Kevin Durant: Destined for Greatness

At 6'9" with a freakish 7'5" wingspan NBA scouts could only watch as Durant dominated the Big 12 and took home eight National Player of the Year Awards as a freshmen. 

They called him a cross between Dirk Nowitzki and Tracy McGrady, two perennial basketball icons of this generation who will likely find themselves taking a trip down to the hall in Springfield after their careers are over..

Kevin Durant is the next elite player in the NBA. After seeing him perform in his sophomore season this article is long overdue but will still undoubtedly serve its purpose to the doubters and misinformed.

After seeing Durant take out the Rookie of the Year Award in 2007/08 I was very sceptical as to how good he would become.

I wasn't excited by the 20.3 ppg he averaged, especially when he shot miserable percentages and seemed to be nothing more than a 'chucker' who had been given the green light to shoot by a young team with no clear direction. 

Last season, I was astounded by his improvements. He averaged 25.3 ppg and even managed to chip in 6.5 rebounds from the wing position in addition to 2.8 assists and nearly 1.5 steals. However it wasn't the sudden leap in scoring that amazed me, it was the efficiency in which he did it. 

Durant shot 48 percent on field goals, 42 percent on triples and 86 percent from the line which for a prolific scorer is unheard of. To put it into perspective neither Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady or Kobe Bryant have ever shot that well over a whole season.

Most young players are very inefficient scorers and shoot poorly from the field. Durant on the other hand had clearly strived to improve his overall game. 

Still not impressed? 

I wasn't sold on this either, but the thing that put it over the edge for me was realizing Durant's age. Kevin Durant is 20 years old. Let's put that into perspective. Read closely now...

Kevin Durant is a week older than Derrick Rose, and a month older than OJ Mayo. That in itself is mind-blowing. While NBA fans like to rave about Rose's potential and ceiling at such a young age, Kevin Durant is the same age!

In my mind, no player in the NBA has more upside than Durant. He already has an incredible offensive arsenal and can score the ball from anywhere on the floor, shooting, off-the-dribble, posting up, slashing and getting to the free throw line.

His fluidity, length and smoothness are reminiscent of a young Tracy McGrady which is freakish when you consider Durant has longer reach and hence more capabilities! He has the speed of a guard and length of a seven-footer. 

The Thunder aren't currently a great team but looking forward they have the best future, and highest ceiling of any team in the NBA.

It's not often that a team has the opportunity to acquire a franchise player and surround him with players within the same age bracket who all have the potential to be future All-Stars (Russell Westbrook, Jeff Green and James Harden). They will learn together, grow together and win together. 

So let's take a quick snapshot of the future..

In five years time Kobe will likely be out of the league at age 36 and the Lakers and Spurs will have fallen from prominence.

The West will have seen the rise of a new powerhouse, the Oklahoma City Thunder. Kevin Durant will have a chance to be the best offensive player in the NBA while having many a memorable clashes with a then 29 year old LeBron James. 

Oh, and by the way: Did I mention at this stage he'll only be 25?