40 Acres Sports

Texas Ex [tag]Kevin Durant[/tag] was drafted number two behind Greg Oden but since then then their paths couldn’t be any more different. Durant was the 2007-08 Rookie of the Year while Oden missed the entire season due to an injury. This season Durant is averaging over 25 points per game and 6 boards while Oden is putting in 8.7 points and 7 rebounds for Portland.

There first head-to-head match-up in the NBA Friday night was even more one sided as KD came up huge in a 102-93 Oklahoma City win. He had his third straight 30+ point game while Oden played only 16 minutes and scored 4 points. Watch a nearly all-Durant highlight reel from ESPN below:

Think Portland GM Kevin Pritchard might be having a sleepless night tonight thinking about that draft pick? The Blazers are a great young team, but add a dominant player like Kevin Durant at small forward to a lineup that includes former Horn [tag]LaMarcus Aldridge[/tag] and they’d be tough to beat.

Former Longhorns [tag]TJ Ford[/tag] and [tag]Kevin Durant[/tag] matched up Monday night and both had big games. Ford’s Pacers pulled out the win thanks in big part to his 11 fourth quarter points. TJ finished the game close to a triple double with 24 points, 10 assists, and seven rebounds. Durant kept the Thunder in it by leading all scorers with 37 points and chipping in eight rebounds.

Watch the highlights:

Video removed by ESPN! Bah.

Last week, Texas quarterback [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] graced the cover of Sports Illustrated and then avoided the jinx when he went out and walloped the Missouri Tigers. The NBA preview edition is out and on the one of the regional covers of the magazine is former Longhorn basketball star [tag]Kevin Durant[/tag].

No big article on Durant or the OKC Thunder but he is of course the main feature on the team preview. Another form Horn [tag]LaMarcus Aldridge[/tag] is also the focus of the Blazers’ preview, but of course the overrated Greg Oden gets an eight-page story. Whoever the real star is, the experts expect another big improvement this season for Portland.

Click on the thumbnail on the left to view a larger version.

The team formerly known as the Seattle Supersonics officially debuted their new Oklahoma City team name and logo this evening. To no one’s surprise the team name is the Oklahoma City Thunder, but I’m not sure anyone expected the logo to be completely terrible. I’d love to support [tag]Kevin Durant[/tag], but I’m not wearing anything with that on it.

It honestly appears as if they spent $71 at TemplateMonster or LogoMaker.com. They used so much money paying off the city of Seattle that they were forced to get on the Internet and search for “basketball logo templates” and after 10 minutes decided on “Basketball team logo 3” you see now on their merchandise. Wow.

The logo says nothing about the team, the city, or the mascot. All it says is swooshy colors and “basketball.” I just hope the state of Oklahoma never gets a pro football team, I shudder to think what their logo would look like.

Good luck up there Kevin, you’re going to need it.

Kevin Durant is the future of Team USA. The 2012 Dream Team should feature KD and several more of the league’s new stars.

Kevin Durant will play for Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008-09. Awful name. I was hoping they’d go with the Durantulas.

Kevin Durant makes “Best Cameo” of Orlando Summer League. I love to hear that Westbrook is playing so well.

Kevin Durant wants to earn his degree from Texas. Took one class this summer and hopes to take more next summer.

Kevin Durant headlines NBA’s all-rookie team, but one moron didn’t put him on their team. Probably a Hawks writer.

The NBA announced on Thursday that former Longhorn [tag]Kevin Durant[/tag] was the winner of the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy as the 2007-08 T-Mobile NBA Rookie of the Year. He’s the first Longhorn to ever win the award.

Durant received 90 out of 125 first-place votes finishing comfortably ahead of Atlanta’s Al Horford and Houston’s Luis Scola. Somehow five sportswriters didn’t even put Durant in their top two. Kevin average 20.3 points (7.6 points more than any other rookie), 4.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game in his rookie season.

Congratulations Kevin!

Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
Kevin Durant	Seattle	90	30	5	545
Al Horford	Atlanta	30	74	18	390
Luis Scola	Houston	5	20	61	146
Al Thornton	L.A. Clippers	—	1	27	30
Jamario Moon	Toronto	—	—	7	7

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