NBA Tickets – Durant Takes Scoring Title, Becomes Youngest Ever

At the ripe age of 21, many are just graduating from college to begin fledgling careers in various industries.  Kevin Durant, on the other hand, is winning scoring titles in the NBA.  At 30.1 points per game, Durant surpassed LeBron James late in the season to be the league’s most prolific scorer, helping to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder into the playoffs for the first time in their brief history.  As the Thunder face the daunting challenge of playing the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs, it would be wise not to count Kevin Durant and the rest of his teammates out.

As the second overall pick in the 2007 draft, expectations were very high for Durant when the Seattle Sonics selected him out of Texas at the age of 18.  Despite his youth and inexperience, however, Durant excelled in his first season in the NBA, scoring 20.3 points per game and taking down the Rookie of the Year award at the end of the season.  This wasn’t enough to keep the Sonics in Seattle, of course, as they promptly moved to Oklahoma City, but Durant’s development has been nothing short of prodigious.  As one of the bright young superstars in the league, Durant has already sold plenty of <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://www.stubhub.com/nba-tickets/”>NBA tickets</a>.

In his first season in Oklahoma City, Durant gave the franchise something to cheer about by scoring 25.3 points per game and significantly improving his shooting percentage and rebounding in the process.  But even as expectations surrounding Durant’s 2009-2010 regular season were high, not many would have predicted the end result.  Durant topped the league with 30.1 points per game but also added 7.6 rebounds per game to the mix, making him an improving all-around player who can do more than simply score the basketball.

With the help of budding star Russell Westbrook, Durant brought the Thunder to the playoffs in the ultra-competitive West.  Despite a much tougher schedule than Eastern Conference teams, the Thunder won 50 games in the regular season, which were as many victories as the Boston Celtics had at the end of the season.  While the 50 wins were only good enough for the eighth seed in the West for the Thunder, they were good enough for the fourth seed in the East for the Celtics.

What has allowed Durant to take the next step in his scoring development is also something that can be easily overlooked.  Like all the great scorers from Michael Jordan to Kobe Bryant, Durant proved capable of getting to the free throw line on a regular basis, allowing him to put up big scoring numbers even on off shooting nights.  Durant was one of only six players in the league to shoot 90% from the floor this season, which is remarkable considering he led the league in attempts with 840.

Durant also is in rare company in terms of scorers in the league’s history.  Michael Jordan didn’t lead the league in scoring or score 30 per game until he was 24, the same age as LeBron was when he led the league in scoring.  Kobe Bryant didn’t lead the NBA in scoring until he was 27.  Allen Iverson was 23.  Durant’s offensive development, based on a diverse mid-range game and a smooth jump shot, has been so rapid that it’s impossible to imagine the levels that he might ascend to.  When all is said and done, he could very well be among the best scorers the NBA has ever seen.

Durant’s scoring abilities will also be one of the main focuses of the upcoming series between the Lakers and the Thunder.  If the Thunder are to remain in the series, Durant will have to post a Herculean effort and score the basketball at will, which is something he certainly is capable of.  As Durant heads deeper into his career following this season, it’s clear that he will remain one of the very best scorers in the entire NBA, and there’s no way of knowing just how bright his future truly is.

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David James -
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