Kevin Durant named ROTY

[Inquest]

Kevin Durant of the Seattle SuperSonics is the recipient of the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy as the 2007-08 T-Mobile NBA Rookie of the Year, the NBA announced today.

Durant received 90 first-place votes (545 points) from a panel of 125 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Atlanta's Al Horford finished second with 390 points and Houston's Luis Scola finished third with 146 points. Players were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote.

Drafted with the second overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, Durant averaged a rookie- and team-high 20.3 points '7.6 points higher than any other rookie'€œ to go along with 4.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 80 games (all starts). Durant was the only rookie to lead his team in five statistical categories, including points, blocks, steals, free-throws made and free-throw percentage. Durant also blocked more shots than any other guard in the league (75). He is the first SuperSonic player to win the award.

Durant led Seattle in scoring 47 times, including a career-high 42 points against Golden State on April 16. A five-time T-Mobile Western Conference Rookie of the Month selection (November, December, January, March and April), Durant scored at least 20 points 47 times and at least 30 points seven times. Durant represented the SuperSonics in the 2008 T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam, finishing with 23 points.

Throughout the 2007-08 season, for every point scored by the T-Mobile Rookie of the Month, T-Mobile USA pledged to donate $20 per point scored during the month the player won the award to the New Orleans Recovery School District. T-Mobile will donate a total of $49,700 to the school district, with $28,500 coming from the 1,425 points scored by Durant alone during the five months he won T-Mobile Rookie of the Month. This philanthropic component is new to the T-Mobile Rookie Program and builds on T-Mobile's strong appeal to the nation's youth as the official wireless partner of the NBA. Other highlights of T-Mobile's partnership with the NBA include the T-Mobile Rookie of the Year, T-Mobile Rookie of the Month Awards, and the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam, an All-Star competition between NBA rookies and second-year players. During NBA All-Star 2008, T-Mobile Huddle Up and NBA Cares hosted more than 5,000 local students in the lower bowl of the arena to watch this year's Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam.

The Eddie Gottlieb Trophy is named in honor of Eddie Gottlieb, one of the NBA's founders who coached the Philadelphia Warriors to the NBA championship in 1946-47.

Attached are the voting results for the 2007-08 T-Mobile NBA Rookie of the Year Award and the all-time list of winners:

2007-08 T-MOBILE NBA ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD VOTING RESULTS

Player Team 1st 2nd 3rd Pts

Kevin Durant Seattle 90 30 5 545
Al Horford Atlanta 30 74 18 390
Al Thornton L.A. Clippers -- 1 27 30
Jamario Moon Toronto -- -- 7 7
Juan Carlos Navarro Memphis - - 3 3
Thaddeus Young Philadelphia -- -- 2 2
Carl Landry Houston -- -- 1 1
Mike Conley Memphis -- -- 1 1

ALL-TIME T-MOBILE NBA ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS

1952-53 - Don Meineke, Fort Wayne
1953-54 - Ray Felix, Baltimore
1954-55 - Bob Pettit, Milwaukee
1955-56 - Maurice Stokes, Rochester
1956-57 - Tom Heinsohn, Boston
1957-58 - Woody Sauldsberry, Philadelphia
1958-59 - Elgin Baylor, Minneapolis
1959-60 - Wilt Chamberlain, Philadelphia
1960-61 - Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati
1961-62 - Walt Bellamy, Chicago
1962-63 - Terry Dischinger, Chicago
1963-64 - Jerry Lucas, Cincinnati
1964-65 - Willis Reed, New York
1965-66 - Rick Barry, San Francisco
1966-67 - Dave Bing, Detroit
1967-68 - Earl Monroe, Baltimore
1968-69 - Wes Unseld, Baltimore
1969-70 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Milwaukee
1970-71 - Dave Cowens, Boston (tie)
- Geoff Petrie, Portland (tie)
1971-72 - Sidney Wicks, Portland
1972-73 - Bob McAdoo, Buffalo
1973-74 - Ernie DiGregorio, Buffalo
1974-75 - Keith Wilkes, Golden State
1975-76 - Alvan Adams, Phoenix
1976-77 - Adrian Dantley, Buffalo
1977-78 - Walter Davis, Phoenix
1978-79 - Phil Ford, Kansas City
1979-80 - Larry Bird, Boston
1980-81 - Darrell Griffith, Utah
1981-82 - Buck Williams, New Jersey
1982-83 - Terry Cummings, San Diego
1983-84 - Ralph Sampson, Houston
1984-85 - Michael Jordan, Chicago
1985-86 - Patrick Ewing, New York
1986-87 - Chuck Person, Indiana
1987-88 - Mark Jackson, New York
1988-89 - Mitch Richmond, Golden State
1989-90 - David Robinson, San Antonio
1990-91 - Derrick Coleman, New Jersey
1991-92 - Larry Johnson, Charlotte
1992-93 - Shaquille O'Neal, Orlando
1993-94 - Chris Webber, Golden State
1994-95 - Grant Hill, Detroit (tie)
- Jason Kidd, Dallas (tie)
1995-96 - Damon Stoudamire, Toronto
1996-97 - Allen Iverson, Philadelphia
1997-98 - Tim Duncan, San Antonio
1998-99 - Vince Carter, Toronto
1999-00 - Elton Brand, Chicago (tie)
- Steve Francis, Houston (tie)
2000-01 - Mike Miller, Orlando
2001-02 - Pau Gasol, Memphis
2002-03 - Amar'e Stoudemire, Phoenix
2003-04 - LeBron James, Cleveland
2004-05 - Emeka Okafor, Charlotte
2005-06 - Chris Paul, New Orleans/Okla. City
2006-07 - Brandon Roy, Portland
2007-08 - Kevin Durant, Seattle