Why Kevin Durant Can't Win...

It goes without question that Kevin Durant is one of the most prolific scorers ever to step on a basketball court.  He is the face of the Oklahoma City Thunder and will be awing NBA fans for many years to come.  As an avid NBA enthusiast, it has been rather difficult for me to watch the Thunder go down in the Western Conference Finals especially after the loss of their superstar point guard, Russell Westbrook, to a knee injury in the first round.

Much of the NBA community, including myself, wanted to see Durant succeed on his own but if you take a deep look into his history, you will realize he can never win without a superstar side kick.  From his middle school AAU team all the way until now, Durant has always had an equally as impressive play-maker in his shadows while he made the incredible shots we love him for.

Durant's first AAU team, the PG Jaguars, won multiple 10U-14U titles out of the DMV area, not because he alone was a superstar, but he also played along side Michael Beasley and Kevin Braswell.  Braswell is a fairly unknown forward that just finished his senior season at UNC Charlotte.  He was regarded as a top PF coming out of high school, receiving offers from Indiana and Maryland, but chose to play somewhere he would play 20+ minutes and start all four years.  Your lack of acknowledgement goes without saying he never reached his potential.  Yet the real superstar side kick was a corn-rowed, ambidextrous forward that was also a life long friend of Durant. Many know Beasley for being the top high school recruit in 2007, playing one of the NCAA's best freshman seasons while at Kansas State, and holding a total of 30 school, conference, and NCAA records.   He was selected 2nd overall in the 2008 NBA Draft by the Miami Heat just to be traded a couple years later to clear up cap space for the Big 3 we all love to hate today.  Although he has never flourished like Durant in the NBA, the duo had to of been one of the best middle school tandems ever to hit the AAU circuit.

During the first three years of Durant's high school career at National Christian Academy the infamous Oak Hill Academy, he played AAU hoops for the D.C. Blue Devils.  Playing alongside KD was the future McDonald's All-American point guard, Ty Lawson.  This was the first of many times to come that Durant was along side a star point guard.  Lawson, who also played with Durant at Oak Hill, was the 9th best recruit in the class of 2006 and went to the University of North Carolina where he was a starter all three years he stayed and won ACC Player of the Year and the National Championship (beating my Spartans) in his final season as a Junior in 2009.  Lawson was selected 18th Overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves but was immediately traded to the Denver Nuggets for a future 1st rounder.  After the trade that sent Carmelo (as well as then starter Chauncy Billups) to the New York Knicks, Lawson stepped up and became the dominant floor general of a young Nuggets squad that had high hopes coming in this year's NBA Playoffs just to be dropped by the surging Memphis Grizzlies.  When I was in high school, I was afraid going up against the Flint Powers Catholic's duo of Division I recruits Tom Herzog and Laval Lucas-Perry (both that are huge busts), but I would NEVER of imaged having to face up with Lawson and KD.

Durant's senior year in high school was spent at Montrose Christian High School.  His high school teammate is current New Orleans Pelicans starting point guard Greivis Vasquez.  The then four star recruit signed with the University of Maryland and played four of the best seasons Gary Williams has ever saw since Steve Francis and Steve Blake were Terrapins.   He started 22 of 33 games as a Frosh and then went to start every game but one until falling to my Michigan State Spartans at the buzzer in the second round of the  2010 NCAA tourney his senior year.  In his final season, Vasquez received All-ACC 1st Team honors, consensus All-American 2nd Team Honors, ACC Player of the Year Honors, and the Bob Cousy Award for the nations best point guard.  He was selected 28th overall by Memphis where he had a minimal role until traded to the then Hornets in 2011.  Vasquez became the starter once Jarrett Jack left for free agency and is on his way to becoming an NBA star placing second in this season's Most Improved Player voting.

Durant was regarded as the 2nd best high school recruit in the class of 2006 behind the dominating, shaky knee'd center, Greg Oden.  He played one incredible season at the University of Texas where he was the first freshman in NCAA history to win the John R. Wooden Award, the Adolph Rupp Trophy, the Oscar Robertson Trophy, and the honors of Naismith College Player of the Year.  During his one year as a Long Horn, KD played with then frosh D.J. Augustin, forming the most prolific Freshman Duo of their time.  Augusin was the floor general that Durant's game has been accustomed to and even though his play was shadowed by Kevin's historic freshman season, he was also of of UT's best.  D.J. received All-Big 12 2nd Team honors and Big 12 All-Rookie Team honors his freshaman campaign but decided to stay one more year after Durant went pro to further develop his game.  As a Sophomore, he was an Academic All-American, a USBWA 1st Team All-American, and received the Bob Cousy Award as the Player of the Year.  D.J. was selected 9th overall by the Charlotte Bobcats in the 2008 Draft and recently signed to the surging Indiana Pacers where he is a decent role player.  Although his pro career was never has prolific as his college years, it is easy to say Durant may have never broke all the records and won all the awards without Augustin bringing the ball up court.

Durant went 2nd Overall in the 2007 NBA Draft to the then Seattle SuperSonics.  This was the same year the Sonics traded Ray Allen to the Celtics in return for a the 5th overall pick Jeff Green and a few below average bench players.  Even with decent point guard Luke Ridnour at his side, he was not enough star power to fit KD's side kick mold and the Sonics went a franchise worst 20-62 in the 07-08 season.  With the 4th overall pick in the next years draft, the newly relocated Oklahoma City Thunder selected the sophomore point guard out of UCLA, Russell Westbrook.  In '07, Westbrook had an extremely limited role his Freshman year behind star Darren Collison but then became a starter as a Soph when Collison was injured where he went to start 34 of 39 games averaging 13 points, 4 boards, 5 assists, and 1.5 steals.  His breakout game was against Derrick Rose's Memphis squad in the 2008 Final Four where he scored 22 points in the loss.

With incredible superstar potential, the Thunder couldn't pass Westbrook up and thus the legacy hath began.  Both KD and Russ have been All-Stars the past three years and have become THE best young duo in the NBA.  After 82 games this year it looked like the Thunder would skip their way to the NBA Finals after receiving the number 1 seed in the West and revenge on their mind after falling to the Miami Heat in last season's Finals.  Yet when Westbrook's postseason was ended abruptly on a busch-league steal attempt by the Rocket's Patrick Beverley, it all went down hill from there.  KD's thin shoulders were enough to carry the Thunder past the 8th seed Rockets in the first round, but, as we saw last night, it was not enough to muster the stifling defense of Tony Allen, the budding leadership of Mike Conley Jr., the length of once Piston great Tayshaun Prince, and CERTAINLY not enough for the "Ground-n-Pound" of Marc Gasol and MSU Spartan Alum (does it still count if he only played one season?) Zach Randolph of the Memphis Grizzlies.

So back to my main point - Why can't Kevin Durant win?... It has nothing to do with his frail body frame or even his outrageous, always court-side mother, but he did not have the superstar side kick that he has become accustomed to. I cannot guarantee the Thunder would have easily won the series against the Griz if Westbrook was present, but I will bet a few doll-hairs it would of went to seven games.  Kevin Martin turned out to be a lack-luster version of James Harden and Reggie Jackson showed promise but ultimately was not enough.  If Durant ever wants to be an NBA Champ and beat the Heat (who I have my money on to win this year as well as the next), he needs a healthy Russell Westbrook to be his Robin.  Until that happens, KD forever will be on his couch like the rest of us watching someone else hoist one of the few trophies he has yet to be honored.