LeBron James deserves plenty of credit for the championship performance he put together last season. It wasn't his first time to engineer a dominant season, but it will almost certainly become one of his most memorable.
None of that should stop Kevin Durant (or any of his fans) from looking forward.
Though James stole the lion's share of MVP attention in 2012, Durant quietly put together a season that demanded recognition in its own right.
To hear the typically humble 23-year-old superstar explain it, that recognition may be a tad overdue (via The Washington Post's Michael Lee):
“I’ve heard a few times, in three or four years, this league is going to be yours. . . . I don’t like that. Because I think I’m established now. My time is now,†Durant said. “I feel as though I’ve proved myself these last five years that I can be one of the top players in the league. I’ve got a long way to go to being the ultimate best, but I think my time is now. And I’m starting to enter my prime.â€
It's hard to argue with Durant's sentiment.
We already knew KD was an elite scorer, leading the league in the category three times. But, it wouldn't be fair to think of him as just another regular-season stat hound. Durant's postseason proved he can light it up on even the most important occasions.
Durant takes over the WCF.
He took over the Western Conference Finals with 36 and 34-point outbursts in Games 4 and 6, and OKC's meltdown in the NBA Finals certainly wasn't Durant's fault.
He averaged 30.6 points on 55 percent shooting.
Claiming notoriety on par with James' will remain something of an uphill battle, though.
Despite the Thunder's rapid rise to prominence, Durant is still going into just his sixth season. There's a sense that LeBron's time has come, and the media has seized upon that moment in a hyperbolic celebration for the ages.
Durant also plays for a small market that won't garner as much fanfare as Miami, Los Angeles or Chicago. And what little spotlight that does come Oklahoma City's way has to be shared at least in part with Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Serge Ibaka.
It doesn't help that Durant's understated demeanor often flies under the NBA radar. He truly is his generation's Tim Duncan, and his legacy will grow on the league like an acquired taste appreciated far more after the fact.
We should probably be appreciating it a bit more now, though.
Not only is Durant's individual greatness overshadowed by LeBron; his Conference Champion club is already an afterthought in the wake of Dwight Howard's trade to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Will Dwight Howard stop Durant from doing this to the Lakers again?
KD cautioned against prematurely ranking the Lakers atop the West, and he absolutely should. The Thunder beat the Lakers handily in the Conference Semifinals, and Los Angeles' new additions won't change the fact that both rosters will be a year older next time around.
That's a good thing for the Thunder, but not so much for L.A.
Durant will be 24 by the time the season starts, and it's scary to think how good he could beâ€"to say nothing of the development we can expect from the rest of OKC's young core.
He'll be hungrier this time, too. There's never been any question about his talent, but we should see Durant do even more to help his team win, working harder on the defensive end and doing the little things MVPs do.
Why Durant and Co. will be hungrier this time.
LeBron James won't recede from that MVP discussion, but it'll be a closer call this time. Durant finished second in voting last season tallying 889 total points to James' 1,074 (though a vast majority of those points came on second-place votes).
James took 85 first-place votes, while Durant collected just 24.
In other words, there was plenty of consensus that the two stars were indeed in a league of their own last season. There just also happened to be plenty of consensus about how those two stars stacked up against one another.
Perhaps there will be a similar consensus in 2013.
Just don't be surprised if Durant is the one who comes out on top.
Durant doesn't just score. He does it when he needs to.
He rebounded just as much as James last season, yielded similar defensive production and was a far better shooter from beyond the arc.
Some will contend that James' passing and defense separate him from the rest of the league, Durant included. But, that loses sight of the countless things Durant contributes. His length and perimeter shooting ability allow the Thunder to space the floor and forces opposing teams to keep the longest, best defenders outside the paint.
Durant has also proven capable of scoring when it's needed most. His feel for the game and penchant for rising to the occasion aren't easily measured, but they have a lot to do with those MVP votes he got last time.
They'll have a lot to do with the ones he gets next time too.
Comments
Post a Comment