Kevin Durant's Semi-Shooting Slump and What It Will Take To Fix It Fast
A funny thing is happening right now to Oklahoma City Thunder superstar forward Kevin Durant. He is leading the league in scoring at 27.3 points per game, despite having one of the lowest shooting percentages from the field (.419).
What does Kevin Durant have to do to shoot a better percentage and continue to lead the league in scoring? The answer is simple. He needs to slow down on his shot release and move closer to the basket.
After watching some of Durant's games this season, it doesn't take a Rhodes Scholar or a basketball genius to figure out that he is taking the majority of his shots from way too far out.
Good shooters get into shooting slumps sometimes and this is not the last one that Kevin Durant will ever encounter, but he needs to take shots a little closer to the basket so that he can get the maximum results from the 6'9" height advantage that he enjoys over most opponents out on the perimeter.
As it has been playing out, the farther he shoots from the basket, the lesser his height is a factor in scoring over that opponent.
In several of the games this year, Durant also seemed to be rushing his shot. Why? Everyone knows that he is a prolific scorer and when he's hot, he can consistently knock down shots that hit nothing but the bottom of the net. And since he's 6'9", he shouldn't be worrying about anyone being able to block his shot.
But in order to get his shooting percentage back up, it's obvious that he must slow down and get the shots that he's most comfortable with shooting.
Durant used his rip move to perfection last year, but we haven't seen him using it too much this year. This could be because players and coaches around the league have watched tape and they now know how to counter his rip move this season. But this is no problem because Kevin Durant still has other weapons in his arsenal.
Great shooters in the past like Mark Price and Reggie Miller, or great shooters in the present like Ray Allen and Dirk Nowitzki, have all been through shooting slumps.
The best part about a shooting slump is that it brings the player down to earth, and lets him know that in order to get back up to the shooting percentage that he once enjoyed, he might have to temporarily or even permanently change a few things about his game.
It also forces that player to work on perfecting other parts of his game and will also allow him to help other members of the team if and when they go through a similar shooting slump.
That is exactly what Kevin Durant is doing. He currently leads the league in free-throw shooting percentage at 91.5 percent and is among the league leaders in minutes played at a little over 40 minutes per game.
His 37.0 average combining points, rebounds, and assists, puts him at number six in the league. So he is doing other things to make sure that his team continues to win.
So the current shooting slump that he's going through is really not all that bad. It came at a time when Russell Westbrook has been playing some of the best basketball of his young career. So for Oklahoma City Thunder fans, Durant's shooting slump could not have come at a better time.
Great players find other ways to help their team win and Kevin Durant is undoubtedly one of the best players in the league. This explains why he can go out and shoot a dismal 7 of 22 from the field against a great team like the New Orleans Hornets, still score 26 points, just one shy of his season average, and lead his team to the victory.
What's really ironic is how Kevin Durant, even in a shooting slump, can still lead the league in scoring when everyone knows that he is struggling to get the shots that he really wants. Nevertheless, he is still a major reason why the Oklahoma City Thunder only trail the Utah Jazz by only 1.5 games, and remain in second place in the Northwest Division.
There have been all sorts of rituals and tricks of the trade that great shooters in the past used to get out of a shooting slump. I have heard of players taking drastic measures like going back to talk to their high school coach, not reading articles like this, sleeping with a basketball, and even going through hypnosis.
But we all know the best thing for a great shooter like Kevin Durant to do to get out of a shooting slump, is to just keep shooting. Sooner or later his percentage will start to go back up and he will find his touch again.
There used to be an enormous amount of pressure on Kevin Durant to go out and score 27-30 points per game, but now that Russell Westbrook has stepped-up his scoring, Durant can be a little more selective in choosing which shots to take.
When Kevin Durant realizes this and starts to do it, watch how his shooting percentage will get back up to the level that we are all accustomed to.
So KD, if you are reading this, keep shooting, get a little closer, remember to get the shot that you want, and as long as your team is winning, everything else will take care of itself.
