steals and blocks combined. I see that being used more and more when discussing modern NBA.

 

[Phrazbit]

I was looking at some stats, KD is averaging his second most PPG ever here at 31.4 a game. This is the 3rd time he's cracked the 30+ mark and both others were in OKC. His MVP year in 2013-14 he averaged 32.0 while shooting 50.3 FG%, 39.1 3pt%, and 63.5 TS% with 7.4 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 2.0 stocks* a game.

This year he's 31.4 ppg, 53.3 FG%, 52.2 3pt%, and 65.7 TS% with 7.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 1.9 stocks* a game.


Another crazy stat, KD is shooting 53% from 3 as a Phoenix Sun during the regular season. He was a 40% shooter in Brooklyn, 38.4% in GS, and 38% in OKC. That doesn't make sense. I know, smaller sample size but that's crazy he's almost 13% above any other stretch.


*stocks are steals and blocks combined. I see that being used more and more when discussing modern NBA.

Less fun fact... he's already missed more games this season than in the entirety of his MVP season.

I don't think anyone doubt's Durant's ability, but his durability is suspect.

If not for injury and the utterly gutless choice to sign with Golden State, Durant would be cruising towards a top 10 or top 5 career in the NBA.

But, maybe he has an age 35+ run of dominance in him that catapults him among the elite of the elite. I hope so anyway.