Kevin Durant will have to tweak his game some to effectively integrate into his new habitat in Golden State, and part of that may likely involve more consistent time at the power forward position.
In an interview with Monte Pool of CSN Bay Area on Monday, Kerr said that Durant will get significant burn at the 4 next season.
“He’s a really good rim protector, in a non-traditional way,” Kerr said of the seven-time All-Star. “When he played the ‘four’ against us in the playoffs, he was brilliant. He blocked some shots and he scored a bunch of times. So he’ll play a lot of ‘four’ for us, for sure.”
To this point of his NBA journey, Durant has made his living as an elite scorer and a lengthy defender at the small forward position. But he found notable success last postseason by sliding up a spot to power forward, opening the door to a number of scrumptious small-ball lineups for the Thunder by placing a heavier focus on the defensive end of the floor, as Kerr alluded to.
Listed at 6-foot-9 (but really more like 6-foot-11) with a near 7-foot-5 wingspan, Durant has more than enough size to be a frequent flyer at the 4. In fact, he’s already played approximately 16 percent of his total career minutes at power forward, per Basketball Reference.
On a Warriors team that constructed a killer identity around versatility at every position, both in terms of shooting as well as the ability to switch defensively, it seems like the logical transition to make for Durant, this time on a more regular basis. Though the former MVP is still expected to start at small forward, he will essentially take over Harrison Barnes’ role in the fabled “Death Lineup” and there will hope to finally put an offseason where he has faced constant, deafening criticism behind him. For a generationally great Golden State squad to add a stretch-4 who can defend all five positions and score from virtually anywhere on the floor is just stupidly unfair.
H/T theScore
