Lots and lots of stuff from Durant's workout Just like Wednesday, here's a transcript from many of the interviews at Friday's workout with Kevin Durant. Going into the workout I felt Durant would have to blow the Blazers' brass out of the gym in order to catch Oden on their list of preferences. Well, from what I gathered Durant did just that, and I think the Blazers' decision just got a lot tougher. Be sure to check out Sunday's Columbian for a package I'm working on about the decision, in which I'll break down the essential points that will be at the heart of the Blazers' decision. It'll include some pretty interesting stuff from Texas coach Rick Barnes about their approach to teaching Durant new ways to score -- a story that I felt summarized just how special of a talent Durant is. Also, if you haven't done so already, be sure to vote in the Columbian's poll and tell us whether you think the Blazers should draft Durant or Oden, and give us the reasons for your choice. We'll print the poll results in Sunday's paper along with several selected comments. And now, Friday's transcript: KEVIN DURANT On whether he felt like he performed like Pritchard's prediction, as an assassin: A little bit. Every time I step on the court I try to be an assassin, as you would say. So, it's for them to determine. I know I came out and played my hardest. And hopefully I did good. On his impressions of his workout: I felt good out there. I felt like I belong here. But we'll see. I came out, I think I shot the ball pretty well. Like I said, on draft day we'll see who picks me. On his expectations: It's not up to me. I think I bring a lot of hard work, determination. I think I can get better every day if I work hard. And as a team we'll get better. So that's all I'm looking forward to. On the criticism of his bench press test: I just use it as ammo to work harder. A lot of people doubted me after that, and I kind of felt down on myself for not doing as well in that camp. But my friends and family picked up me up, they encouraged me. And from there I just worked hard. On whether he's really not worried about whether he goes No.1 or No. 2: To say No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft is big-time. But if I go No. 2 I can't complain at all. I'm just blessed to be in this position, and if I go one or two, I'm happy. On whether he's surprised about where he is in his life: A little bit. I didn't know I'd be like this. I knew I worked hard every day, I dedicated myself to the game. But I didn't know I'd be like this -- all you pretty guys in here looking at me, trying to ask me questions. It's been fun for me. On his reaction to the comments Nate McMillan, Kevin Pritchard and Paul Allen made about him: It's all a dream to me. Ever since I was nine or 10 I've been wanting to go to the NBA. And to hear somebody like Mr. Pritchard and coach talk about me like that is an honor. I've been working hard all my life, and finally it's paying off. On how hard he was pushed in the workout: It wasn't too hard or too easy. It was just right in the middle. They did some stuff I never did before, but it was all good. I learned some stuff today as well. So it was a good workout. On what his daily workouts have consisted of in Seattle: Two-a-day workouts, also lifting weights. Just shooting, ball handling, that type of stuff. On what he would like to work on to improve his game: Just everything. Fine-tuning my skills. That's what I want to do every day. Work on my ball handling, my shooting, my post-up game. Everything. I work on every part of my game every day because every part of my game could get better. On if there was extra motivation to have a good workout because Oden's wasn't considered exceptional: I didn't want to try to do too much and then shoot bad or not have a good workout. I just wanted to come in here and be myself and hopefully they like me. KEVIN PRITCHARD On his impressions of the workout: I think the biggest thing is that was an incredible workout. He's in great shape. I've seen probably in this building a couple hundred workouts, and that was as impressive as any workout I've seen in here. He does a lot of things. He can really shoot the ball. He's going to play multiple positions -- Nate (McMillan) and I were just talking about how many positions he could potentially play. And in the West, he's that new-age four for me that can spread the floor, can shoot, can cause matchup problems, and when you look at Kevin, you think the kid was built to play basketball. He's long, he's athletic, he's committed to being a great player, and what we saw really impressed us today. Comparing Oden's workout with Durant's: I think it's difficult comparing apples to apples only because they play different positions. Greg is such a powerful center, an inside presence, where as Kevin's a perimeter player who can play a little bit on the inside. And you're looking at a guy who's a physical specimen in Greg, versus a very skilled guy in Kevin. The comparisons are very difficult, and that makes our jobs more difficult because we're not comparing apples to apples. But both players are in the mix for No. 1. We're gonna have a long discussion and discussions over the next few days. I was telling one of the scouts, I slept really good last night, I'm not sure I'm going to sleep the rest until draft day. It was a great workout. On Durant's struggles on the bench press test in Orlando: For him it means nothing in my opinion. Whether he can bench 185 pounds, his body of work in college and what he just did out here, as a matter of fact I think we can turn that into a positive because once he does get stronger and is able to play, you know, more positions effectively and not get pushed around maybe as much, maybe that's a positive. On whether Pritchard was surprised by Durant's workout: Well, where I think you get surprised is at his skill level. There really is nothing he can't do on the basketball court. He handles the ball, he shoots it from deep. Nate and I were talking, he could be a pick-and-roll player. You don't see many 6-10 primary ball handlers that can play pick-and-roll. And so, yeah. There were some things we saw out there that maybe we didn't see in a game, and that's what the workout is for. In games the coaches are always trying to get to his main strengths. Out here we're trying to look at everything -- what can he do, what can't he do. And we were surprised a little bit about what he can do. On whether Durant's workout was more impressive because a skill player can make a better impression during a workout: No question. Absolutely. Skill guys, it's easier to show out in an individual workout. But he showed us some athletic ability, too. On how much of a role the workout will play in the Blazers' decision: We've said this, and as a matter of fact we talked about it yesterday -- Nate, Paul, myself and all the scouts were in the room. We promised ourselves that we would just, let's keep an open mind. And now that we've gone through the process we're gonna meet with Kevin tonight, see what he is as a person, and then the decision-making process really kicks in for us. On how the process will proceed from here and how close the team is to making a decision: We're not ready to make that choice right now. I can honestly say that. We owe it to this organization to make the best choice and not the immediate choice. And so, you know, the way I make the best decisions in my mind, and I think both of us, or all of us, is we sleep on it, we let our mind kind of cook on it, and we're going to have a healthy debate. I can tell you this: There's not a consensus, nor do we want a consensus right now. I think we owe it to ourselves to have a very lively debate, to disagree about some things, to agree about some things, and then ultimately unite in a decision. That won't happen today. It's not gonna happen tomorrow. When it happens, it will happen. I don't want to force the process, and I want it to happen organically and naturally. More on the decision: I've always said that the humanistic part of us wants to please and wants to pick both these guys. I'm sitting over there thinking, how in the world can we have both these guys? You know? I'm selfish. They both look good in Portland Trail Blazers uniforms. But you know, we owe it to ourselves to make the best decision. Unfortunately we can only make one decision. And, you know, you look at this as a process. But you also, I've told the scouts, it's gonna be hard seeing the other guy in a Seattle SuperSonics uniform. That's going to be very difficult. And that's why it's so important that we make the right decision. And I don't think -- I think this is so important -- I don't think the right decision happens in the first year. You won't know the first year whether you made the right decision. You'll know three, four, five years down the line. And that's what we're trying to do. We're not trying to make the pick that's going to be the rookie of the year. We didn't try to do that with Brandon Roy. We tried to pick the best players. And the right pick won't emerge for a long time. It may be written about immediately, but I don't think the right choice will emerge until you see the teams getting into the championship level. On what his description of Durant coming in as an "assassin" means to him in basketball terms, and whether Durant lived up to that prediction: I think he's got a little bit of a killer instinct. You see it in the workouts. When he was doing a little bit of one-on-one against (assistant coach) Bill Bayno, who may be the worst defender in the United States -- where is he? I mean, he's out there trying to kill people. He's got that eye of the tiger that's really special. It makes it difficult because, how do you quantify that? That was apparent in today's workout, when he missed a couple shots he was mad at himself. I guess what it means internally for me is he has very, very high expectations, he loves basketball, he's gonna reach his full potential, there's no doubt about it. On whether the ability to find a small forward in free agency or trades is easier than finding a franchise center, and if it will affect the decision. I think traditionally the answer is yes. But there becomes a point where the talent is so overwhelming that it's easy to say that this kid is that kind of a talent. And so you don't want to pass on an incredible, we call it A-plus players. There's not many A-plus players coming into this league, regardless of position. So you don't want to pass on that kind of a player. More on his impressions of the workout: Nothing changed our minds today in terms of his workout. He is a special, special player. There's no doubt about it. I don't know what the consensus is of who we're talking or what we're taking or what we're doing. I can promise you this, there's no decision been made. And it is very, very close. On the percentage of his staff that favors each player. I'm not giving you a percentage. 50-50. On whether Durant had a better workout than Oden: I think they're different workouts. I wouldn't say it's better or worse. They're just different workouts. And what we're trying to do is compare apples to oranges because they're so different. One's a finesse, skill guy and one's a power player that really relies on his athletic and his strength. So it's very difficult to compare them apples to apples or oranges to oranges. On whether there is a wrong pick in this draft like the Jordan vs. Bowie decision: I don't think this is Bowie-Jordan. I think both of these kids are equally special and have long, high-level championship type of careers. And so the Bowie-Jordan could be wrong, but in my opinion, it's not that. Putting the question in different terms, if you throw Bowie out of the equation, is this like picking between Olajuwon and Jordan? I think that's a very, very good comparison. Olajuwon won, what, two or three championships? Jordan obviously won six championships. I think both kids have a chance to win championships and that, I mean, what stinks is I wish the No. 1 pick went to us and No. 2 went somewhere on the East so we don't have to see this guy all the time. On whether there is a wrong pick to be made in this draft: I don't think so. I think there's a more of a right pick, but I don't think there's a wrong pick. If there's not a wrong pick, why doesn't he plan on sleeping? Because the right pick, in my opinion, equals championships. And the wrong pick may not. And, you know we've talked about this kind of ad nauseam with our staff is, the thing is you take what you're about as an organization, you put it up on the board and what is really important. And what you hope happens is those ideas trickle down and help you make the decision, so you're always being consistent with your decision. You're not just making one off decisions all the time. So we write what we're about. We write what is important to us. And I'm hopeful that trickles down to making the right decision. On whether Pritchard feels the Blazers need to guard against getting too excited about Durant's abilities and letting those emotions color their decision: I think what you're getting at is, is the highlight player more valuable? Or does it color the decision. And I don't think it does. I mean, bigs traditionally don't sell shoes. I'm not in the business to sell shoes. I'm in the business to win championships. So I don't care if the guy gets on the top 10 in the highlight show on ESPN. What I'm worried about is, does he get us to a championship? Tim Duncan doesn't get too many highlights. He wins championships. So, I'm not tipping my hand by saying that. I'm just telling you that highlights isn't that important to me. If it was, would Brandon Roy be on the team? Brandon Roy probably didn't make too many highlights, but he's a heck of a player. NATE MCMILLAN On whether it makes a difference how Durant fits into the team: We'll certainly look into that, and we'll talk about the future of the organization. All of that plays a part in making a decision -- which one of these guys, both guys have amazing talent. And unlike Kevin last night I didn't sleep a wink last night. I was up all night thinking about this workout. Kevin is a talented player. He does a lot. And he'll bring an awful lot to a team. We will look at the fact that one guy is a wing and one guy's a power player, he's a center, and see which one of those players fits best with the direction we want to go with the future. On whether he envisioned what Kevin Durant could do for his team, and what players he would compare Durant to: His versatility, he can play four positions. I think you can allow him to bring the ball and allow him to play at the top of the key. He can be a big two. I think his natural position will be the three because he can shoot the ball extremely well. And his ability, his length, his size will allow him to play the four position. The one thing that, with the bigs you try to look at their feet and their hands. The skill position, what you're looking at with those guys is speed, ball handling skills, their ability to shoot the ball, reaction. We put him through some defensive skills just to see his footwork, technique there. He's gonna be fine. As far as comparing him, Rashard Lewis is a similar comparison in the sense of the length of the two, they both are small forwards. He handles the ball a little better than Rashard Lewis did when he came out. But Nowitzki, that type of guy who can spread the floor and pull a big out on the perimeter. I think one of our scouts asked me today, 'If you don't take him, how would you guard him?' He is one of those guys that, it doesn't matter who's guarding him. He can take a small player inside, and he can take a big player outside. You're talking about a Nowitzki type of player that can get his shot off anywhere. He's a very talented player. On Durant's back-to-the-basket game: He was able to do that. When I talked to his coach, the one thing they felt he needed to improve on was his back-to-the-basket game. So they tried to post him up a little bit more toward the end of the season. He was able to go down there and be effective down there. So we ran him through some drills to see his back-to-the-basket game, and we played with a token defense on him. He's 6-10, he can get his shot off. And whenever you have a guy like that with that type of length, they are always open. He can fade away to his left, fade away over his left shoulder. He can face you up. The fact that he can put the ball on the floor and create his own shot just makes him all the more dangerous playing on the perimeter. There's not many things he can't do. He is a basketball player. and he showed that today. PAUL ALLEN On how much he's enjoying the process: You can't not be excited. This is an incredible opportunity, as I've said before, for the franchise. And both these players are so young, you have to try to project three, four, five years from now and think about what kind of team you can build around them with the players we have and the players we might be able to get in the future. And that's just a very, very exciting prospect. Kevin Durant, you look at him and you think he might be able to lead the league in scoring before too many years have past. You think about Greg Oden you think you might have the top center in the league in a few years. Those are very, very exciting prospects, either way we end up making our decision. I love going to games, especially watching young players develop. And whoever we pick, it's going to be so much fun these next few years watching these players expand their games, meld with the other players on the team, and continue to build the chemistry Kevin has talked about. It's just going to be so much fun in the Rose Garden these next few years, I'm just about jumping out of my skin just waiting for summer league to start because we're going to see one of these guys in summer league. It's not that long from now we'll actually be able to see them play in Blazers uniforms. So that's great. http://0rz.tw/8e2NS --

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