Kevin Durant Can't Bench 185

He can’t put it up once. This might be a concern for the draft as seen on sportscenter. Something else I found funny was one host on sportscenter also saying something like “I don’t think it’s a factor because he has functional strength…he can keep his balance…” and so forth. wtf

I heard about this…it’s kinda sad. But have you seen him play basketball? Pretty impressive.
If anything a team with a good S&C program could really help him out by getting him stronger.
I doubt this will affect his draft position. Basketball players aren’t exactly well known for their strength.

Just goes to show how insignificant the bench press is in athletic performance. I still don’t understand why they perform the bench press in combines, means absolutely nothing on the field.

This concerns me, not so much due to him not benching much, but because it’s an indicator that he hasn’t had any real strength training at all in his young career. He could have some serious strength imbalances (hopefully not) that could jump up and bite him in the future, much like Shaun Livingston.

So is the guy good at playing basketball?

[quote]MichaelJohnson wrote:
Just goes to show how insignificant the bench press is in athletic performance. I still don’t understand why they perform the bench press in combines, means absolutely nothing on the field.

[/quote]

I think too many people never grow out of that ninth grade “Oh you lift? Whats your bench??” mentality.

[quote]Doug Adams wrote:
This concerns me, not so much due to him not benching much, but because it’s an indicator that he hasn’t had any real strength training at all in his young career. He could have some serious strength imbalances (hopefully not) that could jump up and bite him in the future, much like Shaun Livingston.[/quote]

My guess is, like many other people out there, that he just needs to get strong all over, and that his bench is probably in line with the rest of his lifts. Just a hunch though.

[quote]MichaelJohnson wrote:
Just goes to show how insignificant the bench press is in athletic performance. I still don’t understand why they perform the bench press in combines, means absolutely nothing on the field.

[/quote]

Yeah, cause offensive linemen never extend their arms away from their chest with their elbows tucked…I mean Larry Allen doesn’t bench press 700 lbs or anything and isn’t going to the hall of fame…oh wait

Now bench pressing 225 lbs for 40 reps may be insignificant, but the bench press or some form of it is not.

I was impressed from the standpoint that he has been a spectacular basketball player up until this point, and though I take these combine numbers with a grain of salt, without a comprehensive weight training program.

The potential on the kid is spectacular given the training and development potential ahead for him. He averaged 25 points and over ten boards a game last season in a legit conference as a freshman. No matter what he benches, this guy is going to get paid.

[quote]allNatural wrote:
Something else I found funny was one host on sportscenter also saying something like “I don’t think it’s a factor because he has functional strength…he can keep his balance…” and so forth. wtf[/quote]

Functional strength may be a buzzword in some cases, but here it’s used as the strength aspects necessary to perform well in a specific endeavor. I don’t know what’s so funny.

I don’t know why some people here think professional athletes need the strength of strongmen to be successful in their sport.

I don’t think NBA scouts are going to lose any sleep over this. The guy is a phenomenal basketball player. the nba doesn’t give out trophys for benching. Its all about getting the ball to the rim and he’s proven he can do that against the best college players.

He’ll go no. 2 in the draft and his new team will assign him S&C coach who will help add some pounds to his lifts in no time flat. this is a complete non issue. Show me a GM willing to pass up drafting Durant because of his bench press and I’ll show you guy who will be out of a job the next day.

Overhead athletes are commonly told not to do barbell benching anyways. Or overhead pressing either.

But still, I agree with Doug that such a weak bench probably says something about Kevin Durant’s overall conditioning. And if that’s the case, then Durant is likely carrying some imbalances, from doing all hoops and no anti-hoops.

[quote]hockechamp14 wrote:
allNatural wrote:
Something else I found funny was one host on sportscenter also saying something like “I don’t think it’s a factor because he has functional strength…he can keep his balance…” and so forth. wtf

Functional strength may be a buzzword in some cases, but here it’s used as the strength aspects necessary to perform well in a specific endeavor. I don’t know what’s so funny.

I don’t know why some people here think professional athletes need the strength of strongmen to be successful in their sport.[/quote]

Better not le ‘Texas Guy’ see this post…

[quote]CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
So is the guy good at playing basketball?[/quote]

He shoots… He scores!

Some good points made so far, but his lack of strength shouldn’t be completely written off as un-important.

He isn’t a point guard, and basketball isn’t a non-contact sport. It’s very physical under the basket, and although his biggest skill is that of more of an outside shooter, if he expects to keep those rebound numbers up, he’ll need to put on some size and strength.

As some have said, he’ll have some time to do that, and in the long run his current bench press probably won’t make a difference, but it certainly isn’t helping his case either.

Sure, he’ll eventually get bigger and stronger, but with the type of money a #1 or #2 pick gets paid, a team expects immediate impact, not to have their lanky “star” get shoved around for 2-3 years before he develops.

[quote]hockechamp14 wrote:
allNatural wrote:
Something else I found funny was one host on sportscenter also saying something like “I don’t think it’s a factor because he has functional strength…he can keep his balance…” and so forth. wtf

Functional strength may be a buzzword in some cases, but here it’s used as the strength aspects necessary to perform well in a specific endeavor. I don’t know what’s so funny.

I don’t know why some people here think professional athletes need the strength of strongmen to be successful in their sport.[/quote]

What he said is what I found so funny, sorry you don’t see it, maybe you had to be there. And no,

I don’t think professional athletes need the strength of strongmen to be successful in their sport, lol, where did that come from? Do some people here actually think that? I do however think that not being able to bench 185 once is very weak for a professional athlete in a pretty physical sport.

[quote]Doug Adams wrote:
This concerns me, not so much due to him not benching much, but because it’s an indicator that he hasn’t had any real strength training at all in his young career. He could have some serious strength imbalances (hopefully not) that could jump up and bite him in the future, much like Shaun Livingston.[/quote]

I agree that all this indicates is that he hasn’t had and strength training.

Should this be of concern to the scouts? Only if they didn’t test him on anything else, and didn’t have videos of him busting all the 315lb bench pressers ass.

Bench pressing is alot more technique based then a person who has worked out all their life would think. If you have never gotten under one just learning how your first week I’ve seen some people go up 50lbs.

That being said, weight lifting is not necessary and you can achieve enough of the upperbody strength you need for basketball doing pushups, pull-ups and your shooting drills. He is 220lbs I’m sure he can do a pushup so he has enough strength to do 185.

I just wish all the people who suck but are spending their summers in the wieght room westsidethis/me that/de training for basketball could see Durants weight room stats.

[quote]Bauer97 wrote:
Some good points made so far, but his lack of strength shouldn’t be completely written off as un-important.

He isn’t a point guard, and basketball isn’t a non-contact sport. It’s very physical under the basket, and although his biggest skill is that of more of an outside shooter, if he expects to keep those rebound numbers up, he’ll need to put on some size and strength.

As some have said, he’ll have some time to do that, and in the long run his current bench press probably won’t make a difference, but it certainly isn’t helping his case either.

Sure, he’ll eventually get bigger and stronger, but with the type of money a #1 or #2 pick gets paid, a team expects immediate impact, not to have their lanky “star” get shoved around for 2-3 years before he develops.[/quote]

I completely agree with your post.

[quote]allNatural wrote:
He can’t put it up once. This might be a concern for the draft as seen on sportscenter. Something else I found funny was one host on sportscenter also saying something like “I don’t think it’s a factor because he has functional strength…he can keep his balance…” and so forth. wtf[/quote]

Kevin Durant a good ball player and oddly can’t bench 185…

The only people who won’t shut up about how S&C is the be-all-end-all factor to dominate sports is drum roll S&C coaches.

If I hear one more person bring up that bullshit argument about “all things being equal the stronger athlete would win” I’ll throw up because all things are never equal!

No one has the exact same knowledge of the game, experience and mental toughness, let alone skill set.

Success in the vast majority of sport is based on superior skills! If size and strength were the most important factors than every powerlifter/strongman/oly-lifter would dominate every sport.

But they don’t.