Blake Murphy Sports Writing

Title: Supportless in Seattle
Date: March 10, 2008
Original Source: Hoops Addict
Synopsis: After the semi-success of The ODC, thanks to Trev and Ryan McNeill I was able to branch out and began writing for Hoops Addict as well. Most of my work from there has since been lost from a server change-over they undertook, though I was lucky to find my backups. This article was a pleae for the basketball world to stop underrating Kevin Durant (that seems like a long time ago, no?).

What is everyone’s problem with Kevin Durant?

I lobbied hard for Kevin Durant to be the number one pick in the 2007 draft. I went on about it all through the college season and all through the summer until, finally, Portland went with Greg Oden. You can’t blame them because Oden is a safe and likable pick, a player sure to be good-to-great for many years in the NBA. My logic was both that Durant had a higher upside and the Blazers needed a swingman more than a big man (at the time, they had Zach Randolph, but this still holds true to a degree with their current roster). So when Oden went down in the offseason and it was announced that he would miss all of 2007-08, I was heartbroken. For me, I had lost the chance to prove to people that Durant was the smarter choice, at least for one year.

And it has been Oden’s injury that has sullied Kevin Durant’s incredible rookie season. Despite putting up excellent numbers for a rookie, the lack of a rival in the Rookie of the Year race has turned people against Durant, calling him a default winner and even suggesting he could lose the award to a player he scores 10 more points a night than.

By all accounts, statistical and visual, Kevin Durant has had an incredible rookie season, well deserving of the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award, and is well on his way to becoming a superstar in the NBA. But there has been limited chatter about him since Oden’s injury, and most of what I have heard has been negative or, at best, apathetic. Durant’s reputation has become the victim of a weak group of peers and a lack of comparable reference point (for proof that this matters, consider that this was a hotly contested issue in the offseason, when we had Oden to compare him to).

The knocks against Durant are fair, sure. He shoots just 40.5%, his three point shooting is a weak 28.5%, he turns the ball over three times per game, his team is 16-46 and jockeying for a lottery pick to accompany him. Those are all fair criticisms…

Of a polished NBA superstar.

Kevin Durant, though, is still just 19 years old and playing in a far from ideal situation. The second best player on his team is Chris Wilcox, the lottery pick they drafted with him as been somewhat disappointing, the team has no point guard, and his rookie season has been marred with the drama of the Sonics’ potential move to Oklahoma City.

When you consider all of that, a line of 19.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.3 assists nightly seems pretty surreal. Those are incredible numbers for a teenager to post at the highest level of competition in the world. For comparison’s sake, and please bare with me because I’m not suggesting Durant is going to be on par with LeBron, LeBron James posted a rookie line of 20.9-5.5-5.9 while shooting 41.7% overall and just 29% from downtown. Yes, LeBron’s numbers, especially assists, are better, but LeBron’s was considered one of the best rookie seasons of the modern era. LeBron also had a much better supporting cast – Carlos Boozer and Zydraunas Ilgauskas cleared a lot of room for him and finished most of his passes with baskets. On a team where only one other player scores in double figures (Wilcox) and only two players shoot above 45% (Wilcox and Nick Collison), an assist or help in general is hard to come by.

You can force the argument here that Durant’s numbers are inflated because of this, put that only extends as far as points per game, and Durant’s usage rate is not extraordinarily high for a top player at 28.9% (it is in the league’s top 10, but again, look to his supporting cast). His player efficiency rating is also right at the league average at 14.9, miles above anyone else on the team except Wilcox and Collison, so the evidence shows that Durant is the best suited on this team to use the lion’s share of the possessions.

My point here is that Durant has been severely underrated this season. Instead of talking about his rookie performance as one of the best in recent times, which it is, people are instead suggesting Al Horford could take the Rookie of the Year crown. Hey, I like Big Al, but his only edge is on the glass since Durant has posted an equal number of steals and blocks. Nobody is denying that the Sonics have a bright future, wherever that may be, and General Manager Sam Presti has done a fantastic job of loading up on draft picks with 13 in the next three drafts. The Sonics have all the pieces to build around Durant.

But please, people, stop suggesting Durant isn’t good enough to be built around.