Portland gets to meet Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant was in town to have his first face to face with Blazer management leading up to the NBA draft. He impressed many. Humility and hard work were what he described as his strong points. "I don't think I'm going to be a savior wherever I go," Durant said. "I'm just going to go in with an open mind and always work hard and get better every day. . . . I know there are going to be players wherever I go who are great, even better than me..."

Talking about hard work, this self confessed gym rat admits... "Since I was young, I wasn't a regular kid," Durant said. "All I did was play basketball. I was in the gym all day. I like a lot of different things, but not as much as basketball, so that's all I did." He talked of jogging up hills and crab walks for hours on a maniacal workout schedule. As a pro he has his role models. He likens his own game to Kevin Garnett, because of the passion he plays with, and Dirk Nowitzki, because of the way they both use the post-up game; and Tracy McGrady, with his shooting and ball-handling skills.

Durant isn't really full of himself though, he puts it this way. "I was always taught to be humble, because at any day this could be taken away from me," Durant said. "I never take it for granted. I was never cocky, because I started from nothing, and that always humbles me knowing I started from nothing and that I worked my way up.

Comments?