It's 8:48 PM and Kevin Durant Still Rules

It's been a month. We know we've said it before, but...our bad. To make up for it, here's an awesome story about how Kevin Durant is handling being in **shudder** Oklahoma. According to the article (really the only part you care about):

Kevin Durant, the reigning Rookie of the Year took in Oklahoma's football game against TCU on Saturday, and the former Texas start said he wrote "Hook 'Em Horns" on every autograph he signed and flashed the Longhorns' hand signal when fans wanted to take a picture with him. He didn't shy away from predicting a win for his alma mater against the top-ranked Sooners in two weeks either.

Way to go, KD!

Oklahoma still sucks!

Kevin Durant May Be Having A Better Rookie Year Than You Know Who

That's right. We said it. Recently we've been seeing an increase in criticisms of our favorite rookie, which we'd like to try to put to rest. To begin with, let's remember that he is a rookie on one of the NBA's youngest and worst teams. Moreover, he's pretty much the only scoring option, with only Chris Wilcox averaging double digits now that Wally's World is in Cleveland. So what kind of rookie year is KD having? For starters check out the table below.

Player 1 is Kevin Durant. Player 2 is, somewhat surprisingly, Lebron James during his rookie year. The numbers are very similar in field goal and three point percentage (where KD has been getting a lot of criticism). KD holds a slight edge in blocks, fouls and free throw percentage, and Lebron holding the slight edge in the rest.

Still not convinced that KD's rookie year is comparable to Lebron's? Take a look at each player's averages per 48 minutes.

When you look at it this way, Kevin actually is averaging more points per 48 than Lebron did his rookie year. You should also consider that Lebron's team in 03-04 had 4 other players averaging double-digits in points, won 35 games (the Sonics are on pace for 22), and did not have to deal with all of the shenanigans that the Sonics are currently dealing with.

Putting all of that together with the fact that KD's numbers have been gradually improving over the course of the season, we don't think it's all that crazy to say Kevin Durant is putting together a relatively solid rookie year.

The point is not to argue that KD is destined to become the next greatest player in the NBA (he will, but that's not the point) as only time will tell if he develops his game to be as complete as King James'. We are saying, however, that it's time to back the hell off KD and give him his damn rookie-of-the-year award already.

Three Words...

Should've Taken Durant

Stuff for Pondering

• Ten more days until Texas football (and 8 until NCAA football) begins. We like our chances against Arkansas State, and the real question is: where can we watch it? Much like preseason NFL football, we're just hoping for no injuries.


• A really fantastic article on Michael Vick from The Times-Picayune's John DeShazier, closing with:
  
  

  "There is much to be angry with Vick for, much to be disappointed in.
  But Monday, a feeling of sadness prevailed.
  You hate to see a man commit the kind of turnover Vick has committed, mourn to think of him tossing away a career that was so promising and, potentially, forever staining his life by making himself almost untouchable."

• Kevin Durant was cut from the Olympic qualifying team earlier this week. We love America, one of us even works for the government, but it's moves like this that have caused America's image to slip in the world. Hopefully they'll fix their mistake for the olympic team.

• The Cardinals heard our whining and delivered last night, albeit with 4 unearned runs to complete a comeback 5-2 win over the Marlins. Hanley Ramirez's error that allowed the damage--a throw over the first baseman's head that can only be described as lazy in the extreme--served as a great lesson for youngsters playing infield: the man's not out until he's out. Ramirez cost his team the ballgame by lobbing the ball to first instead of setting himself and making a good throw. Shameful.

• Finally, The Times-Picayune published a cool piece on Adam Kraus who one of us grew up with. It's worth a read.

This many more days 'til Longhorn Football!

A Very Cool Overlooked NBA Draft Fact

As we have mentioned before, we also like to follow LSU sports (one of us admittedly much more than the other). So it is very awesome, and has heretofore gone unnoticed, that Glen "Big Baby" Davis went to Seattle in the draft along with KD.

Two of our favorite players from our two favorite schools will now be teammates. Go Sonics!

NOTE: We apparently missed the fact that Big Baby was traded to Boston. A nice consolation prize for Bill Simmons we suppose.

WTF?

We love Kevin Durant. He won every award imaginable. He probably deserves to have his jersey retired, as apparently UT officials are discussing doing.

Although no official word is expected for months, UT officials are discussing plans to retire Kevin Durant's No. 35 jersey, possibly as early as next season.

That having been said, why are we discussing the retirement of KD's jersey and not Vince Young's? We know UT's "official" policy of only retiring the jersey's of those players who win player of the year awards. Each year the Maxwell Award is given to: The College Player of the Year. You can read it here on their website. TJ deserved it, Ricky deserved it, Earl deserved it, KD will have earned it, but VY has arguably done more for Texas football than any other Longhorn since James Street. It's time to retire #10.

It's Seattle

Just a reminder of why KD to Seattle is a good thing, from the Kevin Durant Mock Draft:
There is a reason that Seattle slipped all the way to the 13th pick. I've never been do the Pacific Northwest, but I understand the weather there is awful. I can't really think of any reason to like Seattle other than the fact that my new roommate is from there. I've never been there, however, and I hate to speak ill of places I've never visited...that's the kind of thing they do in Russia. But the SuperSonics aren't going to be in Seattle much longer. The team was recently bought by a group from Oklahoma City. We all know that Oklahoma sucks, but playing in OKC would put KD only 6 hours from Austin. That's the closest KD could be to The University without playing on one of the Texas teams. Kevin Durant to the OKC SuperSonics could be the steal of the draft.

Kevin Durant: Cover Boy

For the next year or so you're going to have a tough time playing a sports video game without a Longhorn on it. As reported on TexasSports.com, KD was chosen to grace the cover of NCAA '08, joining VY who was chosen as the Madden '08 cover boy. That story led us to this video in which KD explains why he chose to spend a year on the 40 Acres...cool stuff.

Also, in anticipation of the NBA Draft (this Thusrday), we found this awesome ad featuring KD and Gilbert Arenas.

What About Acie?

As seen on Pardon The Interruption, the Portland Trailblazers have allegedly introduced democracy to their website. The choice is Oden or Durant and they're letting the people decide. KD is facing a...slight...deficit, currently down 79% to 21%. We'd love to see KD end up with Lamarcus, and we're fans of democracy, so go vote for the Trailblazers to draft Kevin.

And The Winner Is...

Ladies and Gents, our hero Kevin Durant will be headed to the Pacific Northwest! He will most likely go as the second pick to the Seattle (soon to be Oklahoma City?) SuperSonics, although it's not out of the realm of possibility that the Portland Trail Blazers will take him at number one. So congratulations to Peter Bean and our own Jeff Asher, whose selections in the KD Mock Draft look to match reality. Here is how the NBA Lottery played out:

1. Portland
2. Seattle
3. Atlanta

Which forced Bill Simmons' Celtics to 5th. It's a good night.

People DO Care, and KD is a Great Choice

In response to a request from one of our loyal--yet Yankee--readers, we will provide reasons why Kevin Durant is a legitimate number one pick. But first, we must defend the honor of college baseball, which is a great and undervalued American sport.

Let's compare college baseball to another marginalized NCAA sport with only regional interest: hockey. Here you'll find the attendance statistics for college baseball in 2006, and here are the hockey attendance numbers. Now, the top few hockey school in terms of attendance (Wisconsin, North Dakota, Minnesota) have much higher numbers by virtue of greater stadium capacity than the top few baseball schools (LSU, Arkansas, Mississippi St.). However, through the rest of the list the numbers are very even. Furthermore, the baseball list includes only the top 50 schools in terms of attendance; there are another 200+ schools playing D-I baseball. The hockey list includes all 58 colleges that even play the sport in Division I. So few schools play hockey, in fact, that the game can't even use traditional college conferences to organize itself. On the other hand, baseball, as a popular college sport, is played under the auspices of the SEC, Big XII, Big 10, Pac-10, ACC, etc. etc.

This is not to mention the fact that EA Sports makes a College Baseball video game, and we have yet to see a College Hockey X-Box phenomenon. We will not dispute that college baseball is a regional pastime, popular mostly in the Southeast, Deep South, Southwest, West, and a couple of outposts in the Midwest. But, most important, it's popular in Texas. So it'll stay a major focus on these pages.

As for Kevin Durant: we were thinking about presenting our top 5 reasons why KD should be the #1 pick in the draft but we didn't because Chad Ford already did it. But, here are our thoughts in brief anyway. We will not sit here and make the argument that no reasonable person would draft Oden first. Oden may be the best shot blocker since Bill Russell, especially due to his ability not only to block shots but to block them to his teammates. 80% of most defenders' blocked shots end up back in the hands of the offense, either by going out of bounds or deflecting into their hands. Oden has the ability to keep the ball in play and direct it to his own guards, which is an example of what a smart, heads-up, and extremely talented ballplayer he is. Oden would be a smart #1 pick because he as close as you'll find to a sure bet to be a very solid player you can build a team around in the NBA.

But Durant is the number one pick because, while less of a sure thing than Oden, he has more of a chance to be an absolute superstar. Today's NBA is about big offensive playmakers who score a whole lot of points and do it in spectacular fashion. Oden's range is about a 6-8 foot perimeter around the basket, which is fine for someone with his type of game. Durant's range extends beyond the 3-point line. Oden was in foul trouble throughout the NCAA Tournament, rarely playing more than 23 minutes a game. Durant stayed out of foul problems most of the season. You can expect more minutes early on from KD, and a lot more explosive offense than Oden will ever be able to provide.

The big question marks everyone has about KD right now are his defense and size. In our opinion, these are very related issues, and a year or two with an advanced NBA training program should bulk him up without sacrificing any speed or flexibility, and in so doing will help him to improve his defense--which already saw marked progress in Austin.

Reasonable people can disagree, and there is certainly no reason to believe that a team can go wrong with either of these guys. But for a GM who believes in higher risk, higher reward, there's no contest: KD's your guy.

Oh, also: he looks dreamy in his orange Texas jersey.

Kevin Durant: College Star, High Draft Pick, Patriot?

The U.S. has historically had a few ways to punish nations like Argentina, Greece or Spain when they beat us in basketball. Included in America's repetiore over time have been demands for unfair IMF debt repayment schedules, increasing tarrifs on the import of gyros and turning down Pau Gasol's seemingly endless trade requests.

It now seems that U.S. policymakers may have a new weapon at their disposal: Kevin Durant. Andy Katz is reporting on his ESPN Insider blog that Durant will be invited to try out for the U.S. basketball team in July. Seems to us that adding a guy with KD's game to a squad that won the bronze and shot just 37% from the 3-point line in last year's world championships might just break USA Basketball out of its slump.

Just Not To The Celtics...

Rumor has it that KD is set to announce as soon as this afternoon that he'll be going pro. If that's truly the case, thanks for the memories Kevin! We'll update as soon as we hear something a little more concrete.It's unclear just how much Kevin leaving will hurt next year's team although Connor Atchley getting more touches can only be a good thing, right? For now let us celebrate every additional moment that KD is a Longhorn...

4:00 EST Update: Burnt Orange Nation reporting that KD is gone, expecting a press conference sometime soon. We'll file a longer long range forecast of how this affects Texas basketball (short answer -- a lot) later in the week.