Report: Durant's workout raises eyebrows at camp (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2007/news/story?id=2894925)

ESPN.com news services

Updated: June 6, 2007, 10:30 AM ET


Kevin Durant wowed NBA teams in his one college season at Texas. At last week's pre-draft camp? Not so much, according to a confidential draft camp report obtained by The Seattle Times.

According to the newspaper, the report said Durant was ranked 78th out of 80 NBA prospects who worked out at Orlando, while Ohio State center Greg Oden had an impressive workout.

Oden and Durant have long been slated to go 1-2 in the NBA draft, and it's expected the Seattle SuperSonics will take Durant after the Portland Trail Blazers take Oden.

According to the Times, Durant was the only prospect at camp who failed to bench press 185 pounds, and finished behind Oden in some key drills, including the vertical leap, agility drill and three-quarter court sprint.

Oden jumped 34 inches in the vertical leap while Durant jumped 33½ inches, completed the agility drill in 11.67 seconds to Durant's 12.33 seconds, and finished the three-quarter court sprint in 3.27 seconds, ahead of Durant's 3.45 seconds, according to the report.

Durant, however, had a 7-4¾ wingspan, which ranked second among all prospects and measured a half-inch wider than Oden's wingspan.

But Durant's college coach said scouts should not question his strength just because he could not bench press 185 pounds.

"If people question his strength, they're stupid," Texas' Rick Barnes said Tuesday, according to The Dallas Morning News. "If they are looking for weight lifters to come out of Texas, that's not what we're producing. There are a lot of guys who can bench press 300 pounds in the NBA who couldn't play dead in a cowboy movie. Kevin's the best player in the draft -- period, at any position."

Good, maybe he'll drop to #15.














no green text required, I hope

Haha, I can bench 185 and I am by no means a well built person. I only way about 170 and I'm 6'1", so that tells you how I'm built. Shit, when I used to work out in college I could put up over 200 with my lowsy build. How can an almost professional athelete that has access to workout facilities and trainers like they have at Texas...not be able to bench 185?

Clearly the guy doesn't work out at all. By no means would I not take him #2, he just needs to focus on his training when he gets to the NBA or he's going to get worn down.

Tay is supposed to be pretty poor in that department as well. I laugh in the face of anyone who was going to take Durant but changes there mind based on how much the kid can bench.

The reason he can't get hat up, is that he isn't built for it. Did you see his wingspan, its more than 7 bleeping inches taller than his true heigth. He still should be able to do it with a little bit of training, but that is an obstacle.

I don't buy it. I'm so skinny you can see my ribs and I could put up 185 after about a month of casual lifting. Nobody is asking him to be a workout warrior, but he better bulk up a little or he won't last. And yes, I'd still take him #2. He'll understand when he's playing against better athletes here.

i think the more important concern would be his exercise discipline and his ability to stay healthy. if he's not working out and taking care of his body, you can expect lower back problems in his future...

I already said it, he's just Luol Deng with a 3 pt shot.

I already said it, he's just Luol Deng with a 3 pt shot.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

I am a pretty well built guy, and my wingspan is 5 inches longer than my height. Bench press, when working out, is my ultimate weakness... Just saying that, from personal experience, in can be much more difficult for guys with longer wingspans to bench press.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Now now, then I'd officially be retarded :D

Absolutely it is. It's a matter of physics. With longer arms it takes more force to bench the same weight. At the same time, like Matt said it's not a matter of him being a beast in the wieght room, but being in good shape overall. i'm sure Prince and RIP aren't bench machines, but I also bet they can bench 225+ despite their thin frames. As long as he's dedicated to being in good shape and not worrying about numbers, he's fine. However if that is an indication of being lazy (off the court), then he'll be in trouble eventually.

"If they are looking for weight lifters to come out of Texas, that's not what we're producing. There are a lot of guys who can bench press 300 pounds in the NBA who couldn't play dead in a cowboy movie. Kevin's the best player in the draft -- period, at any position."

classic line


As soon as they put weight benches on the floor during a game, I'll take this as relevent

[Tayshaun Prince] has also recorded a 135 max bench press lift according to numerous teammates including Chauncey Billips, Rasheed Wallace, and former teammates Darko Milicic, and Ben Wallace.

Wow, Tay would struggle to bench me.......

I'm not buying what Wiki is selling. 135? No way. I could see that maybe as a draft pick, but still today? That's hard to believe.

I CALL BULLSHIT!!

HOW DOES HE INSTALL WINDOWS ALL SUMMER LONG THEN??

135? i heard tyson chandler couldnt put up 115 when he came in. i also heard there is a video of a young shaq at an army base putting up either 400 or 600 ( i realize thats an obscene number). im not a huge durant fan, but these workouts wouldnt worry me if i were. i bet larry bird wouldnt have done well, either. i'd be much more worried about the 10 losses and the first weekend exit than a bad workout.

He probably only installs the ones filled with argon gas.

135? i heard tyson chandler couldnt put up 115 when he came in.

So what are you saying? Dominguez High School uses a broom stick and two milk jugs for their weight room equipment?

I have a 6'8"+ wingspan.

I bench pressed like a wuss when I used weights.

I'd like to think my long arms have something to do with it.

I have a 6'8"+ wingspan.

I bench pressed like a wuss when I used weights.

I'd like to think my long arms have something to do with it.
Seconded. I use it as my excuse anyway.

Yeah, I'm 5'10 and have a 6' 4' wing. My friends called my McHale in HS. I couldn't bench 125 twice in HS, but most of my other maxes were on par.

There is too much emphasis on how fast people can run, how athletic they are, etc.

For some stupid reason, front offices fail to see that it isn't the quick teams who win championships (ie. GSW, Phoenix, even Memphis tried it...) and go to try and find the most athletic players in the draft, instead of going for those with good basketball IQ. Something, that IMO is way more important.

Look at Sammy Dalembert for instance. Hes being paid 10mil per season for put-backs and weak-side D... his basketball IQ is way too low for him to do anything else, but at least he is athletic, right?

And then theres Millsap. Last year, when I did my annual 3minutes of looking at whos in the draft, I noticed Millsap, and how he had lead the NCAA in rebounding 3 years in a row. For some fucked up reason, he ends up falling right to the bottom, yet funnily enough, ends up being one of the best rookies this season. But hey, he is 6'8" right... How good could he be? Clearly not as good as O'Bryant, because he is 7 foot!!!!! [smilie=hyper.gif]

So yeah, these results are not only useless, but they negatively impact the way GMs scout players.
Then again, if they choose to rely too much on it when drafting, its their own dam fault. It should be a tool in the box, not the whole tool box.

We all saw how good Darko turned out with his rave workout reviews.

Workouts are not everything, but what people are saying in here is that if you don't condition your body properly then you won't last long, especially not as a scoring wing like he is. If it's because his arms are long, no biggie. If it's because he eats pizza and doesn't work out, he'll be in trouble. It's the work ethic, not the numbers that matter.

Posted by Justin Rogers (http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/about.html) June 06, 2007 11:58AM



An interesting note that has everyone buzzing is super prospect Kevin Durant's underwhelming performance.
June 6, ESPN.com: (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2007/news/story?id=2894925) According to the Times, Durant was the only prospect at camp who failed to bench press 185 pounds, and finished behind Oden in some key drills, including the vertical leap, agility drill and three-quarter court sprint.
Oden jumped 34 inches in the vertical leap while Durant jumped 33½ inches, completed the agility drill in 11.67 seconds to Durant's 12.33 seconds, and finished the three-quarter court sprint in 3.27 seconds, ahead of Durant's 3.45 seconds, according to the report.


The bench was obvious (Oden is far bulkier), but Oden out jumped him, had better agility, and a faster sprint time.

Good, maybe more people will start to realize that Oden's a fuckin' freak.

Bench press doesn't mean shit, and the guys that are actually worried about that are ridiculous. Strength is something that will come to you as long as you keep working on it.

Case in point - I couldn't bench 125 when I played varsity basketball at 6'7 and a 6'9 wingspan. I was a stick but I still was a good player. College came around and the team had a strength and conditioning coach that worked me up to my current bench of 315. It's just technique and hard work.

However, the bench press isn't even what helped me in college. How many times in a basketball game are you going to be pushing something with a wall at your back? It's how you control what strength and weight you have. How many people have you seen Tay back down that are twice his body mass? The more athletic guy wins, 95% of the time. So much of basketball training isn't even weight training anymore.

LOL at whoever would even think not being able to bench 185 throws up any question marks.

It's the other numbers that worry me. He could be a guy that just gets by on talent and doesn't work to be the best. Nobody wants another Rodney White, or even Glenn Robinson. I'm not saying that is the case. But it's something to watch for. Maybe Oden is simply a freak. I wonder how Durant compared to others at his position.

Given the "we should've drafted Carmelo" sentiments I've seen before, a lot of people would've been happy with the second coming of Big Dog.

I wasn't really down on Carmelo, but more up on using that "free pick" on a big man of the future. It was more about the upside of darko than any downside of Melo. I think a lot of us where hoping for the Big Dog again because we weren't taking Darko. I started disliking Melo more for his comments and stupid hair than him as a player.