What exhausted Kevin Durant?
BY HENRY ABBOTT with JAROD HECTOR and DAVID THORPE  Kevin Durant didnt airball that Game 7 game-winner because he hasnt practiced enough, was too covered, or is scared of the moment. He airballed it because he was exhausted. Because he didnt have nearly enough rest. He didnt sit enough during games, and he played in more games per week than science suggests humans can handle without a big drop in performance and an elevation in injury risk. He could have rested any time he wanted, of course. The Nets used to have a coach who led the league in spreading around the ball and minutes. Opposing coaches said the Nets, a few years ago, ran their offense as well as any team in the league. A tremendous number of their young players emerged as promising, including Caris LeVert, Joe Harris, Jarrett Allen, and Spencer Dinwiddie. But from another perspective, Kenny Atkinson led the league in benching players. No one on that team averaged even 30 minutes. Atkinson had a particular vision and told players what to do and what not to do. '  Atkinson spent a year telling the Nets where to run and when to sit, and then he was fired. Reports speculated that he wasnt star-centric enough. Kevin Durant is in a peak phase of his career. Hes not just one of the best players of all time, hes also the de facto Nets CEO. As a playera job that is judged by his performancehes killing it. Its his performance as CEOa job that is judged by the performance of the companythat has been underwhelming. The way Durant plays (all the minutes and most of the shots) makes it hard to get much out of the rest of the roster. He seems to think the team will lose if he sits for just a few minutes. Of course the Nets had injuries. Every team does. But they werent ready to win without Kyrie Irving and a hobbled Harden. They didnt have a scheme that other people could run and star in. Bruce Brown, Alize Johnson, Landry Shamet, and Nicolas Claxton are all young players with promise. They werent playing exhausted in the playoffs, because they didnt play much. Johnson had games of 20 points and 21 rebounds, and 23 points and 15 rebounds. Well never knowhe didnt play. Kevin Durant CEO settled on having Kevin Durant player pretty much do everything. The Suns get the ball to people where they can use it. Often open. They beat you many ways, a lot of which involve Mikal Bridges or Deandre Ayton shooting some of the easiest shots in the game. The Suns have a system designed to work without Chris Paul. A whos who of Suns have blossomed. Ayton, Cameron Payne, Bridges, Devin Bookerit seems like the whole roster is blossoming. The Clippers made the conference finals after coach Tyronn Lue, adjusting to the absence of his injured star Kawhi Leonard, turned to Reggie Jackson (six playoff games with 20+ points) and Terance Mann (a stunning 39 points in eliminating the Jazz). Chris Paul hasnt even been in the building for a while, and the Suns have won eight games in a row in a Western Conference that is so elite that teams like LeBrons Lakers and Stephs Warriors didnt even qualify. Theres an art to getting people to do whats best for the group. On ABC, Rachel Nichols reports that Suns coach Monty Williams says: Im not calling you out, Im calling you up.  Running things is a chore. All kinds of high-achieversMichael Jordan, Doc Rivers, Stan Van Gundy, Steve Kerrhad the chance to run everything before deciding they prefer a more focused job. Its a treat to get to decide everything, but its also a treat to get to focus on what you do best. We talk about player empowerment and Im all for it. But we might find that in the long run, really delegating things like minutes distribution to somebody you trust will reduce airballs, and increase wins. Thank you for reading TrueHoop!