Kevin Durant's Summer

If you ignore all the shots he missed, he sure put together an impressive summer league performance:

In the real world a .333 field goal percentage isn't what you're looking for. Sadly, though, these games seem to have zero predictive value, so there's really no speculation worth having.

Comments

"If you ignore all the shots he missed, he sure put together an impressive summer league performance."

It would also aid your assessment of his 'impressive' performance to ignore the fact that he played 137 minutes and only captured 8 rebounds.

But I agree the summer league games have zero predictive value.

Posted by Flint | July 29, 2007 10:17 AM

Why can't you people just accept the fact that his one college season, playing against arguably the least talented opponents he's ever faced in important games, demonstrates that not only will he be greater than Jordan, he will probably cure cancer.

Posted by SomeCallMeTim | July 29, 2007 10:24 AM

4 games, 78 shots, 2 assists.

Posted by matthew c | July 29, 2007 10:51 AM

Is which team the refs bet on a better predictor?

Posted by AJ | July 29, 2007 10:53 AM

Yeah, that's a pretty unimpressive highlight package. A lot of step-back jumpers over shorter opponents, but the footwork doesn't look great, and though the spacing to receive a pass is often there, once he gets the ball he appears to have the typical rookie mentality of taking it into as many defenders as are in his way. I'm not surprised he didn't get any assists and that the shooting percentage was low. And there's nothing off the boards. The physical skills may be there, in other words, but it sure looks like he's got a lot to learn.

Posted by Antid Oto | July 29, 2007 12:34 PM

A few weeks ago, Kevin Durant played in a Team USA intra-squad scrimmage that was apparently very intense. This is how he did (from thepaintedarea.blogspot.com)

- Kevin Durant looked GREAT. Forget about those summer league numbers, tonight Durant went up against some of the best players in the world, and more than anything, he looked like he belonged. His numbers were 22 pts., 5 reb. 4 stl. on 9-14 FG and 2-5 3PT in 24 mins., but that doesn't even tell the whole story as he was getting his points every which way - threes, follows, a gorgeous spinning move over Battier - just like he did at Texas. Also had a nice strip of Michael Redd in the open floor. I had assumed that Durant would clearly be one of the cuts, but now I'm not so sure - he really looked like he deserved a spot based on tonight's performance.

Posted by Andrew | July 29, 2007 12:45 PM

Yeah, Durant was bad in summer league - in the game I saw him play, against the Knicks, he was completely taken out ofthe game by Renaldo Balkman. But in the USA game, he was pretty good, probably as a result of not trying to force things. But he's going to have a tough time doing that in SEA, since he is clearly going to be the focus of the offense, rather than just being a complementary player (like he was in the USA game).

Posted by Al | July 29, 2007 4:30 PM

In not a single one of those highlights did he cleanly beat his man. There was that one dunk early on where he juked his defender to get an open lane, but he took extra steps to throw it down.

Also, he just looks a little slow-footed. That, combined with his performance in those pre draft athleticism measurements make me suspect that he'll be somewhat less good than advertised. Of course, commentators (Bill Simmons, Chad Ford, Dvid Thorpe) were talking about him as a paradigm breaking player, a top five of all time.

Based on the summer league, he looks sort of like Carmelo Anthony might be his ceiling. Of course, as many have said, those numbers don't mean all that much performing well in team USA practice is a really good sign.

Posted by MrTimbo | July 29, 2007 7:10 PM