The Blueprint for Kevin Durant to Win Back-to-Back MVPs
The rest of the NBA had a six-week head start to keep Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant from notching his second straight MVP award. Now, it's up to Durant to make up the ground he lost and put together his most compelling season to date.
Durant missed the first 17 games of the Thunder's season after having surgery to repair a Jones fracture in his foot. In his absence, players such as Anthony Davis, Stephen Curry, James Harden and LeBron James have rushed to the head of the line in the race for the league's greatest individual honor.
Davis has been absolutely dominant in his third NBA season. He's in the top nine in five major categories: scoring (third, 24.8 points per game), rebounding (ninth, 10.6 boards), field-goal percentage (seventh, 57.1 percent), steals (tied for fourth, 2.05 thefts) and blocked shots (first, 2.9 blocks).
Meanwhile, Curry has been the best player on the best team in basketball. He's averaging 23.1 points and 7.7 assists while shooting 48.8 percent from the field and 39.6 from three.
King James is off to another brilliant season (24.8 points, 7.7 assists, 5.5 rebounds) in his return with the Cleveland Cavaliers. As for Harden, his strong play (25.2 points, 6.6 assists, 6.3 rebounds) has kept the injury-riddled Houston Rockets within striking distance of the NBA's best record.
Durant will be creeping up on them soon enough. The reigning MVP made his season debut on Dec. 2, dropping 27 points in a 112-104 loss to Davis' New Orleans Pelicans. Since then, the rust has been evident. His 2014-15 numbers (22 points, 5.5 rebounds, four assists, 49.2 percent from the field, 31.6 from three) are down across the board from his career averages (27.4 points, 6.9 boards, 3.5 assists, 47.9 percent from the field, 37.6 percent from three).
While winning a second MVP isn't nearly as important as nabbing his first NBA championship, Durant could accomplish the former on his way to the latter in a few steps.
Stay Healthy
Durant has to basically be Iron Man to stay in the running for MVP and keep the Thunder afloat.
To ensure KD's safety, the Thunder have temporarily restricted the 26-year-old's playing time to around 30 minutes a night, helping him ease back to his elite form. Head coach Scott Brooks experimented with a different substitution plan Sunday during the team's 96-94 win over the Detroit Pistons to keep his star fresh without allowing him to collect rust, per Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman:
"Wanting to keep Durant at 30 minutes per game, he went with shorter bursts. He played Durant the first five minutes, then sat him for around four, then played him another five minutes, before resting him for another four. And when he was resting, for the first time, Durant rode a stationary bike behind the Thunder bench.
"
The strategy worked, as the Durantula put together his best game so far. He scored 28 points on 10-of-19 shooting, grabbed four boards and dished out four assists. The next test comes on Dec. 11, when the team starts its first back-to-back since Durant's return. Brooks has yet to decide if KD will play both nights.
"We haven't even talked about that," Brooks said. "I know we have to address that over the next couple of games because Thursday-Friday we have that."
The Thunder are wise to take the cautious approach with their star player. Durant is coming off the first major injury of his career, and it's going to take some time before he's back to his old self. It's clear he's still in the process of letting the game come to him.
"I just try to feel the game out. I'm not trying to worry about doing so much in so little time, I guess, and the last few games, I'm just going out there and playing, and whatever happens happens," Durant said after the Thunder's 114-101 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday per The Associated Press.
Get Oklahoma City to the Playoffs
One of the most important aspects of any player's MVP candidacy is leading the team to the postseason. Davis will be tasked with carrying the Pelicans to their first playoff berth since the 2010-11 season. James will be looking to end a four-year postseason drought in Cleveland and return the Cavs to respectability.
Meanwhile, Curry and Harden have their respective teams sitting among the West's elite.
Like Davis, Durant will need to dig his team out of an early hole to make the playoffs. The Thunder are 8-13 and three games behind the Phoenix Suns for the eighth seed in the West. With the conference's heavy hitters occupying the first seven slots, chances are Durant will be battling Davis for that final spot.
It has the elements to be the most interesting chase of the season. Davis' Pelicans have a shorter deficit to close, but Durant has the more talented team. Then, there are the guys whose teams are already in playoff contention.
With Curry leading the charge, the Warriors have been able to keep the rest of the league at arm's length. According to ESPN's Hollinger stats, he's fourth in PER in the league with a rating of 27.38. Those are two huge feathers in his cap.
Harden has kept the Rockets winning despite the absence of Dwight Howard and Terrence Jones. Long knocked for his inability to guard his position, The Beard leads the league in defensive win shares (1.5) and is sixth with a defensive rating of 97.7, per Basketball-Reference.com.
James is a four-time MVP who has turned the Cavs around from a team picking first in the draft the past two years to a potential title contender. That's pretty steep competition standing in Durant's way.
Durant will be hard-pressed to overtake any of these guys without a trip to the postseason. In years past, 46-49 wins has been the threshold to make the playoffs out West. The last time a team needed to win 50 games to nab the eighth seed was during the 2009-10 season.
The team that did it: the Oklahoma City Thunder.
With 61 games to go, OKC will need to go at least 42-19 the rest of the way to hit that mark for the fifth time in the last six years (it went 47-19 in the shortened 2011-12 season). Since Durant's return, the team has gone 3-1. Even with KD still getting adjusted, that's a step in the right direction.
Inevitably, it's going to come down to how these players and their teams finish. Curry deserves a ton of credit if he can keep the Warriors on top of a tough conference with a first-year head coach in Steve Kerr.
James, Davis and Harden will all be in the mix as well. For Durant to even get in the conversation, he has to turn the Thunder back into a contender.
Be More Dange-Russ Than Westbrook
While Durant will have to fend off stars like Curry and Davis, his biggest competition for MVP is on his own team. If the Thunder do get off the mat and into the playoffs, who would deserve the credit: Durant or Russell Westbrook?
Last year, Westbrook's presence didn't loom as large because the star point guard missed 36 games with knee troubles. He still managed to finish with a stat line of 21.8 points, 6.9 assists and 5.7 rebounds. He also shot 43.7 percent from the field as well as 31.8 percent from three.
As for Durant, he averaged 32 points, 7.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists while playing 81 games. He converted 50.3 percent of his attempts from the floor, including 39.1 percent from behind the arc, en route to winning his first MVP.
This time around, the two stars' comebacks came within a game of each other, and it has been Westbrook that has outplayed Durant so far.
| Player | Field-Goal Percentage | Three-Point Percentage | Points Per Game | Rebounds Per Game | Assists Per Game |
| Russell Westbrook | 47.8 | 36.8 | 24.3 | 5.3 | 6.6 |
| Kevin Durant | 49.2 | 31.6 | 22.0 | 5.5 | 4.0 |
For most teams with two stars, there's always a guy willing to take a back seat to his equally impressive teammate. Kevin Love has deferred the spotlight to LeBron James with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Dwight Howard lets James Harden take over when the Houston Rockets need a bucket.
While Durant has been "the man" in Oklahoma City for many years, it hasn't been without Westbrook doing his best alpha dog impressions. That's why you get moments like this one from the Sixers game, where Russ ignores KD en route to air-balling an ill-advised trey.
If Durant is to make his case for being the most valuable player in the league, he must first establish that he's the most valuable player on his own team. It starts with production. Statistically, Westbrook leads Durant in nearly every major offensive category except for rebounds and field-goal percentage.
Defensively, Westbrook is averaging 1.7 steals per game and holding opponents to 45.6 percent shooting (per 82games.com). Durant is averaging 0.5 steals per game, and opponents are shooting 45.9 percent against him.
It's up to Durant to turn the tables. Until he cements himself as the clear-cut alpha dog in OKC, any credit for the team's success will be split.
This has the potential to be the most interesting MVP race in recent memory. The absence of Kevin Durant has opened the door for guys like Anthony Davis and Stephen Curry to increase their profile, while James and Harden continue to impress.
Now, Durant is back, and for the first time in a while, he and the Oklahoma City Thunder are underdogs. The high drama of the league's second-best player trying to lead his team back to elite status in a deep Western Conference should culminate in some exciting basketball.
The road back to respectability makes this season more compelling than last year's MVP campaign.
However, if Durant and the Thunder are successful, the end result could very well be the same.
Note: All stats current as of Dec. 9 and are courtesy of NBA.com, unless otherwise noted.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
