Heavy Expectations

The majority of my earlier posts were focused on the immense expectations that the media, the fans, and the league were placing on some teams and individual players before the 2010-2011 season went underway. And one player and one team that has felt the burden of these heavy expectations is forward Kevin Durant.

Durant was coming off a season that saw him become the youngest scoring champion (30.1 ppg) in NBA history at 21 years of age. In the 2010 playoffs, he matched superstar Kobe Bryant in an exciting duel between present star versus future star. He led the USA team in the summer FIBA tournament to its first gold medal since 1994 and was named Most Valuable Player of the whole tournament. He has no nagging injury, tremendous upside from an already spectacular 2009-2010 season. More than half of NBA experts (67%) picked him to be league MVP this year, surpassing the likes of Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Dwayne Wade.

But after nine games, his team has won five, whereas other teams, such as the New Orleans Hornets and the Los Angeles Lakers have remained undefeated or suffered but a single loss. He's shooting a horrendous 41% from the field. He seems to be forcing the issue, compiling at least four turnovers a game. It's been a nightmare first couple of weeks for Durant.

Or is it? Or are we aligning his performance too closely with the ridiculously high expectations we had of this young 22-year old? Sure he's not playing like the MVP we thought he was going to play like. Defenses are stricter on him and his team. Double teams come more frequently. Other teams corral him anytime they find the opportunity, so he's forced to pass the ball to his teammates, but whoever said he was an amazing passer? All of us should really take a step back and let the young man develop a little bit, and not preordain him with accomplishments after one season of play. Had he not been expected to accomplish so much, he would be having an awesome couple of weeks, instead of this "nightmare" one that some are labeling it.


- Leather Head