Texas Freshman Strengths: A dynamic wing player with freakish length and agility and a scorers mentality … Has the ability to essentially score at will on the college level … A special player offensively, who has fully developed post skills to go along with an NBA-range jumper … His ability to pull up off the dribble is absolutely illegal for a 6-10 player … Simply dominates even elite NCAA competition and top defenders, as his combination of height, length, athleticism, and skill is completely unrivaled on this level … Despite a laid-back nature, he has developed leadership and demands the ball in crunch time … He’s skilled and instinctual enough to have an offense run through him … Already a great rebounder who understands the importance of boxing out and can simply leap over players who try to push him out of the lane … Has the potential to become a great defender with his 7-5 wing span and great leaping ability … The best NCAA freshman to play in some time … Born in September, he’s a year young for his grade, further adding to his intrigue!
Weaknesses: Hasn’t been fully tested in terms of competition. Does he have the fire inside to maximize his abilities and develop a killer instinct? He has a laid back demeanor; will he continue to work hard after he starts cashing 7 figure checks? … Defensively, he’s very lax. Tends to be too upright, and should focus more on his defensive fundamentals, getting low in his defensive stance, especially on the perimeter … Has all the potential to be a lock down defender, but doesn’t put the effort in on that side of the ball … Still needs to bulk up, although he has bulked up significantly since high school. May always be skinny and adding too much weight could slow his foot speed some … Adding weight will make him more aggressive inside, as he tends to shy away from contact and can be pushed around and affected when played physical … Ball handling could still use refinement, as he is a little too high in his dribble … Shows flashes of great passing but is inconsistent … Should block more shots with his length and athleticism … Can improve upon the nuances of the game, moving without the ball, understanding where to be in help defense situations, giving equal effort on both ends of the floor etc.
Notes: Benefited greatly from the NBAs newly implemented draft rule making high school players ineligible. In any draft sans LeBron James and Greg Oden of the past 10 years, he is the consensus top pick
Weaknesses: His (lack of) stength is his major weakness, and he really needs to put on weight or he won’t be able to do much in the NBA except shoot deep 3s or score in transition like Darius Miles of 4 years ago … Needs to become more aggresive, develop more nastiness … Still developing a game off the dribble Defensively he needs to move his feet better and keep his hands active on the ball … Oak Hill Academy is giving him the work ethic he will need in the long run, since he most likely won’t be going to college
Weaknesses: Double teams have proven to trouble him as he doesn’t always read them quickly enough … While he is unselfish, he lacks the passing ability to create for his teammates … To his credit his isn’t a terribly poor passer but certainly doesnt stand out at this point in his career Defensively he is improving and showing a willingness to improve, but still needs to work on his perimeter defense in terms of his anticipation skills and footwork Has a tendency of bite on fakes when going for the block, so improvement on his timing and patience will eliminate this … Like most freshmen in college Durant will need to add more weight and body strength. He probably will always be on the slim side due to his narrow chest, but it shouldn’t hinder him much except finishing inside … Doesnt always take full advantage of mismatches, often Durant will settle for the outside jumper, granted it’s not a horrible alternative … Body strength doesnt allow him to finish after contact … Despite being such a dominate offensive force, Durant can go through stretches of games where he appears fatigued and won’t demand the ball … Gets pushed out rather easily on rebounds due to his body strength … Although not a major flaw, it should be noted that Durant operate primarily on the right side of the floor … Ball protection will need to be worked on as he can get careless with the ball
Matthew Maurer – 3/26/2007