Kevin Durant Can't Bench 185

[quote]Airtruth wrote:
texasguy wrote:
jYsP wrote:
he definitely needs to get his strength up. of course the bench press isn’t the perfect measure for that, but i read an article about chris paul (who is 6’ 170 lbs or something) benching 225 for 6 reps easily. at his size that’s what makes him able to absorb contact and drive into the lane all day. durant can’t just shoot jump shots in the NBA

exactly. to get the rebounds others are mentioning, he’s definately going to have to build his size and upper body strength. it’s not like the ball will just bounce right to him. he’ll have to fight for it like everyone else, and if everyone else is bigger and stronger, he’ll just get pushed around.

shaq is good due to his size, karl malone was too, rodman was thinner but strong enough to push people around, any one successful in the paint is relatively large and strong.

None of them were running around shooting 3’s, getting steals, and guarding perimeter players. Rodman got rebounds because all he thought about was rebounds and he was quickest to the ball.

Chris paul is naturally 40lbs lighter than the average player in the NBA, but can’t run as much as Iverson, T.J. Ford or the other skinny guards, he needs to be able to bench 225.
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debates are great, but size and strength help any athlete. upper body strength is a necessity in the paint. durant will be pushed around like a short kid on a play ground.

he may put up some numbers, but they won’t reach his full potential until he puts on some size and improves his upper body strength.

[quote]YourXLNS wrote:
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

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.

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I agree with this. I assume you’re quoting me b/c you’re just talking to me.

[quote]YourXLNS wrote:
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

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.

[/quote]

ok, with kevin durant’s skills ceteris paribus, would more size and strength elevate his game?

Same thing happened with Josh Howard in Orlando - great raw talent, but people complained he wasn’t strong enough to play power forward.

Now, Howard is jacked. Having multimillions and plenty of time to train will fix up any problems Durant may have.

That’s if Durant has problems. Some more strength would be good, but I think scouts are more worried how good his game is - and there is little to complain about that.

Or, he can use his money to buy a nice laptop, log on to T-Nation, and just tell everyone his bench is north of 300 like everyone else does. ;>

Who knows, he just might have lousy genetics for pectoral development. I think we’ve all seen even big ass guys that we’d imaging could bench a house struggle under 350lbs for 2. I personally know guys who can do sets of 8 with 315 behind the neck but cant for the life of them get more than a couple reps at 315.

Then, there are the guys who do 475 bench for 3 reps, but lucky to get 225 for 3 behind the neck. Basketball players are skinny as fuck anyway, who expects them to rep 225 like the guys at the NFL combine? Nobody, I hope, otherwise they’d all be defensive tackles.