The NBA's Best Player is Not LeBron James: It's Kevin Durant

LeBron James is routinely referred to as the best player in the NBA because of the amount of points he has scored, MVP's won and clutch shots made, but in reality most general managers would not build their team around James.

Most general managers would choose Kevin Durant over the self-titled "King James." It became extremely clear after Adrian Wojnarowski, a yahoo NBA analyst, wrote an article detailing team USA's decision to reluctantly take James to the Beijing Olympics. 

There were heavy discussions as to whether they should take James on the trip for fear he could sabotage their dreams of redeeming themselves on the world stage with his me first attitude. Team USA did in fact win the gold medal and James gave himself too much credit then he actually deserved.

James had felt that he was a major reason why they had won. Then this summer he went on national T.V. and announced that he would be, "Taking my talents to South Beach." By announcing his decision to a national audience, he inadvertently showed everyone that he egotistical. 

Durant on the other hand is the reigning winner of the NBA's scoring title and is the leader of the young and exciting Oklahoma City Thunder. After a magnificent season on the hardwood, Durant was chosen to represent the United States in the FIBA World Championships. 

Coach Mike Krzyzewski chose Durant to be the leader of his young team that would try to win the FIBA championship for the first time since 1994. Durant was immediately thrust into the spotlight, the media's target for everything USA basketball.

He was the only player at the tryouts who did not have to worry about being cut, according to Krzyzewski. He reluctantly took spoke to the media and tried to deflect the attention on himself by giving some to his teammates.

Basketball after all is a team game and Durant said he is only one person. He felt he was getting too much of the attention because not one person can win a game, but when he was on the court, it was easy to see the effect he had. 

Durant was able to drive to the basket seemingly at will and when a defender backed off, respecting his ability to drive to the basket, he would calmly just step back and drain a jumper. When he was double teamed he was able to get his teammates open looks, which all culminated in the US winning the entire tournament. 

The intense game atmosphere he had to endure during the summer will only help him when he is in those situations during the season. Durant is always learning, which is the scary part since he will only get better.