AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Everyone agrees on this much: Kevin Durant is the best small forward among this year’s draft crop and one of the best of his generation. After that, beauty is the eye of the beholder where an especially deep position group is concerned.

And most teams view Durant as a small forward, even though he stands 6-foot-9 and averaged 11 rebounds a game during his freshman season at Texas when he swept all the major player of the year awards. Durant might eventually evolve into a power forward with a devastating perimeter game, but right now his lack of bulk and strength would make it very difficult for him to guard even undersized power forwards like the Pistons’ Jason Maxiell.

Durant is most likely ticketed for the Seattle Supersonics with the No. 2 pick, though there remains a slight possibility Portland would take him over Greg Oden at No. 1.

Because Atlanta is already overloaded with athletic forwards, it’s unlikely the Hawks will start the run on an impressive group of five other small forwards who could go in the lottery. They are – in no particular order – Florida junior Corey Brewer, Georgetown junior Jeff Green, Kansas sophomore Julian Wright, Florida State senior Al Thornton and Georgia Tech freshman Thaddeus Young.

The Pistons, sitting one pick outside the lottery with the No. 15 selection, would almost given strong consideration to any of those players should they fall to them. Of the five, the likeliest to fall probably would be Young with an outside shot that Thornton or even Wright could.

You can find flaws in any player, of course, and that holds true for everyone in this group, Durant included, where questions about his overall athleticism and strength haven’t deterred scouts from universally considering him a player who might someday soon have his team contending for championships.

As is true with most transcendent players – Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, LeBron James – comparisons are hard to make with Durant, but the two names that seem to come most easily to mind are Kevin Garnett and Tracy McGrady. A truly gifted shot-maker from virtually anywhere within 25 feet of the basket with a nose for the ball and a thick competitive streak, Durant is about as close to a can’t-miss star as has entered the NBA since James four years earlier.

The best guess as to who comes off the board next is Brewer, possibly as high as No. 4 to his native state’s team, Memphis. The biggest rap on Brewer is his ballhandling ability, but his positives overwhelm that question mark. He’s a very good athlete who excels at finishing in transition, and his enormous wing span and quickness make him a potentially devastating perimeter defender. There’s also the fact that he’s been magnificent in the Final Four two years running.

Georgetown’s Green is a superb all-around player – another long-armed athlete with good quickness and athleticism. As evidenced in the NCAA tournament when the Hoyas lost in the national semifinals to Ohio State, at times Green becomes too passive offensively.

Wright is potentially the best of the bunch. Among a group of very good athletes, his athleticism stands out. A very good ballhandler at 6-foot-8 with an NBA-ready body at 225 pounds, Wright is another with the ability to guard multiple positions. The knock on the Kansas sophomore – who didn’t put up eye-popping numbers on a team loaded with NBA prospects – is limited shooting range and an inconsistent jump shot.

Thornton was a dominant player in the ACC – as a senior. That would be the biggest question mark with him. Already 23, what took him so long to emerge as an elite college player? Scouts love Thornton’s high motor and his relentlessness. Yet another small forward with good defensive skills, Thornton sometimes is criticized for his lack of great instincts, perhaps best evidenced by the fact he had nearly four times as many turnovers as assists.

Young is the baby of the bunch, just turning 19 last week. A dominant player in high school in Memphis, Young was thought to be one who would have gone straight to the NBA if not for the recent collective bargaining agreement that steers high school players to college for a minimum of one year. Though his ballhandling needs work, Young has excellent scoring ability inside and out and the athleticism that suggests a very high ceiling. He might be the least likely of the group to contribute immediately, but on potential he could wind up near the top.

Those six represent the headliners because each could develop into an All-Star player within the next five years, but there’s at least another half-dozen who could emerge as starters or valuable role players.

That next group would include two amazingly productive college seniors who will have to adapt their games to be successful pros – Wisconsin’s Alando Tucker and Boston College’s Jared Dudley. Syracuse’s Demetris Nichols is one of the top shooters in the draft and North Carolina’s Reyshawn Terry could be a second-round steal after playing on college basketball’s biggest stage surrounded by top-shelf talent.

DePaul sophomore Wilson Chandler, the 2005 Michigan Mr. Basketball out of Benton Harbor, could sneak into the late first round. Another sophomore, Arizona’s Marcus Williams, has many similarities to Corey Brewer and could be another who sneaks into the late first round. The best of a mediocre international crop are France’s Ali Traore and Portugal’s Joao Gomes.

Teams that might look to draft a small forward in the first round: