The Warriors are awaiting the winner of the Rockets-Spurs series and during Wednesday’s practice Kevin Durant sat down with ESPN to talk about the 2017 NBA draft. The NBA draft combine started earlier this week and will conclude on Sunday. 10 years ago during his draft process KD had an infamous combine workout where he could not benchpress 185 pounds. That ultimately didn’t matter as KD was picked #2 overall, and has developed into one of the top ball players on the planet. The memories of the workout still sit with KD and he has a message for this year’s prospects, saying:
Stay your ass home, work out and get better on your own time…I remember it like it was yesterday. All the strength coaches were laughing at me and s—. They were giggling with each other that I couldn’t lift 185 pounds, and I was like, ‘All right, keep laughing. Keep laughing.’ It was a funny thing, because I was the only one that couldn’t lift it and I was struggling to lift it. I was embarrassed at that point, but I’m like, ‘Give me a basketball, please. Give me a ball.’
There is a lot of merit to what KD is saying here. Yes, it is important to have strength, quickness, and agility. But those traits need to be functional on a basketball court. It’s great if you can lift 200 lbs, but if you can’t figure out a way to hold your position on defense or create separation on offense, what does that strength matter?
KD does make a caveat that this advice is for the players that know they’ll be a first round pick. He says there could be merit for the players who are trying to get into the first round. But there is enough tape on all the top players and they will have individual workouts. He believes players should work on honing their skills by playing and practicing. Good advice from a former MVP, top 2 player and future Hall of Famer.