Belmont and Belcourt Biographies - Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook: Unauthorized Biographies

K EVIN D URANT
AND
R USSELL W ESTBROOK

Unauthorized Biographies

Copyright 2012 by Belmont & Belcourt Biographies

All rights reserved. Neither this book nor any parts within it may be sold or reproduced in any form without permission.

eISBN: 9781619842618

Introduction

Kevin Wayne Durant is an American professional basketball player with the Oklahoma City Thunder of the NBA. A six-foot, nine-inch small forward, Durant was the consensus 2007 National College Player of the Year and the 20062007 Big 12 Conference Player of the Year. Durant played one season at the University of Texas before entering the 2007 NBA draft. There, he was selected second overall by the (then) Seattle Supersonics. From there, he went on to win the 2008 NBA Rookie of the Year award following his debut season. In the 200910 season, Durant led the NBA in scoring and became the youngest player ever to win the NBA scoring title. He would later be named to the 2010 All NBA First Team. As of this writing, he is, arguably, the most elite player in all of the NBA.

Personal

Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.

Taras Brown

Kevin Durant is the son of Wanda and Wayne Pratt. Born September 29, 1988 in Washington D.C., Kevin has one sister, Brianna, and two brothers, Tony and Rayvonne. Durant and fellow NBA player Michael Beasley (Timberwolves) grew up together. They have a close friendship and remain best friends. Durant is a spokesperson for the Washington D.C. branch of P'Tones Records, a nationwide non-profit after school music program. From the time he entered the draft in 2007, Durant was represented by agent Aaron Goodwin. On February 17, 2012, Durant announced he was splitting from Goodwin.

Durant wears No. 35 to honor his childhood AAU coach, Charles Craig, who died when he was 35. His favorite food is crab legs. He most admired Vince Carter, NBA guard/forward of the Mavericks, as a child. He loves to play video games (NBA Live and March Madness) and shop for clothes. His favorite motto, which his mentor and coach Taras Brown recites when Kevin was working out is, Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.

Durant learned to play the game of basketball from his godfather, Taras Brown. Brown was the basketball instructor at the Seat Pleasant Activities Center, where Durant spent almost every day of his childhood playing basketball. If he wasn't at school, Kevin was with Brown working on his basketball skills.

Durant grew up with his older brother Tony in Seat Pleasant, Maryland, just outside the nations capital. They were raised by their mother, Wanda Pratt, and her mother, Barbara Davis. Their father, Wayne Pratt, left the family before Kevins first birthday. He came back into his sons life when Kevin was around the age of thirteen. Both parents worked for the government, Wayne for the Library of Congress and Wanda as a postal employee.

Kevin was always the tallest boy in his class. He was also very self-conscious about his height. His mother asked his teachers to put him at the end of lines, so he wouldn't stand out as much. His grandmother, Barbara, consoled him, saying that his height was a blessing. Over the years, through all the ups and downs, she would prove to be the familys rock.

Kevin and his brother loved to play sports. They rooted for the Baltimore area sports teams, including the Washington Wizards, whose stars included Michael Jordan. Kevin would later meet Jordan after being voted MVP at a high school tournament that bore Jordan's name.

Kevin and his brother participated in a wide range of after-school sports at the local Boys and Girls Club. Despite their close relationship, they never played on the same team. In fact, when Tony finished his freshman year at Suitland High School, he decided to blaze his own path. Kevin's older brother transferred to St. John's Military School in Salina, Kansas.

Kevin was a phenomenal young basketball player. His first taste of serious competition came as a member of the Prince George Jaguars, which had AAU teams at every level. The Jaguars won two national championships with Kevin in uniform. The first came at the age of eleven, when he scored eighteen points in the second half of the final game. He was so excited after the game that he told his mother he wanted to play in the NBA.

By that time, Kevin had become best buddies with Michael Beasley. Michael's mother was also a single parent. She dropped him off at the Durant home every day for breakfast. The two boys would then ride the bus to school together. Along with Chris Braswell, another future NBA player, the three formed the Jaguars nucleus. When the team disbanded in 2003, Kevin moved on to the DC Blue Devils, where he teamed with point guard Tyrone Lawson, who would go on to win ACC Player of the Year with North Carolina.

While this was going on, Wanda and AAU coach Taras "Stink" Brown mapped out a program to maximize Kevins immense skills and potential. Brown became like a godfather to Kevin, who followed the plan to a tee. The first rule was no pickup games. Although fun, they would only engender bad habits. When Kevin wasnt playing in an organized game, he had a set of drills to perform. He became a practice junkie, normally working out eight hours a day during the summer.

Kevins hard work paid off in varsity ball. He played as a freshman and sophomore for Montrose Christian in Rockville, Maryland. The Washington Post named him the area Player of the Year after his second season. It was quite a change from his first year, when his older teammates threatened to stop passing the ball to him. Kevin had felt like quitting the team, but, recalling all those extra shifts that his mom had worked to keep food on the table, he stuck it out and earned those precious touches.

After his freshman year, Kevin shot up five inches to six feet eight inches tall. All the catch-and-shoot drills, the strategy skull sessions, and other fine-tuning with Brown, all aimed at making Kevin a great guard, had now turned him into a monster forward.

The High School Years

Kevin Durant was a basketball player almost as soon as he could walk. He played for a successful Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) youth basketball team, the PG Jaguars. That Jaguars team won multiple national championships. The team included Durant, future NBA player Michael Beasley (Timberwolves) and future college recruit, Chris Braswell, who went on to play at UNC Charlotte. At that time Durant, wore the number 35 jersey in honor of his childhood mentor and AAU coach, Charles Craig, who had been tragically murdered at age thirty-five. Durant later went on to play AAU basketball with Ty Lawson, who was a fellow McDonalds All-American (eventually a lottery pick who currently plays in the NBA for the Denver Nuggets) for the DC Blue Devils. Durant led his Montrose team in scoring and steals. During his time at Montrose, he played in The Les Schwab Invitational tournament, which was a national drawing invitational tournament at Oregon State. Durant also played with future New Orleans' Hornets point guard Greivis Vasquez while at Montrose. Durant was named a McDonald's All American and co-MVP of the 2006 McDonald's All American game, along with Chase Budinger (future second round pick and NBA player for the Houston Rockets). Durant was widely regarded as the second-best high school prospect, behind future Ohio State big man Greg Oden. This would all lead up to Durant's college career.