Originally published Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Sonics' Durant will get rookie of year
League sources say No. 2 overall draft pick Kevin Durant has been voted as NBA's top rookie. Official announcement is scheduled to come Thursday.
Seattle Times staff reporter
Kevin Durant, who led all first-year players in scoring, assists and free-throw percentage, will be named the NBA's rookie of the year and become the first Sonics player to win the award.
Two league sources confirmed Durant outdistanced second-place finisher Al Horford, an Atlanta forward. The sources spoke anonymously because the official announcement is scheduled for Thursday.
Durant, who has spent the past couple of weeks in his hometown of Washington, D.C., will collect the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy at a team function in downtown Seattle.
The selection is hardly a surprise.
The Sonics shooting guard became the favorite to win the award at the start of the season when Portland center Greg Oden, the first player taken in last year's draft, underwent season-ending knee surgery.
Durant, the second overall pick, left Texas after his freshman season. He had no difficulty adapting to the NBA. Durant immediately became the centerpiece of a young Sonics team, along with fellow rookie Jeff Green.
Durant, 19, collected five of the six Western Conference rookie of the month honors, but the Sonics were losers. The team finished with a 20-62 record, the worst in the 41-year history of the franchise.
A few NBA observers, including TNT analyst Charles Barkley, believed Horford is more deserving of the award because he averaged 10.1 points and 9.7 rebounds and helped the Hawks end a nine-year playoff drought.
Houston coach Rick Adelman lobbied hard for Luis Scola, saying the Rockets would not have finished fifth in the West without the 28-year-old forward who averaged 10.3 points and 6.4 rebounds.
Still it was impossible for a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters to overlook Durant's sensational scoring ability.
Only six rookies averaged at least 10 points, and Durant led everyone with a 20.3 average that was 7.6 points higher than the Los Angeles Clippers' Al Thornton (12.7).
Durant's scoring average is the highest for a rookie since LeBron James finished the 2003-04 season with a 20.9 average. Only three of the past 10 rookie winners (Durant, James and Elton Brand) have averaged at least 20 points in their first season.
In 80 games, Durant was first among rookies in assists (192), free-throw percentage (87.3), free throws attempted (448) and made (391), and minutes per game (34.6). He was second in steals (78) and third in field-goal percentage (43.0), blocks per game (.84) and three-point field goals (59).
Percy Allen: 206-464-2278 or pallen@seattletimes.com
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
UPDATE - 9:40 PM
Portland stops Orlando, which plays without suspended Dwight Howard
Chicago Bulls hand Miami Heat fourth straight loss | NBA
Local NBA connections: Catching up with Martell Webster
New Jersey earns 137-136 victory over Toronto in 3 OT in London
Ex-Washington Husky Nate Robinson has knee surgery | NBA

general classifieds
Garage & estate salesFurniture & home furnishings
Electronics
just listed
***Stunning Akc POMERANIAN baby girl W/ FUL...
12 U Select Baseball Coach Wanted
1994 WIn 1901
More listings
POST A FREE LISTING
- Agency set to investigate handling of 911 call about Josh Powell
- Proposal to link Market, aquarium may be too ambitious for Seattle
- Chilling 911 tapes reveal pleas for help to go to Josh Powell home
- Lakewood cop accused of embezzling $150K meant for slain officers' families
- UW's Shawn Kemp Jr. makes own way despite familiar name, number | Steve Kelley
- State Medicaid program to stop paying for unneeded ER visits
- NBA's David Stern open to league returning to Seattle
- 3 big health insurers stockpile $2.4 billion as rates keep rising
- Prosecutor: Powell's final act ends doubt he killed wife
- Was idea of court-ordered test too much for Josh Powell?
- State Medicaid program to stop paying for unneeded ER visits
- 3 big health insurers stockpile $2.4 billion as rates keep rising
- Here it is: The secret to stir-fried chicken | Taste
- Local aerospace suppliers say they feel squeezed by Boeing
- Dicks channeled federal money to Puget Sound project his son ran
- 'Gauguin and Polynesia': dazzling mix-and-match | Art review
- Buttoned Up: Nine immutable laws of time management
- Happy Hour: French-accented charm at Gainsbourg
- One man's audacious pursuit of sailing history
- Gay-marriage bill passes House, awaits Gregoire's signature



