Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant is by far the youngest player to be ranked among my top 100, and although he is still only 22 years old, he has done some very impressive things in the early stages of his career.
In his first season in the NBA, playing for the Seattle Supersonics, Durant won the Rookie of the Year award by averaging 20.3 points per game while starting every single night. It turns out that his rookie season would start to look weak after what he started doing in year two. At only 20 years old, he was one of the top 10 players in the entire league and ranked #5 in scoring at 25.3 points per game, while also increasing his rebounding average from 4.4 to 6.5.
The next season he became the youngest player ever to lead the league in scoring, averaging 30.1 points per game and supplanting Max Zaslofsky as the youngest scoring leader, breaking a record that had stood for 62 years. He was also named to the All-NBA First Team, came in second in the MVP race, and led the Thunder to the playoffs. He also grabbed 7.6 rebounds per game and shot 90% from the free throw line while leading all players in minutes played.
His fourth season was even better somehow. His stats may have slipped slightly in each major category, but he was still one of the top 5 players in the league and led Oklahoma City to the Western Conference Finals as the best player on a very good Thunder team. He led the league in scoring for the second straight season and matched that feat in the playoffs, where he averaged 28.6 over 17 games.
At this point in his career it's impossible to tell exactly where he'll end up at the end of his career. We could be looking at one of the top 10 players of all time, or he may turn into a Penny Hardaway or Grant Hill, who dominated the league early on the same way but succumbed to injuries. Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure: we are currently witnessing the rise of one of the most talented players to ever take the court, and even though it's still early, he just can't be overlooked.
Durant has reached such a high level at such a young age that very few can compare to him at this point in his career, and those that can are all in the top 10 players of all time. Elton Brand has been a very good player, even winning a Rookie of the Year award like Durant, but it took him about 8 years to reach the peak level that Durant reached in three, and Durant has already led his team on a deeper playoff run than Brand ever has, which is why I'm placing him here for now. By the end of next season, who knows? I could easily see him making the jump to top 50 of all time if he can match his last two seasons.
No comments:
Post a Comment