At first, I thought it was just a joke.
David Richard/USA TODAY Sports
We’ve all seen and heard Metta World Peace, formerly known as Ron Artest, make crazy comments in the past. So to hear this, I’m still not taking him seriously and it’s taken me a day to wait to make sure it was serious. It seems like it is.
World Peace, who most recently played for the Knicks this season was on the “Max & Marcellus Show” on ESPN LA 710 radio Monday, just talking basketball and his options for the near and distant future.
One thing that everyone has their shaking is when World Peace talks about Los Angeles Lakers’ rookie Ryan Kelly’s potential. Here it is:
“He’s stronger than Kevin Durant was when he came in [the league] and can do basically the same things, but he has to start [training] now.“
Yes, he just compared him to THAT Kevin Durant.
Richard Mackson/USA TODAY Sports
I’mmmmm not so sure I see the signs World Peace is talking about, but hey, I’ve never played in the NBA so he must know what he’s talking about. If by “stronger” he literally meant just strength, I can see that. Durant was a toothpick. He still kinda is.
As far as “basically the same things”, I’m still searching. Let’s compare the numbers for Kelly and Durant for their rookie seasons:
- Durant: 20.3 ppg, 4.4 reb/game, 2.4 ast/game and he played and started in 80 games.
- Kelly: 7.7 ppg, 3.4 reb/game, 1/3 ast/game and has played in 46 games, with 17 starts.
Okay, so the rebounds and assists are not far apart, especially with the limited minutes Kelly plays. But I really don’t see that points per game tally reaching Durant levels.
World Peace was right, if Kelly wants to be like Durant, he’s going to have to start training now to pull off crossovers like this one here that Durant pulls on Darrell Arthur, as seen on the Bleacher Report.
Ouch.
