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Kevin Durant has sometimes had a difficult relationship with the media, not to mention Russell Westbrook, C.J. McCollum and other fans on the Internet for some time now. However, he has taken things to another level recently, claiming that "pure hatred" of members of the media is why he has not won any individual prize in the regular season.
Durant was appearing at the Sports Area radio station in the Bay Area 95.7 The Game when asked if he had a goal last season to be named the defensive player of the year. year of the league. He replied: "You know they're not going to give me anything.Even though it's on the fence, I have to be sharper than everyone else, so I can even have a shot at it." 39; eye ".
Asked why he thought this was the case, Durant said, "It's pure hatred for me, of course, and no appreciation of my actual skills for the game."
"But I understand, I understand where we're coming from," he continued. "I understand what we have here in this building that scares everyone."
The firepower of the Warriors, who have won the last two NBA titles – with Durant winning the MVP Finals – and three of the last four, before adding the DeMarcus Cousins star center this year, other NBA teams. However, it is less clear that Durant thinks that the 100 basketball journalists who vote for the league's official awards would be so terrified that they might be inclined to blame him.
This is hardly the first time Durant has criticized the media for its injustice. At a Team USA camp in July, he told reporters (via USA Today): "I know you're trying to drive me crazy and discredit me and rob me of my credibility. [you’re] Make. But I will always stay up. "
These comments came after a controversial exchange between Durant on Twitter and McCollum, the leader of the Trail Blazers and another player on the US team, as well as Jabs on Warnor, an NBA fan. 17 years. below LeBron James and his Golden State teammate Stephen Curry.
"I know you think I'm sensitive, but I'm just someone tired of holding [expletive] in, "said Durant at the time. If I have something to say, if I get mad because I say something and you catch feelings, I'm calling and I'm sensitive? "
In his comments this week at the radio station, Durant expressed his pride about how he "grew so much on the defensive side of last year," saying, "I think my whole game is now unlocked." He established a high career in blocks per game, played a solid defense on the ball against a variety of positions and was introduced by the mid-season as a leading contender for the defensive player of the year .
However, some of Durant's numbers dropped in the second half of the season and he finished ninth in the poll, well behind the winner, Rudy Gobert of Jazz, and even behind teammate Draymond Green, who won the honor in 2017 In Durant, playing with Green, but also with Curry, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala at Golden State, had a lot to do with his own contributions.
"Braces, that sort of thing has long gone for me, unless it's like the finals or something like that, where it's probably pretty," he told the station. "But the rewards of the regular season, I mean, I will never see that when it comes to that, especially playing here for the Warriors."
ESPN supported Durant's point of view, tweeting Thursday that since Durant joined the Warriors in 2016, he "has held his opponents at 38%, while no other player has been during this period, 1,500 field goals were attempted against them. "
Other metrics, however, tell a bit of a different story, at least as regards its effectiveness last season. For example, the defensive ranking of the Warriors (via NBA.com), which measures the points allowed by 100 possessions, was significantly better with him out of court (100.4) than with him (106.8).
Nevertheless, Durant's work was considered strong enough to secure two second place votes and a third place in the defensive vote of the year, announced in June. On the other hand, he failed to be part of the all-defensive teams, which may have reinforced the mentality to which he gave his voice in 2015, while it was still member of the Thunder and barely a year before being elected. MVP of the NBA.
"I think [the] The media has too much power to vote on this stuff, "he said at the time. Frankly, I do not think you really know a lot about it. . . . You are not in recognition reports, you are not in team meetings and cinema sessions to really break down each player's games. "
In a forerunner of upcoming commentary, Durant then told reporters, "You're not my friends, you're going to write what you want to write, you'll love us one day and we'll hate the next." C & # 39; is a part of it, so I just learned to deal with you all. "
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