Thunder notebook: Kevin Durant garners respect from Kevin McHale, Chris Webber

Before Kevin Durant went scoreless in the fourth quarter and overtime in Tuesday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Kevin McHale and Chris Webber had high praise for him during the pregame show on NBA TV. Webber called Durant one of the league’s best players and scorers.

"He’s explosive and he is on a young team,” Webber said. "And believe it or not, he can go to the basket. Even though he is skinny and has a lot of development to do, he goes to the basket like (Scottie) Pippen, and he has a right or left hand just like (Tracy McGrady). I really like his game. I think Carmelo (Anthony) is probably the easiest to score. But this guy (Durant) is a top five scorer in the NBA.”

McHale compared Durant to George Gervin.

"You look at him and think, ‘Oh I’m going to have my way with him.’ And he drops 35 on you.”

Webber stopped well short of predicting Durant is good enough to lead the Thunder to the playoffs this season.

"What coast are they on?” Webber asked. "It’s way too early to talk about a playoff spot for them.”

Thunder coach Scott Brooks isn’t ruling out the possibility of playing centers Nenad Krstic and Etan Thomas together at times this season.

"That’s a thought that I’ve had the last couple of days. It’s something to maybe experiment with down the road,” Brooks said. "To have a guy that can block shots and is a tough guy like Etan and then have a position defender and a great shooter in Nenad, it’s a good complement to one another. But I don’t know if we’re going to go to that yet.”

Brooks said he could use the duo against bigger frontlines like the Lakers’.

A preseason poll of NBA general managers listed backup point guard Kevin Ollie among 10 players who will make the best head coach. On Tuesday, Brooks agreed.

"He’s a smart player. You can tell that he’s going to be a coach on just about any level he wants to be,” Brooks said. "He’s a great veteran for our team...I like veterans who understand their role.”

Ollie has been a steady hand behind starter Russell Westbrook, committing just one turnover in 62 minutes.

After fans voted the Lakers-Thunder game as Tuesday night’s fan choice to be broadcast on NBA TV, a spokesperson for the network said the Thunder’s game against Sacramento on Tuesday currently leads fan voting for next week’s Fan Night broadcast. Voting continues until midnight tonight. ... Oklahoma City now ranks sixth in both in opponent scoring (89 points per game) and opponent field-goal percentage (42.6 percent) after the Lakers scored 101 points on Tuesday night and shot 52.1 percent. Before the game, the Thunder ranked second in opponent scoring (85 points per game) and third in opponent field-goal percentage (39.4 percent).

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