Will Durant be a top SF?

[Reality]

Finally got a chance to see Kevin Durant play vs Kansas in Conf Champ.
1st half he nailed 5 three pointers and 25 points and Texas would have rolled had he not turned his ankle.
Granted it was vs college defenders.

I think he makes an immediate impact, and within three years or less this guy can and will be in the top 5 of SFs.
Altho 6'9" vs 7'0" way more athletic then Dork Novitski is now.

Qualifyers?
1.  Got to be the right team and right coach.
1a.  Got to stay healthy.

What will you trade for him?

[Rolando Blackman]

No.

[Reality]

Ro,
saw him for the 2nd time vs that same Kansas.
Team lead by 22 in the 1st half.
Led by 4 with 60 seconds to go.
Lost game.
Durant 13-30 and not nearly as impressive as vs Kansas I.

I'll stick with good coach and Durant will be good but will take Greg Oden 10Xs over Durant.

[jn]

Durant is only 18 years old.  By the time he is 23 he will have his All Star spot locked for the next decade. Durant or Oden, there is no wrong pick. 

[WayOutWest]

Durant is only 18 years old.  By the time he is 23 he will have his All Star spot locked for the next decade. Durant or Oden, there is no wrong pick. 

I can't see a GM who picks Durant over Oden keeping his job for very long.  Not that it would be a bad pick but because of all the hype around Oden.  He looks very good, he's already better than Bynum and is more on the path of Howard and Amare.  I don't know about him being the next great center of his generation ala Chamberline, Kareem and Shaq.

[Lurker]

IMO Durant is the more NBA ready player...too bad his college coach is such an idiot.  Oden has the better upside potential but Durant will contribute more in his first year.

[Reality]

Factor to remember with Oden is his right wrist is still recovering from injury.
After fully healed should open up his O more.
Pumping in FTs at 80% left handed.
Wonder how the Big Aristotle views that.

Durant, he does nail NBA 3 pters now.
Good reminder that he is only 18.

[jn]

Also, Oden plays on a team with more offensive minded players who take scoring chances.

Agreed that Oden will go first and there's nothing wrong with that.   I'm just saying whoever ends up with Durant shouldn't be disappointed. 

Lurker I'm curious to hear more about what you think of Barnes.  I remember him from his coaching stint at Clemson.  I don't like him because those teams tended to cross the line from physical into thuggishness. 

[ziggy]

Also, Oden plays on a team with more offensive minded players who take scoring chances.

Agreed that Oden will go first and there's nothing wrong with that.   I'm just saying whoever ends up with Durant shouldn't be disappointed. 

Lurker I'm curious to hear more about what you think of Barnes.  I remember him from his coaching stint at Clemson.  I don't like him because those teams tended to cross the line from physical into thuggishness. 

This is a repeat of 1984, and the choice between Hakeen and MJ.  The conventional wisdom is to take Oden, but if you get Durant then life is still grand.  Since we have a chance to pick #2 (just like 1984), I am sure we will take Spencer Hawes, or Al Horford instead .  Of course if we get #3 and end up with Brendan Wright I would be happy as well.

Now if we could get Comcast to fire Billy King, and hire WayOutWest as the new GM, and then we could make that Darius Miles for Andre Iguodala deal, and then life would really be great.

[JoMal]

There comes a moment in every young NBA'ers life when he realyzes that he can play basketball at that level - or that he never will. My guess is that Durant will be one of the formers, and that the moment will hit him when he turns 23.

[Lurker]

Lurker I'm curious to hear more about what you think of Barnes.  I remember him from his coaching stint at Clemson.  I don't like him because those teams tended to cross the line from physical into thuggishness. 

It is best described as his lack of implementing team play.  There are times when Durant will go almost an entire half with no plays ran for him.  Defense seems to be defined as get the ball back and upcourt as quickly as possible.  There is no accountability.

Think about this way...if you had one of the more dominant players in recent history wouldn't you ride him as long and as far as he takes you? 

[jn]

Thanks Lurker.  I don't know if you read The Sports Guy but he has been harping on this very topic a lot lately.  Augustin is a very talented guy as well but I agree with TSG that Barnes needs to rein him in a bit and get the ball moving more. 

[Lurker]

jn...here's a good article on Barnes that says what I think only much better.   

Buck Harvey: Random acts of greatness? Barnes' flaw

Web Posted: 03/11/2007 12:20 AM CST


San Antonio Express-News

OKLAHOMA CITY — Kevin Durant must be coming back to school next season.
Rick Barnes uses Durant, after all, as if he will be around forever.

Barnes uses Durant without a specific plan. Barnes runs what is best described as a random motion offense, meaning the basketball can end up anywhere given the whim of the Longhorn with the dribble. Sometimes that means Durant has a flurry of shots and a 20-point half, and sometimes Durant is uninvolved on the other side of the floor when it counts the most.

Durant was similarly unnoticed Saturday, watching toward the end of a tie game against Oklahoma State, when one teammate missed and another tipped out the rebound.

The basketball randomly went to Durant, and he randomly won the game.

His 3-pointer means Texas will play Kansas in the Big 12 title game, and today has other significance. This is the last game this season in which Barnes is sure he will coach Durant another day.

The idea is being floated that Durant could return to Austin next season. It's true family members are divided on whether he should go pro, and it's true Durant and D.J. Augustin are close. "Two peas in a pod," is how Barnes has described them.

But these possibilities were tossed around about LaMarcus Aldridge after last season, and those on the Texas staff then thought there was a 50-50 chance he would return.

Aldridge even said he could see himself being another Tim Duncan, staying all four years.

"As far as I know," he said after his last game, "I'm coming back."

His academic career proved to be closer to Jackie Butler's than Duncan's, but no one blames Aldridge. Seemingly everyone goes pro in this era.

The only difference between Durant and the others is that his draft status is, well, like Duncan's.

Durant could go first in any of the next four drafts. Players such as Aldridge need to weigh their stock and their lottery competition and go at the right time.

Durant is ready now, and these last two games show that. He followed his second-half comeback against Baylor on Friday night with a similar first half Saturday. He scored Texas' first 13 points against Oklahoma State.

It's a pattern with him.

When he's flowing, the game seems too easy for him.

Barnes' motion offense lets it happen. He lets his players move and create, and it's especially effective when Barnes has a point guard such as Augustin. But there were a lot of times this season — as there were Saturday — when it would have made more sense to run the offense through the best freshman in college basketball history.

Dean Smith, also a believer in motion, was once criticized for doing the same with Michael Jordan. And Barnes could be defended Saturday for other reasons. Durant was fatigued enough to ask out of the game at one point, and a turnover with about four minutes remaining told of his exhaustion.

But this isn't merely about points. A player with Durant's size and ability can change a defense by setting a pick or passing out of a double team. Wake Forest went through Duncan the same way, and Gregg Popovich has built a career on that basic concept.

Barnes, instead, allows the game to flow away from his star, and it happened Saturday. Durant took two shots in the final 12 minutes.

Durant stood on the opposite side of the floor, as out of the offense as Barnes was, when Augustin missed a step-back jumper. Oklahoma State tied the game on its next possession, and then there was Augustin dribbling again, with Durant out of the play again, missing yet again.

This time another UT freshman, Damion James, was able to slap the ball. Accidentally standing in the right spot, apparently rested enough to shoot the 3-pointer, was Durant.

"That's what great players do," Barnes said.

As for great coaches: They should want to use a player such as Durant, when the game is in doubt, for as long as they have him.