Remember of the summer when ESPN's Henry Abbott wrote a little article about our beloved KD. The piece focused on Durant's +/- statistics, and pointed out that statistically the Thunder/Sonics were better with Durant off the court. Well, now Abbott is putting KD up with the league's best and asking for a truce.
Kevin Durant eats plus/minus for breakfast - TrueHoop Blog - ESPN
He was one of the very worst players in the league by that measure last season, and now he's second-best. Only Dirk Nowitzki rates better in Wayne Winston's adjusted plus/minus. As of today, Durant's Thunder are giving up 11.5 fewer points per hundred possessions when he's on the floor. And they're scoring 13.75 more. That's unbelievable. (Interestingly, the next best player in the NBA, according to this early-season measure, is Marc Gasol. Then LeBron James and Luol Deng. If those numbers seem a little funny ... it's early yet. Plus/minus means a lot more with bigger samples.)
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I have been asked if I regret what I wrote. Heck no! I wrote he had great potential, but playing D like that, and taking some of those shots, he had hurt his team in his first two years.
Problem solved.
Hats off to Durant for his hard work. It's a happy story. Take a bow, Kevin!
(And, if you have a free minute, could you tell your fans to stop sending all that hate mail?)
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