Stars may have aligned if NBA hadn’t hooked Horns

ORLANDO, Fla. — Kevin Durant was 16 years old the day he committed to play college basketball for Rick Barnes at Texas, full of hope and vigor and youthful naïveté.

He signed with UT a few months later, in June 2005, eager to join a cache of talent — led by imposing big man LaMarcus Aldridge — that later that season would carry the Longhorns to the Elite Eight.

What happened next would alter Durant’s vision, as well as the course of a program and, perhaps, the perception of a coach. Aldridge declared for the NBA draft in the spring of 2006, months before Durant landed in Austin, and took two other starters with him.

The first time Durant and Aldridge will play together will be in Orlando, in Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game. It will come as former Longhorns.

“I was sad he left early,” Durant reflected Friday in Orlando. “We didn’t get to play together. I’m happy he’s an All-Star this year, and I’m glad I get to play with him now.”

In the big picture, life worked out for both short-term Longhorns-turned-Western Conference All-Stars.

A two-time NBA scoring champion with Oklahoma City, the 23-year-old Durant is set to appear in his third consecutive All-Star Game and make his second straight start.

Aldridge, at 26, is in the middle of his best pro season, averaging 22.3 points and 8.3 rebounds as Portland’s centerpiece, and he’s eager to make his All-Star debut.

“It’s something I’ve worked for my whole life,” Aldridge said.

Viewed through burnt orange lenses, however, Sunday’s All-Star extravaganza at the Amway Center will provide a bittersweet reminder of what might have been.

Certainly, the 2006-07 Longhorns would have at least been favorites for the Final Four, if every player eligible to stick around for Durant’s arrival had.

Barnes’ roster that season could have featured not only Durant and Aldridge, a pair of future All-Stars, but three other future NBA players in Daniel Gibson (Cleveland), D.J. Augustin (Charlotte) and Damion James (New Jersey).

There was also P.J. Tucker, the 2005-06 Big 12 Player of Year, who surrendered his final season of eligibility but did not stick in the NBA after Toronto took him in the second round. That’s not to mention C.J. Miles, who committed to UT in 2005 but was drafted by Utah straight out of high school.

Asked Friday how often he thinks about what that pipe-dream roster could have accomplished in Austin, Durant answered “all the time.”

“We would have challenged Florida, I think, in the championship game,” Durant said.

It wasn’t to be.

Gibson and Tucker also left early after the Elite Eight, following Aldridge out the door and leaving Durant to spearhead a talented but freshman-laden group the next season. UT went 25-10 in Durant’s lone season, which ended with a loss to Southern California in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Like Durant, Aldridge admits he ponders the national titles that could have been, but never for long. Even with all that assembled talent, Aldridge says, it’s difficult to predict how it all would have meshed.

“Sometimes, you can have too much talent, and a coach can’t use everybody right,” Aldridge said. “I’m glad things worked out like they did.”

In the time since Durant left to become the No. 2 overall pick, the Longhorns have advanced past the Sweet 16 just once. This year’s team is 17-11 and in danger of snapping a 13-season streak of tournament appearances.

For UT fans tuning into Sunday’s All-Star game, the showcase will provide a bittersweet look at what got away.

When Western Conference coaches added Aldridge to the roster, perhaps no opposing player was as excited as Durant.

“I think he should have been an All-Star last year,” Durant said.

Instead, Durant had to wait another year to play with Aldridge. After all this time, he’s grown used to it.

Yet when the two finally take the floor together Sunday in Orlando, fully immersed in the All-Star present, it will be difficult for either to shake the memories they never got a chance to make in Austin.

“We would have had a good team,” Durant said. “But that’s what if.”

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Too bad for early entries

Notables who could have played on the Texas Longhorns’ 2006-07 team:

• Kevin Durant, Thunder

• LaMarcus Aldridge, Trail Blazers

• Daniel Gibson, Cavaliers

• D.J. Augustin, Bobcats

• Damion James, Nets

• P.J. Tucker, 2005-06 Big 12 Player of the Year

All-Star Weekend

All-Star Game

When: 7 p.m. Sunday

Where: Amway Center, Orlando, Fla.

TV: TNT (pregame coverage starts at 6:30 p.m.)

All-Star Saturday

When: 7:30 p.m. today

What: Shooting Stars, 3-point Shootout, Skills Challenge, Slam Dunk Contest

TV: TNT

Anderson, Novak shoot better outside the arc than in it

James Anderson has been turning heads at the early games of the Impact Basketball workouts in Las Vegas with strong work.

After a fast start in preseason camp last season, Anderson’s stress fracture effectively ended his season. He struggled to earn his way back into the rotation after Gary Neal developed into a strong perimeter threat as the season continued.

But according to Project Spurs.com, Anderson’s numbers in Las Vegas. In his first three games with Team Royal, Anderson is averaging 21.0 points per game while shooting 76.5 percent from the field.

Those numbers are a huge improvement over last season, when Anderson was among a handful of NBA players who had better shooting percentages from beyond the 3-point stripe as they did from the field.

It’s unclear how much defense is being played at the Impact games. But 76.5 percent from the field and 21 points per game would be impressive if Anderson was throwing up Nerf balls. So it’s a good step for Anderson and his improvement heading into his second season.

Only 14 NBA players had better 3-point percentages than from the field last season. Included in the list were Anderson and Steve Novak.

Here’s a list of those players and their percentages during the 2010-11 season. 

Player, team                                               3P%                  FG%

Steve Novak, Dallas-Spurs           .565                 .522

Brian Cardinal, Dallas                             .483                  .430

Carlos Arroyo, Miami-Boston             .449                  .440

Mike Bibby, Atlanta-Miami                 .440                  .431

Brian Cook, Clippers                                .430                 .424

James Jones, Miami                               .429                   .422

Daniel Gibson, Cleveland                     .403                   .400

Derek Fisher, Lakers                                .396                  .389

Cartier Martin, Washington                   .394                 .390

C.J. Watson, Chicago                               .393                   .371

James Anderson, Spurs                  .391                  .383

Steve Blake, Lakers                                 .378                   .359

Roger Mason, New York                        .364                   .338

Rasual Butler, Clippers-Chicago         .338                   .333

Buck Harvey: New call: Someone missed on Joseph

When last seen in public, Cory Joseph looked stunned.

Five seconds?

How was it possible?

That play, in effect, ended Texas’ season.

What comes next is another call, but this one will take years, not seconds.

Someone made a mistake with Joseph.

Joseph won Saturday, at least. He was introduced along with the Spurs’ other first-round draft pick, Kawhi Leonard, and Joseph came across as bright-eyed and professional.

Some of the Spurs’ brass kidded him about wearing a tie and shiny, black shoes to the press gathering. But it was sweet; this is what teenagers wear to their first job.

Joseph is just 19, as is Leonard, and that’s part of the inherent promise both have. That’s also the reason, however, the Spurs’ move last week so risky.

There’s no guarantee either will translate to the NBA game. So why replace George Hill, just entering his prime, with uncertainty?

Hill might not have a full set of point-guard skills, and he sagged against Memphis. But anyone who plays defense and is capable of 29 points in a playoff game will likely be even better in his fourth and fifth seasons.

Money is naturally part of the equation. When the Spurs found there was so much interest for Hill last week, they concluded his price will be high when he becomes a free agent in a year. He’s a nice player at $2 million a year, not so much at $7 million.

Almost everyone in the organization said they would have done this deal no matter the economics, but that’s what they have to say. This is their reality, and adapting to it is their only choice.

Maybe they brilliantly did last week, especially if one fix follows. From what the Spurs have seen already, Leonard’s shooting motion isn’t a tear-down. The Spurs see a workable starting point.

Joseph needs tweaking, but not much. The concern with him has been whether he has NBA quickness, and a spring workout in New Jersey seemed to calm most fears.

Until then, it was unclear why he had chosen to enter the draft. After all, T.J. Ford, Daniel Gibson and D.J. Augustin didn’t leave Texas after one year. Why should someone who often looked like just another guy?

The UT coaches used to joke about how Joseph played hunched over. Did he really play 6-foot-3? More telling, he rarely seemed to create the way an NBA point-guard prospect should.

R.C. Buford joked Saturday that Joseph might keep his Austin apartment and commute. Maybe that’s not a bad idea — if the commute is a short one to the Toros’ gym.

But the Spurs tracked all of this, and they weren’t discouraged. Joseph plays defense. He shot over 40 percent from the college 3-point line. And he had Hill-like dunks.

As for his lack of zip: If Joseph gets an angle, said one Spurs scout, he has enough quickness and size that defenders can’t cut off his driving lane.

The Spurs say they were not alone in this analysis. While most mock drafts rated Joseph somewhere in the middle of the second round, the Spurs insist he was in play from No. 25 to No. 35.

The Spurs also point to what Joseph did in mid-December. Then, in Greensboro, N.C., against North Carolina, in just his 11th college game, Joseph had 21 points and no turnovers in 35 minutes.

Here is how he broke the tie with about three seconds left: He dribbled full-court to the foul line, where he pivoted and made the jumper.

So why didn’t Joseph show more of this over the next few months at Texas? If he becomes a serviceable backup to Tony Parker, Rick Barnes will hear the question.

Barnes will hear about this draft, too. Three of his players went in the first round, with two of them rising higher than anyone expected. Since 1999, eight college teams have had at least three players drafted in the first round, and every team but Texas made at least the Elite Eight.

Five made the national championship game. Three won it.

Coincidentally, a play involving Joseph is a primary reason Texas didn’t advance. On an inbounds play in the final seconds against Arizona, an official quick-counted the critical five-second violation.

“I watched (the replay) a few times,” Joseph said Saturday, “but you have to put it behind you.”

Now, an NBA career is in front, as is a judgment. Either the Spurs made a mistake drafting Joseph, or Barnes made one for not doing more with him.

Both can’t win this.

bharvey@express-news.net