It would've been a simple case of the truth hurting, except that Kevin Durant isn't ready to concede quite that much.

Does the Oklahoma City swingman have a long way to go as a player, with a serious need to improve his defense and ability to involve his teammates in the offense?

Certainly.

Is he, as a recent ESPN.com blog asserted, "one of the Thunder's worst players?"

Not quite.

The 2007-08 Rookie of the Year and face of an improving franchise became the focus of an advanced statistics controversy recently, when an analysis of his team's plus-minus numbers led to conclusions that he's overrated.

The plus-minus statistic (the point differential when a player is in and out of the game) has become highly regarded, and Durant's consistently low numbers hurt his reputation.

Durant fed the fact-finding fire by firing back on his Twitter account, "What more do you want? Let me be the player I am … I come to practice everyday … and push myself to my limit … I love all the REAL basketball fans who appreciate hard work, passion and love for the game … and not (just) 'plus and minuses' … (whatever that) is."

While Durant remains negative on the plus-minus logic, he knows he must become a better all-around player for Oklahoma City, which visits Arco Arena on Tuesday, to make significant strides this season. It's a process, he said, that he learned the hard way during his rookie season.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat anything," he told The Bee recently. "My first year, I wanted to become the best player; I wanted to become the Rookie of the Year. I wanted to have the individual stats.

"When you come into the league, you want to do well individually. That was my mind-set coming in. I put that before getting better as a team. That's one thing I learned I can't do, is put myself in front of the team."

Of course it helps that the team around him is improving. While the Thunder's improvement from 20 wins in 2007-08 to 23 in 2008-09 was incremental, its finish under then-interim coach Scott Brooks was encouraging.

The former Kings and then-Thunder assistant took over after P.J. Carlesimo's firing on Nov. 22, 2008, then saw his team fall to 3-29 (.094). But Oklahoma City went 20-30 (.400) the rest of the way and has only grown more optimistic since then.

Much of the recent buzz is related to Russell Westbrook, the second-year uber-athlete out of UCLA who is showing signs of becoming a playmaking point guard. Westbrook has star potential, and his progress largely will determine the Thunder's fate.

Westbrook has had his own pluses and minuses this season. No game was better than his Oct. 28 opener against the Kings, a 102-89 Oklahoma City win in which he had 14 points, a career-high 13 assists and just two turnovers. Westbrook's worst day in the plus-minus department (negative-13) came in a Nov. 1 home loss against Portland in which he had 23 points, two assists and nine turnovers.

Westbrook said he lends no credence to the plus-minus debate.

"Honestly, I don't understand none of it," Westbrook said. "I didn't know what they were talking about. It obviously wasn't anything good they were saying (about Durant), but I didn't know what it meant or what they were trying to say.

"(Durant has) gotten better. He's getting back to the film and watching games. … He's making (forward) Jeff (Green), myself and other guys better as well."

Nenad Krstic, the Thunder's sixth-year center, disputed the notion that the Thunder is better with Durant on the bench.

"He's a future All-Star," Krstic said. "He makes every other player on the team better. We're still a young team trying to grow and get better every single game. The last part of the season, we showed we can play good basketball, but we have to be consistent."

Durant is off to a slow start for the 2-3 Thunder. He's 11th in the league in scoring at 24.2 points per game, but his 38.5 field-goal percentage is far off his mark of 47.6 percent from last season, and he is shooting just 15.0 percent from three-point range. That included the worst shooting game of his career, 3 of 21 against Portland. The plus side to it all? He's not consumed with his own production anymore.

"The team always comes first," Durant said.

Warriors' Randolph struggles

Is Anthony Randolph's breakout year already broken? The 6-foot-10 Golden State forward-turned-center looked like a breakout talent in the NBA Summer League, dominating the way a lottery pick entering his second season should after apparently learning from an arduous rookie campaign under coach Don Nelson.

But entering tonight's game at Arco Arena, the LSU product, taken 14th overall in 2008, has averaged just 17.8 minutes in four games while starting just once.

While Nelson has been known to favor veterans, this youngster treatment is – according to the Contra Costa Times – all Randolph's doing. The newspaper cited team sources who said Randolph must improve his attitude and, of course, his play. As it stands, he's the third-string center behind Andris Biedrins and former Kings forward Mikki Moore.

Et cetera

Kings shooting guard Kevin Martin may be out for at least eight weeks because of a hairline fracture in his left wrist, but his 48 points against Memphis on Monday remains a league high this season and could stand for a while.

• It's still early, but Brandon Jennings' impressive exhibition season and first four regular-season games entering Saturday inspired New York Knicks president Donnie Walsh to admit in an interview with Newsday that he missed on the prospect. Walsh, who took Arizona forward Jordan Hill at No. 8 before Jennings went to Milwaukee at No. 10, may not be alone if Jennings keeps it up. Entering Saturday, he led all rookies in scoring at 18.8 points per game and was second in assists at 4.8.

For more Kings coverage, go to www.sacbee.com/kings.