Eliav GabayThe first time Suns fans saw Kevin Durant at Footprint Center for his introductory press conference, it was an absolute madhouse of excitement.
Phoenix faithful will finally get to watch him operate with their own eyes on Wednesday evening.
“The more people see me the more comfortable they’ll feel around me,” Durant said. “The more things will go back to normal…The fans, I want them to understand my game and what I bring to the team…I’m looking forward to going out there and playing as hard as I can for them tomorrow night.”
Watching practice, if you didn’t know Durant was the newest member of the Suns, you’d have no idea.
Durant, Devin Booker, Chris Paul, and Cam Payne were working with assistant coach Jarrett Jack during the portion of practice that was open to media – what you saw are guys who are working hard but having a good time.
“My teammates have been great, coaching staff been great,” Durant said. “Talking me through everything…Just trying to get the terminology down so I can communicate with my teammates and we can go from there, but I think everything is moving smooth.”
Discussing the X’s and O’s, poking fun at each other, and in other words: building chemistry.
“He’s a basketball nut,” Suns head coach Monty Williams said. “He studies what we do…A lot of the defenses he’s been in, we try to do the same thing. He was with Ron Adams in OKC and Golden State, so a lot of what we do is based off of that.”
It helps when your running mate is one of the best guards in the league.
Since Durant’s arrival, Phoenix is 3-0 and Booker has averaged 36 points per game on 56% shooting (50% from three) to go along with almost eight assists and about five boards per contest.
Good enough to earn him Wester Conference Player of the Week.
“Once you prepare the right way and you know your role, the game’s pretty easy,” Durant said. “The game’s easy for Book, so he makes the game easy for all his teammates as well. He’s a hard worker and that’s what we need from the leaders of our team.”
As good as Phoenix has been since the addition of Durant, Williams is looking at the big picture.
“We still have a ways to go as far as making the right coverage adjustments quick,” Williams said. “We’re not there yet. Offensively, because of the shot-making, it probably looks better than it really is. You’re always trying to tweak it to get it to a place where it’s more efficient.”
Durant will make his Suns home debut against his old team in the OKC Thunder, tomorrow at 7:00pm.
