[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

First thing.........Leandro Barbosa is the fastest. Now that that's settled, on to Durant.

I love the guy's game. In college. In college, he's got all of the skills he needs. I am not sure how it can be said that he's not athletic. I see a very nice athlete. To say he's not as good an athlete as Dirk is crazy to me. He's not as physically mature as Dirk is but he's easily a better athlete. The thing I like about him is that he's very polished and poised offensively. He takes exactly what the defense gives him. He has the ability to go into the post and score even though I don't really think he has much of a post game. He's got the perfect game for college.

When he gets to the NBA, he's going to find the going a whole lot tougher. He's going to be able to score 20 a game simply because of his skills and size. He is a mismatch for most people because of his size and skills, sort of like Garnett and Dirk in that regard. But I think he's going to have problems in trying to become a dominant offensive player. I don't see him with a signature move at this point. In the pros, he won't be able to hold a position on the block because he's not big enough. Will he add size? Maybe. If he does, will it take away from his effectiveness on the perimeter? Maybe. I don't see him with the quickness to beat 2's and 3's off the dribble in the NBA. And I think he's going to be able to be guarded by those because he's primarily a perimeter player. Guys like McGrady, James, Bowen, etc will be able to guard him and he won't be able to take advantage of his height advantage and he won't out-quick them. Another problem that I think he'll have is the exact opposite of what works for him in college. Whereas in college he takes what the defense gives him, in the pros, they won't give him anything. He's going to have to take things from them. That's what separates the true superstars. Guys like Bryant, Wade, James, Dirk, Anthony, Iverson, McGrady, etc., they have the ability to take what they want at any point in the game. I haven't seen that ability yet from Durant. The more I watch him play, the less I'm impressed with him. As I said, he'll be a valuable addition to a team. He'll score points. But he won't be able to dominate like he has in college. The player I am most reminded of when I watch him........Bob McAdoo. The current players that I would compare him to are probably Loul Deng, Antawn Jamison, and Tim Thomas.

Thought this would be interesting to bring back up and see who's been the closest to being right. Currently, Durant is averaging 20 a night, is very weak on the glass with only 4.2 boards and is not much of a passer at 2.1 assists. He gets to the line 5.5 times a game and he's shooting 39.9% from the field. He's playing the 2-guard position in the NBA. Last night, I watched his game against the Lakers. He shot 6-26 from the field and scored 19 points. He had one rebound and one assist. He shot as many 3's as free throws, six each. He was guarded by Kobe Bryant during the game. I don't recall seeing him in the post at all. The Sonics had the ball for the final possession of regulation with about 20 seconds left. They got the ball to Durant on an isolation with Kobe guarding him. The shot they got from Durant was a fadeway 20-footer that wasn't even close. He had no chance of getting by Bryant and getting to the line or getting a closer shot. This is what I was saying. He's not going to be quicker on the perimeter than 2-guards in the NBA. Maybe if they put some small forwards on him, he can outquick them but not guards. And he has no post-game whatsoever. He doesn't have the size to go with his height to be able to get and hold a position on the blocks against these guys. A lot of the 2-guards in this league are bigger than he is, weight wise. He will add size as he goes along but it's my belief that it still won't make him a post player. He doesn't have that mentality. You see guys like Dirk and KG. They can do it on occassion but when it's not your mentality, it's just not. I think you can take Jamison out of the comparison because he's much more aggressive offensively and rebounds way better. Thomas and Deng are very good comparisons though. They both rebound very bad for their size (Thomas is a career 4.2 guy and he's 6'10") and are more comfortable on the perimeter than on the block. Durant is looking more and more like the guy he replaced up in Seattle, Rashard Lewis.