Kawhi Leonard Just Heating Up For The Spurs

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The San Antonio Spurs are a team on a mission looking to avenge their loss in the NBA Finals to the Miami Heat last year. Everybody is locked in on the goal of getting the 5th championship in franchise history. Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili aren’t getting any younger, the time to win is now and they need the other guys to step up. It’s been said many times that after Tim Duncan and Tony Parker are no longer able to produce at an all-star level that Kawhi Leonard will eventually take over the reigns at the star in San Antonio. He certainly fits the stereotyped characteristics of being a star in San Antonio Not flashy, very quiet and he doesn’t do commercials. What Kawahi does is play some of the best 2-way basketball the NBA has to offer and at 22 years of age with the opulence of playoff experience that he has you have to think he will mature right into an all-star within the next few seasons.

Lost in the shuffle of last years agonizing defeat to LeBron James and Friends was Kawhi Leonard’s exceptional maturity and mental toughness at 21-years old. At that age, on that stage versus the best player on the planet (LeBron James) Kawhi Leonard averaged 14.6 points per game and 11.1 rebounds. He had a lot of great moments for the Spurs in the Finals last year but in the end LeBron was just a little better and much more battle-tested. It was a great experience for the kid and this year he has quietly been on a mission defensively.

At 98.2 Kawahi Leonard’s defensive rating was 7th best in the NBA during the regular season behind the likes of Tim Duncan, Joakim Noah and Roy Hibbert. At 6’7 with a freakish 7’3 wingspan the former San Diego State standout can make life tough on just about any wing player in the league. He’s starting to put it together instinctually as a player and has all the physical tools to make life tough on anybody. “He has a great capacity to absorb things and works real hard” said Greg Popovich in an interview with CBS earlier in the year. Leonard’s got a square head on his shoulder and is intelligent on the court which will give him the chance to become very solid in this league as he progresses. “What makes me confident about Leonard is that he wasnt it so badly” stated Popovich in an interview with ESPN during the season. You can teach a jump shot but you can’t teach desire and Kawhi has a lot of it according to Pop.

His production was a bit slow in the first round against the Dallas Mavericks. He averaged 11.9 points, 7.4 rebounds and shot 49.2% from the field. Some might just say he struggled but I’ll say he just ran into a coach (Rick Carlisle) who knew how to limit him and other players on the Spurs. In the 2nd round versus a very young and inexperienced Portland Trailblazers team Kawhi Benefitted from that and got his production up. In the 2nd round it picked up heavily which is why I believe they won in 5 games and not 7. He averaged 17 points, 7.6 rebounds and shot 56.1% from the field. This also includes a 22 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 5 steal outing in the deciding game 5 last night. So Kawahi is really the X-Factor in title #5 for the Spurs.

Its been a tale of 2 series from Kawhi but if he can maintain somewhere around this level of production not only will he elevate his name among the best small forwards in the league but the Spurs franchise will raise that illustrious 5th banner in the AT&T Center come opening night if next season.