Watch out for Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant has the type of talent that comes around only once every few years. At 6'10," his natural position is guard. In terms of his physical tools, think Rudy Gay. In terms of his mental approach to the game, he spends nearly all of his downtime trying to improve - at this point his shooting range extends out to 30 feet. When Kevin steps on the court, he plays with the type of abandon that you'd expect from a sub 6'0" New York City guard.

Texas coach Rick Barnes, who Durant will be playing for this college season, agrees. "Anyone who has been around Kevin and watched him over the years realizes that he is special. What you love about being around him is that he wants to continue to get better. He has a great understanding of the game. Kevin would tell you that what separates good ones from great ones is winning. He could care less about numbers and statistics. He's a bottom line guy who wants to win. When you have the chance to coach a player of that ability, he has to have more than just god-given talent. He also should have the mental side of it and the emotional make-up. Kevin has that, so you know he's going to make people around him better."

A distant second in the 2006 rankings, Kevin had one flaw that was preventing him from battling Greg Oden for the top spot. Durant was paper thin, as can be seen in the picture, above. The photo was taken only six months ago. However, six months was all Kevin needed to bulk his previously gaunt 190 pound frame up to a relatively copious 227 pounds.

"I still look skinny," Durant admits. "But I'm much stronger and can take bumps now, play in the post and play better post defense." K.D. likes being compared to K.G. - check out the background of his myspace page - so post defense will be important if he plans on being "the next Garnett." As of now, it looks like a Tracy Mcgrady comparison would be more accurate, however.

Kevin gives a lot of credit to Texas strength and conditioning coach, Todd Wright. "I didn't know if I'd ever gain weight or not," he explains. "...I don't think I would have been able to do this so quickly anywhere else."

Wright is equally complimentary of Kevin. "He moves insane for a guy 6-9. It's just not right. Some of the stuff he does is unreal... He's the best I've ever seen. I hate to put that on the kid, but it's the truth. I've never seen anyone like him."

Barring any unexpected setbacks, Kevin should receive the Big-12 Conference Player of the Year award after his (only) season at Texas, become a top five pick in the 2007 NBA draft, and make the NBA all-star team within his first four seasons in the league.