Kevin Durant: 'Who the F--k Wants to Look at Graphs While Having a Hoop Convo?'

Kyle Newport @@KyleNewportFeatured ColumnistOctober 15, 2019

BROOKLYN, NY - SEPTEMBER 27: A behind the scenes photo of Kevin Durant #7 of the Brooklyn Nets posing for a portrait at Media Day on September 27, 2019 at HSS Training Center in Brooklyn, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Jeyhoun Allebaugh/NBAE via Getty Images)

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Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant has no interest in letting advanced analytics bog down a conversation about hoops.

On Tuesday, Matt Moore of the Action Network decided to start a conversation about shot efficiency:

Hardwood Paroxysm @HPbasketball
If you are shooting 50 percent on 2’s, even with the eFG drain, then OK, fine. Getting 1.0 points per possession is objectively good. When you dip is when it starts to be counterproductive.

Durant took notice and gave his thoughts:

Kevin Durant @KDTrey5
@HPbasketball Sometimes it’s just the open shot. Why pass up an wide open look to shoot a semi contested shot?

And away they went:

Kevin Durant @KDTrey5
@HPbasketball It’s not about me, I see dudes passing up open shots in the mid range, like wide open, to force passes to the 3 point line or force up bad finishes at the rim.

Kevin Durant @KDTrey5
@HPbasketball Them game is going towards 3s and lays only so why would anyone work on that shot? If it wasn’t forbidden then players would work on it and they would develop that shot.

Kevin Durant @KDTrey5
@HPbasketball U gotta be confident to make any shot, but whatever u work on the most is what you’ll be best at

Eventually, Moore decided to try to make his case by using a graph to explain the numbers:

Hardwood Paroxysm @HPbasketball
@KDTrey5 So there’s this data point, and this isn’t some complicated metric, but it shows how players have shot mid-range over time. Even when they took more mid-range shots, they shot basically the same percentage. https://t.co/NLuWf5aUJC It just hasn’t really changed.

However, Durant wasn't having that (warning: tweet contains profanity):

Kevin Durant @KDTrey5
@HPbasketball https://t.co/sgAOKubVTO

Kevin Durant @KDTrey5
@SplashMyers @HPbasketball Who the fuck wants to look at graphs while having a hoop convo?

There's a time and place for advanced numbers, and this was apparently not one of them.