In response to Kevin Durant’s comments, ESPN’s Henry Abbott issues a retort of his own, in an open letter to Mr. Durant, titled “Memo to a Young Baller.” And, I don’t know, I have great respect for Mr. Abbott, but this was incredibly condescending:
True Hoop Responds to Durant, We Respond to True Hoop
Here’s the deal: For two years, when you have been in NBA games, you have put up amazing numbers, but somehow your team has been better when you sat. When you have been out there, opponents have outscored your team pretty bad. When you sit, they don’t outscore your team as much. That’s what plus/minus is.
(The final score, by the way, is also plus/minus. If you play the entire game, and the team wins by twenty, you’re plus-20. It’s not one of those stats you want to ignore. Not when for two years it has been saying the same thing.)
It might not feel like it, but if I were you I’d want to know more about this, not less.
Think of it as someone letting you know you have something stuck in your teeth before you go on TV. Nobody wants to hear that, but anyone who cares about you would tell you anyway.
Gee, thanks Mr. Abbot! Not only did you expertly explain the origins of the plus-minus statistic to Kevin—which would have been well beyond his purview without your assistance—but you explained it to us, too! And while I appreciate much of the content that follows Abbot’s introduction, the tone of the piece was just so... paternalistic. More examples:
Remember when Team USA lost to Greece in the World Championships a few years ago? The Greek team realized that LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony had not mastered defending the pick-and-roll, and exploited it all night. You’re in good company.
I’m sure you’ll work at this as you have so many other aspects of your game, and I’m sure with age, maturity, savvy and an ever-improving collection of teammates the results will turn around. But I wouldn’t ignore this kind of stuff. The plus/minus numbers seem to be telling us that mastering the pick-and-roll, at both ends of the floor, is a key to winning.
Really, doctor? The plus-minus is what tells us mastering the pick-and-roll is a key to winning? Somehow I think Durant and OKC Head Coach Scotty Brooks might have figured that out independent of your analysis. These are all things that any educated basketball fan knows intuitively, and any basketball player will be taught by his coach. Again, Durant’s in the process of learning the game, and while he may struggle in certain areas, that doesn’t justify his comically bad plus-minus statistics, or anyone that cites those numbers in saying he may hurt his team.
In fact, what “The Durant Conundrum” proves, if not that we all have too much time on our hands as we wait for the season to start, is that those statistics just don’t work. They often only tell half the story. Yeah, Durant has some weaknesses, but the plus-minus badly exaggerates them, while obscuring what sets him apart. That’s a failure, and a waste of time.
I’d explain this in simpler terms, but I think most basketball fans understand it’s self-evident.
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