<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p> Kevin Durant's first week of NBA practices whizzed by without many headlines. The 6-foot-9 Sonics rookie is just one of 15 pupils learning P.J. Carlesimo's sophisticated and meticulous system.</p> A day before his first official NBA game -- Tuesday night's preseason matchup with the Sacramento Kings at Arco Arena -- Durant sat against a wall at the Furtado Center with a sense of satisfaction, looking forward to the first step in a career's worth of accomplishments.</p> Nobody really recalls how Michael Jordan or LeBron James or Kobe Bryant fared in their first preseason games. But beginning Tuesday night, the NBA's focus will shift to the Sonics and the prohibitive favorite to win the rookie of the year award.</p> But Durant never talks with a personal tinge. Unlike some athletes who speak in the third person as second nature, Durant talks team, appearing reluctant to assess his own performance the past seven days.</p> There have not been, however, any images of Durant bending over or grabbing his shorts in exhaustion or looking overmatched or being the brunt of Carlesimo's verbal tirades.</p> "The kid is a ballplayer," forward Chris Wilcox said. "He is polite and nice. I don't think you could ask for a better young guy to come to our team."</p> Durant smiled when asked if the past week had been the most strenuous he's experienced as a basketball player. The answer is no.</p> "Last year was a lot worse because we practiced for 4 1/2 hours," he said of his lone season at Texas. "But here we go for two (practices) and it's kind of controlled. We learned a lot of things. College was just long and a little tougher because we did a lot of running. We did sprints here but not like college. It's more learning."</p> The Sonics ran sprints Monday when they couldn't close out practice by making their free throws. Finally, Mickael Gelabale hit two consecutive free throws to end the session.</p> Carlesimo wouldn't even confirm Durant would play, but it's likely he and fellow rookie Jeff Green will get a chunk of minutes and then experience their first back-to-back game situation Friday at Indiana and Saturday at Cleveland.</p> Durant will play shooting guard for the Sonics until he can prove he can guard NBA small forwards. The transition to the league should be gradual and Carlesimo said he is not expecting grand accomplishments right away.</p> "I am really not sure what to expect," Carlesimo said. "Kevin has done well but then again everybody has done well and adapted to the system. He is a great talent but we want to let him and Jeff learn things and make that adjustment."</p> Durant is anxious about his much-anticipated debut and is expected to match up with Kings shooting guard Kevin Martin.</p> "Yeah I'm excited, this is my first game as an NBA player," he said. "The summer league were games but it wasn't a real season. So it's going to be fun. We're looking forward to getting better, learning new things and see how we jell on the floor as a team."</div></p> Source: Seattle PI</p>
