The board is my counter argument to the critics of Kevin Durant, who use his 185-pound bench press failure as a sign of limited NBA potential.

He can't lift his body weight, but Kansas fans could swear they saw Mr. Universe during that Kansas-Texas regular-season finale. While his teammates listened to pregame instructions after their introduction, Durant watched the video board that whips an already crazed crowd into a frenzy.

I made a note to ask him about it later, wondering whether perhaps he was curious about the history or admired the technology. Neither, he said. The noise fired him up. He couldn't wait to hit the floor and jump into the cauldron.

When he did, the home folks had seen little like it. In one of the greatest performances on the floor, Durant scored 25 first-half points. One of the nation's top defensive clubs couldn't slow him down. Julian Wright, the Jayhawks' best physical matchup, was no match. Nor was Brandon Rush, the team's top defender, at least early.

But now we're supposed to doubt Durant's ability to mix it up after he was the only one of 80 or so prospects at a predraft camp earlier this month who couldn't hoist the weight. Only two players fared worse in overall performance.

Nobody who saw his only season in a Longhorns uniform is buying it. College bodies aren't NBA bodies, but all Big 12 teams tried to push him around. That was the scouting report. Punish Durant. Make him work. Make him limp.

It didn't matter. The beauty of Durant's game at Texas was his scoring skill with defenders draped on him and his all-round offensive creativity. The mobility, leaping ability, quickness, soft hands and ball handling were as if he were forged in a hoops lab.

He averaged 25 points (29 in league games) as an 18-year-old playing in one of the nation's top conferences, and bench press is a concern?

The real problem here is why Durant took the physical test in the first place. A smart agent doesn't put his client in a position to be embarrassed.

Strength comes into play on the offensive side when Durant goes to the basket. Opponents will try to break him like a twig. But it's on defense that Durant figures to have some problems.

He tended to let that side slide last season and was only average fundamentally despite leading the Big 12 in blocked shots and finishing fourth in steals thanks to a 7-foot-5 wingspan. Improving here will keep him out of foul trouble.

But those evaluating him, in the camps of teams with the first two picks on Thursday — Portland and Seattle — insist Durant's strength won't be an issue. He reportedly wowed the Trail Blazers in workouts, much more so than Greg Oden, and Portland general manager Kevin Pritchard, featured on one of those Kansas historical clips, isn't tipping his hand.

Conventional wisdom has Portland taking Oden, the best center prospect since Tim Duncan. There's a better long-term return on can't-miss centers, even though the Blazers have more use for a scoring wing.