Kevin Durant's Team USA coaches and teammates want the young scorer to shoot the ball more. He's a scoring maching, with three scoring title to his cred and a 22-point performance that led the U.S. over France on Sunday. But if he had taken as many shots as the Americans wanted him to, there is no telling how many he would've put up.
Durant is making the adjustment playing with LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony and this level of superstars. He notes here that he knows all of these guys pretty well, but it's all about growing up and being in the NBA at this point.
Those older veterans have urged Durant to shoot the ball more (they also have more miles on them and would probably rather see Durant exert himself the most in these Olympics - it's his turn, right?).
Here's some quotes from Mike Krzyzewski:
"The main adjustment is to play with other alpha dogs. He was the guy for the '10 team, and everybody accepted him for that. Now he is with LeBron, Kobe, Carmelo, these guys push-just so that he doesn't hold back. The guys have been great with him, they want him to score. To me, it says a lot about our guys when they're telling him, ‘Shoot it.' You hear LeBron say, ‘Shoot it,' every time. Kobe, kicking him out to him, ‘Shoot it.' Carmelo also does it."
Read more on Team USA at this StoryStream and check out Welcome To Loud City for more on the Thunder.