How Durant is grading out early in rookie education

Kevin Durant has showed flashes of stardom as a rookie, but he's also struggled with his shooting for the rebuilding Sonics. John W. McDonough/SI

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The tears have been shed. The care packages have been sent. Credit cards have been maxed out. In other words, the latest freshman class has been sent off to begin its NBA education. And though the season is only about six weeks old, the kids have already started to make an impression, none more so than Seattle's Kevin Durant.

The No. 2 selection in the 2007 draft has become the de facto leader of the rookie class in the absence of injured first pick Greg Oden. How Durant goes will set the grading scale for those drafted after him. Final grades aren't due for another four months, but it isn't too early to get a student's progress report on Durant's transition to the league after one year at Texas.

Ability

"He's got the ability to play any of probably four positions," Sonics coach P.J. Carlesimo told SI.com. "He's going to be hard to pigeonhole going forward because of his ability to shoot, his athleticism and his ball-handling. He's going to be able to play away from the basketball ... and play smaller, quicker guys. ... [But] with as tall and as long as he is, he can go inside, score, rebound and block shots. When the physicality comes, it's just going to be a matter of figuring out where we need to use him more, what does the team need, what do we need him to do most."

Right now, that is playing the role of go-to scorer at shooting guard for a Sonics team that lost 48.8 points per game over the summer when Ray Allen was traded to the Celtics and Rashard Lewis left in a sign-and-trade deal with the Magic. For a player who averaged 25.8 points per game on 47 percent shooting as a freshman with the Longhorns, Durant appears to have the skills to fulfill his new responsibility.

"He's a unique guard because he's 6-9, 6-10," an NBA scout said. "If you're going to try to match him with someone who's athletic and try to stay in front of him, more times than not you're going to give size away. He's got such a quick release and he's just such a great shooter that he's going to get his shots off. He's going to be a big-time scorer in our league for a long, long time."

Attitude

"The best thing about Kevin is his attitude," Carlesimo said. "[He and fellow rookie Jeff Green] know they don't have all the answers. They know they have a long way to go to become really consistent NBA players, and that's a huge step in itself. They know how important it is to work, how important it is for the assistant coaches to be working with them before practice and after practice and watching tape with them.

"If I'm sitting in my office late in the afternoon or at night and I hear the ball bouncing, it's 50-50 it's Kevin. He texts [assistant coach] Brian Keith when he's on his way in and he'll get a couple hundred shots up. You can't teach that. You can make people do that, but it doesn't work when you make people do that. They have to want to do that. It's the kind of enthusiasm for basketball Magic had. There have been some very good players in this league who don't have that enthusiasm for basketball that he has."

Durant has found that passion comes with a cost in the business that is the NBA.

"Once you're in the NBA, everybody wants a part of you, from interviews to meeting with sponsors," Durant said in a telephone interview. "You may be tired with the schedule that you have, but it's stuff that comes with the game, stuff that you're required to do. At times, though, all of that stuff can weigh on you."

Durant hasn't let the attention separate him from his less-heralded teammates.

"Potentially, when you come in with accolades and the reputation and the expectations, that sets up a tough situation to be integrated into the team," Carlesimo said. "It's been the complete opposite. ... Kevin doesn't like all the special treatment. He doesn't like that he's always the one getting interviewed and he's set apart from his teammates. He's very comfortable being one of the 14 guys on this team."

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