The Nets officially completed the signing and then trading of Durant today, and came to Brooklyn to start a new chapter in life. KD also made a very important decision.
He will wear No. 7 to represent the Nets in the NBA.
On his social media, Durant also wrote a pen and ink, explaining the meaning of this number to him.
“The 35th took me and my family out of Maryland and showed us the world; the 35th gave me the opportunity to meet people I never knew, to experience things I never thought I would experience, to learn things I never thought
Things that will be harvested. On the 35th, I joined the University of Texas, accompanied me to join the NBA in Seattle, and reaped the fetters of a lifetime in Oklahoma City. Finally, the 35th brought me to the Bay Area and won two
NBA Champion, I will always remember that number and the man behind it.”
The reason why Durant chose No. 35 is to commemorate his AAU coach Charles Craig, who has been coaching Durant since KD was eight years old.
Unfortunately, the coach was murdered at the age of 35, and No. 35 became Durant’s most cherished number.
Durant’s Transformation Template
Now, with the opening of a new chapter in his career, Durant chose to bury the precious memories of the past deeply in his heart, wearing No. 7 to go hand in hand with his friends and meet the challenges on the road to the championship in the future.
Of course, Durant’s changes are far more than that. He will no longer be young when he is over 30 years old, and he will come back from the painful Achilles tendon rupture.
There will be quite a few changes.
Playing in the NBA for 13 seasons, Durant has played 31,305 minutes in the regular season, ranking 15th among active players; playing 5,598 minutes in the playoffs, ranking fourth among active players.
More than ten years of load, devastating Achilles tendon injuries and the age of crossing the 30 threshold, even if Durant has extraordinary talent, he cannot smash the sickle of injury and age at the same time.
On the road to Durant’s transformation, the American media TheRinger provided us with a template for reference-Dirk Nowitzki.
Judging from Durant’s playing style and ability before injury, KD is obviously a Nowitzki full of athletic and ball-handling talents.
But with the aging of the body’s injuries, Durant’s only stable shooting ability will not betray him.
Throughout NBA history, only 10 players taller than 7 feet (2.13 meters) have averaged more than 20 points per game while playing for more than five seasons.
Among these 10 people, Durant and Nowitzki are the only two players who can keep the average number of three-point shots per game at more than two, which is enough to show the particularity of the two in NBA history
Similarity to style of play.
After crossing the threshold of 30 years old, Nowitzki can still maintain excellent efficiency on the offensive end, which is enough to prove that Durant, who returned from injury, can still use stability even if he loses his explosive power and running and jumping ability.
The shots come from scoring comfortably.
Like Nowitzki, relying on his height and long arms, Durant doesn’t need too many cumbersome dribbles to create enough shooting space.
Nowitzki, who has this set of health-preserving style of play, won the NBA championship trophy at the age of 32. At the age of 36, he can still be voted into the NBA All-Star Weekend by fans. At the age of 37, he can still hand over the average
With an answer sheet of 18.3 points, it was not until the age of 40 that he officially waved goodbye to the world’s highest level basketball league.
Without suffering other serious injuries, Durant is entirely possible to copy Nowitzki’s 10-year road.
He’s taken a step back but is still more complete than Dirk
In the 2010-11 season, only 0.7% of Nowitzki’s offenses were initiated through his own pick-and-roll ball, while 49.9% of his offenses were completed by post-up and fixed-point shooting.
On the other hand, Durant last season, with excellent movement and control, he is more inclined to use the speed and disguised speed that defenders in the same position do not have to single-handedly eat opponents. The proportion of offense with the ball is as high as 19%, and the occupancy rate of fixed-point shooting and post-up
The total is only 19.4%.
However, after suffering an Achilles tendon injury, Durant’s explosive power, disguised speed and ability to fight between moves will naturally decline significantly.
After his comeback, his post-back attack options will definitely increase.
Last season, Durant’s post-up efficiency surpassed 78% of NBA players, so we don’t need to worry about the smoothness of his transition.
Compared with Nowitzki, in addition to athletic ability, Durant’s passing and opportunities to feed his teammates are more prominent.
Last season, Durant averaged a career-high 5.9 assists per game with a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
In the best season of Nowitzki’s career, he averaged only 3.5 assists per game, and only one season in his career had an assist-to-turnover ratio of more than 2.0.
From the Thunder to the Warriors, a more mature system has also made Durant a more mature player. He knows that only by knowing how to make wedding dresses for his teammates can he maximize his abilities and threats.
As a result, the Nets can also completely hand over the offense to Durant, creating variables and opportunities through online singles.
Nets ready for KD change
With Nowitzki at the core, the Mavericks also made a lot of tactical compromises.
In the championship season, the Lone Ranger’s average number of rounds per game