Kevin Durant: the "NOT NICE" crisis

Remember last year’s NBA Finals? It was the epic series that many assumed and believed was the prelude to a rivalry that could change the face of the league and the sport forever. A rivalry that many hoped and wished would polarize the whole league and carve equations similar to what maybe Bird and Magic or even Wilt and Russell shared.

The rivalry between the two best players in the league: LeBron James and Kevin Durant.

Well yes, there is a difference of four seasons between the two players and the difference in seasoning did play a big factor in the series. Kevin Durant was maybe the better scorer, but LeBron, fueled and seasoned with the 9-year long allegations of being the best player who failed in clutch situations, was not ready to give in to the finesse of Durant. To LeBron, it wasn’t about basketball but the need to prove to his doubters that he was far beyond the highlight dunks and the flashy moves. He was a man on a mission; driven by the need and the desire to earn some vindication after a tumultuous hyper-pressurized onerous reign as the best player in the game who couldn’t get the job done. He just wanted to win more than anyone else on the court and that showed. Durant was shooting the lights out, but LeBron owned him. He took him on the block, pushed him and posted up on him and threw him off his finesse game. He was just the bigger man in every sense of the word.

While the spangle and the glory resided with the Heat, the skepticism and the cynicism towards the Oklahoma City Thunder and specially Durant was relatively kinder. To many, it was like his premier night, the debut of a gifted player who they assumed would be the anti-thesis to LeBron’s claim of going on a winning marathon of “not one, not two….”. Durant did shine through as he showcased enough to get the crowd believing and the savants contemplating about the possibilities and the contingency of him bearing the necessary intangibles that make NBA legends. Fans and savants now believed that they had a true rivalry brewing. A mid-market team led by just a 23-year-old kid against the celebrated team from South Beach led by the most gifted player on the planet.

Amidst this superficial desire, the fans and savants chose to bedizen the prodigious talents of Durant, who, for them, was already the heir to the NBA crown. They vehemently defended Durant, evaluated him on the basis of his 30 points/game average on 50% shooting in the Finals. They cherished and applauded him, claiming, “He did went up against LeBron who is maybe the best wing defender in the game and still roasted him for 30 points a game. Isn’t that special?” Yes it is. Championship special? No.

Many didn’t understand that Durant actually had a legitimate chance to win it all. He did the scoring all right, but he failed on the other ends. He didn’t rebound well enough; he didn’t do enough of the play-making and for most parts of the series, Russell Westbrook seemed the sheriff on the team and the alpha dog. Durant, beyond his imperious skills as a basketball player, didn’t do enough to inspire his teammates to greatness. He didn’t find any role-player stepping up like the Battier’s and the Miller’s. It was a young team and when the going got tough, they seemed to lose all their direction. And in such moments, it was Westbrook that came across as the more vociferous leader.

But when Westbrook stood out as a leader and a fighter, many complained that he tried to steal the thunder from Durant. He was shooting a low percentage from the field, and shot a miserly 13.8% from beyond the arc. Even then, he raked up more shots than Durant, with some of those coming at crucial moments of the 4th quarter in almost all the games. Many were quick to point out that if one plays the percentages and Durant takes those shots over Westbrook, the scenario could have been much different.

The scenario did change with the beginning of this season. The London Olympics were expected to have a great seasoning effect on Durant and turn him from a prodigy into a legitimate champion. Almost on cue, Durant came up with a public statement: “I’ve heard a few times, in three or four years, this league is going to be yours. I don’t like that. Because I think I’m established now. My time is now. I feel as though I have proven myself these last five years that I can be one of the top players in the league. I’ve a long way to go to being the ultimate best, but I think my time is now. And I’m starting to enter my prime.”

A bold statement, but Durant backed it up with his game in the early going of the season. Westbrook seemed to have worked on his ball distribution skill and adapting to the play-making duties, especially with the departure of James Harden making it a necessity. He still displayed the penchant for trying to do too much and force shots, but the maturity was creeping in and the Thunder were playing the best basketball in the West.

Durant was shooting his way into the scoring charts and with LeBron and the Heat going on their hypnagogic win streak, the league and the media was having a field day. The hype grew higher and with that hype, maybe the amiable finesse player in Durant was forced to adapt. The same player who saw no harm in training with his arch rival LeBron in the pre-season was seen trying to adopt a mask of cerebral assassination that the likes of Kobe and Garnett made a living from. He was suddenly getting technical fouls for complaining too much, was ejected in a game, was suddenly media-savvy and was giving statements on random issues like whether teams should be given more time in announcing the player names and the pre-game routines.

To go with this image, you suddenly have Nike bring out a “Not Nice” Kevin Durant campaign, promoting a version of Kevin Durant who throat-slashed after a posterizing dunk, a player who openly came up and ranted about how fed up he was from being second-best in everything. The media and the savants were now seeing a side of Durant beyond the smiling shooter who many believed was amongst the rare few blue-collared genuine personalities in the sport – a Durant that made for great news stories, a Durant that got the fans and the league interested, a Durant that was very different from the kid who was the toast of Oklahoma for his heart both off and on the court.

And maybe in the midst of all the chaotic exacerbating rants, the very heart of Durant was going through trial. Durant wasn’t supposed to ever be “Not Nice”. He is a basketball junkie, a true impassioned fan of the game who loves the sport more than anything in the world. During the lock-out when you had NBA stars trying their luck in foreign lands, taking vacations, shooting reality shows, Durant spent his time playing in the Rucker league, in parks and invitational games. He was busy helping out the community, getting on with his charity events and spreading as many smiles as he could. His integrity was always beyond suspicion as even as an 18-year old, he chose to sign with Nike while forgoing a bigger deal with Adidas solely because he had always used and worn Nike all through his life. He was always meant to be like a David Robinson, a nice guy at heart but still ultra-competitive on the court. The ‘not nice’ attitude simply never suited him.

At this juncture, the conundrum regarding the identity of the alpha dog in the team was at its apex. Durant was the better player, but Westbrook played with a heart and spirit that in many ways defined the Thunder. Westbrook seemed like the player who imbibed the starry shenanigans, had a swagger about him, wore the most horrendous of clothes but succeed in grabbing the media’s attention, showed up in most of the post-match press conferences and did the maverick starry stuff. Durant was maybe in another league in terms of basketball ability, but Westbrook was ensuring that he got his own craved share of the spotlight. Legitimacy was certainly an issue, and Durant was too good not to be the star of the team. The pundits were quick to pounce on Westbrook’s insolence but the identity of the No. 1 guy in the dynamic duo was still a matter of speculation. The problem did throw up a possible opportunity to be resolved when Westbrook got injured.

The focus was now on Durant. Did he have it in him to inspire his team despite Russell’s absence? Well, he took to it like a man. He posted LeBron-esque numbers, averaging over 30 points/game, over 6 assists and 9 rebounds. He was playing at an MVP level, but for once he had nobody to share the spotlight with. He had the ball in his hands and he made all the right decisions, showing that he could create and get his team involved as well as isolate and score.

However, now the whole opposition was keyed into him. Suddenly, he wasn’t the wing player who could use off-ball screens and spot-up to shoot or run the lane and find the easy dunk. He was always up against double-teams, triple-teams and sometimes had the whole 5 on him. He did try and do the smart thing, by dishing it to his open teammates, but when they failed to step up and knock down the shots, it all fell on his shoulders. Quite similar to what Olajuwon had with his cast in Houston, or maybe what Iverson had in his time with the Sixers. It was now up to him to play at a far greater level, play beyond his physical limitations, play with a heart that gets his team motivated and gets them into the game. He needed to be clutch now, and it was tough. He had the ball for major part of three quarters and that does take a toll. His legs weren’t as fresh as he was used to them being in the fourth quarter of normal games. The pressure was also greater and now he had nobody he could defer to.

He had never been the player who could do a Kobe Bryant and take 35 shots in play-off games. He was too well-coached to do that. He couldn’t do a Magic Johnson and rake in 15 assists. He was a different kind of player. But against the Grizzlies, it wasn’t about who he was and how he liked to play. He needed to take 30 shots when he knew that nobody else in the team was making their open shots. I would have rather liked him to go 14-30 than see him go 12-20 and watch Reggie Jackson go 2-10 or Kevin Martin go 3-12 from the field. This is again about playing the percentages. Scott Brooks, maybe, wouldn’t like that and maybe Durant didn’t play that kind of a game. Durant was forced into a play-maker, dribbling his way through screens, getting the hard fouls and resisting contested jumpers to kick the ball out to open teammates.

Durant was subjected to a level of physicality and attention that he wasn’t very comfortable with. This was Kobe and Jordan territory and not many stars in the league have managed to stand true to that daunting yardstick. And come clutch time he failed big time. In the last four games against the Grizzlies, Durant averaged 4-22 in the fourth quarter, missed several easy looks and crucial free-throws. In the close-out game he was 5-21 from the field. This, coming from the player who consistently rates amongst the best in the league in clutch stats, is just unacceptable.

This was, maybe, a window into the character of a player who still needed to learn the finer nuances of leading a team to a championship – to be the emotional rock, the vociferous preacher, somebody who shoulders and lends responsibility as well as makes everyone accountable. Somebody who can go face-to-face with his teammates, call them out openly, criticize when it is due, pamper when necessary. What we saw was a player who played his heart out, but didn’t do anything more than that. He was easily the best player on the court, but he didn’t lead the team like one.

Post the tumultuous campaign, many assumed Durant would have learnt some important lessons about being the alpha dog, lessons that LeBron took 9 years to learn. However, the defiant Durant was still not miserable, as many expected him to be. Post the loss to the Grizzlies he said, “Nothing’s ever a wasted year for me. It’s basketball. I’ve grown so much as a man since the beginning of the season. I’ve grown so much as a leader. Nothing is ever wasted. Of course, the ultimate goal in this league is to win a championship. But I’m never going to say I wasted a year. I’m blessed to even wake up and do something I love every day. So it’s never wasted. We take that for granted a lot. But that’s something I’m not going to do. I enjoy playing this game. I enjoy playing for this city, my teammates. So every day I get to see those guys and go through some tough times and laugh and argue, it’s never wasted. I’m just blessed to be here. And I’m never going to take it for granted. I’m going to be who I’m going to be. I’m not Kobe Bryant. I’m not Michael Jordan. I’m not LeBron James. I’m not Magic Johnson. I’m me. I’m not going to ever compromise myself, my integrity and what I believe in for winning some basketball games and winning a championship. That’s just not I how I was brought up.”

Many savants and pundits may actually question his drive. Jordan wouldn’t have done so. Kobe wouldn’t have either. It just comes across that Durant doesn’t care. But in all fairness to him, this is just a man who put in his best, his heart and soul into a game he loves and for a team he cherishes. It is his moment of truth when he sits and reflects on his efforts and what transpired with him. He loves the game too much to be drawn into the LeBron and Kobe tirade. He respects the sport and is ready to take the loss as a man, thank the heavens above for an opportunity to fight and live on to fight another day. This is maybe a truer form of what Durant has always been. Genuine, veritable and honest.

The scary thing is that Durant will still get better because he is still only 24 years old. He will get wiser and maybe find a way to win while being himself rather than being an image of what the media wants him to be. Maybe, one day he will stand up and prove that good guys don’t always finish last.