The Final Score: Durant, Team USA ready for “Streetball" in NYC

NEW YORK – The first thing you notice is his incredible length. Long arms. Long legs. Sort of like Arwind Santos stretched out to 6’9" like a rubber band. And like a rubber band stretched out, it recoils with force. Whappakk!

Kevin Durant, 21, is young, nimble and talented. When he darts on the court, he’s a stick figure with a basketball. For the face of the Oklahoma Thunder, however, it often pays to zip like a spear. He strikes undetected. He strikes fast. After just his third year in the NBA, Durant is already one of the best, being mentioned among the best, raring to play with the best.


“Kobe Bryant and LeBron James are still the best in the league and I don’t think I’m there yet" Durant shared during a sit-down interview at the launch of the World Basketball Festival in New York last June 9, 2010. “So many other players have done so much more for their teams than I have so far. Once I can bring my team far into the playoffs, maybe people can start to do that but I haven’t really done anything yet.“

Durant shot through the NBA’s elite this season like a missile slicing through the atmosphere. He became the league’s youngest scoring champion by scoring 30.1 points per game beating out MVP’s like Bryant and James. The Thunder’s deadly stick figure suddenly became an MVP candidate. It was talk that wasn’t meant to overhype Durant as possible MVP winner. It was, deservingly, just an affirmation of Durant’s accomplishments.

“I’m sure that for as long as Kobe Bryant, LeBron, Dirk, Melo, D-Wade, so long as they’re in the league, I won’t be the best. I’m just trying to be the best player I can be and help my team as much as I can," Durant, a 2010 NBA All-Star, stressed. “I can be the 10th best player in the league but for as long as I’m what my team needs me to be, I’m okay with that."

Although Team USA’s line-up won’t be finalized anytime soon, USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo confirmed Durant’s participation in the World Basketball Festival in New York City and FIBA World Basketball Championships in Turkey.

As part of their preparations for the World Championships, Team USA, China, France, Puerto Rico and Brazil will see action in the World Basketball Festival from August 12 to 15, 2010. In a first-of-its kind event, they will train, scrimmage and play tune-up games on an open-air basketball court in the middle of Times Square, in legendary street-ball mecca Rucker Park and inside the Madison Square Garden.

Durant, who grew up admiring the 1992 Dream Team, speaks deliberately, but his excitement is evident.

““Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and those guys worked together to make a great team. It’s something every player would like to be a part of. All those guys were all-stars and hall-of-famers but they set that aside to win a gold medal and they did that."

Source: GmaNews