Kevin Durant’s First NBA Game

I actually went to Kevin Durant’s one and only game he played in Norman during his freshman NPOTY season. I went to the trouble of getting a first row seat to see Durant along with point guard DJ Augustin take on a Blake Griffin team which went on to make the Sweet 16… if I rememebr right.

Durant and Texas pretty much handled OU with ease that winter day in Norman. Fran Fraschilla and Ron Franklin did the TV call for ESPN that day. I hung around after the game and went down on the floor and struck up a conversation with Fran and Ron Franklin after their on air duties were complete.

They were like two little kids talking about Durant and what they’d just seen. I mean..it was great–two great guys and I was lucky enough to be sitting with them after the game talking about Kevin Durant and where his future might be headed. I never dreamed it would be with the Oklahoma City franchise which was still a work in progess.

The people in Oklahoma City… I guess are going to take Kevin’s decision to leave for Golden State to their graves. They shouldn’t. Instead what they should do is embrace the notion they were lucky enough to see this guy play for nine years in their city as the player I would rank right after LeBron from a generational standpoint.

So–if Durant had stayed would he have ever won a ring? I would say no because to this day I don’t think Russell Westbrook fully gets it even as his career is in decline.

So much NBA history from the Durant era in Oklahoma City. What if Presti had gone with Harden instead of Westbrook. We’ll never know although if Durant can stay healthy we might get a glimpse of that in this summer’s NBA Finals.

Is there a player in this NBA draft with as much upside as Kevin Durant? It doesn’t appear so from a generational standpoint because Durant is a gym rat and has worked his tail off becoming what he is from a basketball standpoint. Kevin Durant never cheated on his natural talent. He worked his tail off beoming the player he is today.

Thinking back to Durant’s one and done season has me very interested in Cade Cunningham’s lone season of college ball.

No comparison so far as Durant played with such a natural ease and flow which we haven’t seen from Cade to date. We’ve seen some great individual snapshots here and there…but not the whole thing for a forty minute game. But starting tomorrow in Norman is when we really for the rest of this season should see Cade’s game. I would hope this is when Mike Boynton turns it a little more loose with Cade.

I can’t wait for tomorow’s Bedlam game in Norman.

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