Is Kevin Durant underrated?

[RenegadeLonghorn]

Saw this on ESPN. What do you think?

Story


"Meanwhile, Durant won ROY playing for a disintegrating franchise and currently toils in obscurity in a new town for a team that is the dregs of the league. Yes, GM Sam Presti imploded the team like the Kingdome so he could start over with lottery picks and cap space, building a foundation for 2011. And yes, it's a smart move. But something weird happened in the process: We all stopped thinking about Durant. He's a nonentity. Ask the average fan to tell you who will be the best player in the NBA in three years, and the first five answers will be LeBron, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, D-Wade and either Rose or Carmelo. (Except in LA, where Lakers fans would go with the first three, then Bynum and Trevor Ariza.) I don't see Durant getting many votes.



Um … does anyone realize he just turned 20 on Sept. 29, making him younger than Mayo? That he's breaking every scoring benchmark by age? That he's been averaging 26 points, eight rebounds, 48% shooting, 85% from the line and 43% on threes since Thanksgiving? Go online and check out his ESPN.com game log. Do it now. I'll wait.

Know also that NBA players peak between ages 25 and 29. So what's Durant's realistic peak? Will he average 33 a game on percentages of 55-90-50? Will he average 36 ppg? Thirty-eight? Seriously, where does this go? Nobody's discussing that. Nobody's even acknowledging it. And that makes Kevin Durant totally, completely, unequivocally underrated. I can't think of five current players who are more fun to watch. "

[aw00d05]

i'd say he is, seems like every week he is hitting a game tieing/winning shot and is consistantly scoring 30+.

[tikitomoka]

i believe that he is underrated, but he wont have those types of ppg numbers. once westbrook and green come into form and they have another 1 or 2 high picks he wont be scoring that much IMO

[C.Fortson]

i agree he is way underrated

[drtom2005]

IMO, I think he is overrated. Scoring is easy when no one else is on the team and you are the first option. He needs to build-up muscle to be a better defender before I would say he is a great.

[aw00d05]

IMO, I think he is overrated. Scoring is easy when no one else is on the team and you are the first option. He needs to build-up muscle to be a better defender before I would say he is a great.

jeff green and westbrook both average 15+ a game...

[garnett_21]

To a point, yes. He puts up decent numbers on a nightly basis, but doesn't get much recognition because he's on a bad team. Very similar to Al Jefferson in that sense. He can't even think about going to the allstar game because noone will admit he is that good because of his teams record.

[WilyWestbrook0]

He was overrated when he came into the league, but now he very well might be underrated since hardly anyone cares about the Thunder outside of OKC.

I still want to see his assists go up, though. He and Danny Granger are good volume scorers, but they only get 2.5 and 3.5 assists per game, respectively.

[drtom2005]

jeff green and westbrook both average 15+ a game...

In NBA, all teams get to at least 80 points. Green and Westbrook are not there yet either. I am just saying scoring is way overrated. If he becomes a better defender then I'll change my feelings about him.

[bbplaya]

id say hes just right scores alot but also shoots alot, had 46 the other day but missed the game tying 3,