The Kawhi Leonard Bandwagon Thread

T_Biggums · Post #121 » by **T_Biggums** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 2:00 pm

SOOOOO... a team with wings that can't stretch the defense. Sounds like a recipe for disaster or worse Philadelphia!

NH · Post #122 » by NH » Fri Jun 17, 2011 2:01 pm

The guy looks like Joey Graham version 2.0. Don't we already have a strong athletic guy who can't shoot at the 3 spot already? His name is James Johnson. One is enough. Go C or grab a PG or just trade to get someone who fits those needs. We can get a SF on the FA market or wait til next draft.

gerrit4 · Post #123 » by **gerrit4** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 2:05 pm

dagger wrote:
Weems wrote:
Gilchrist is Leonard on steroids. And he's the 5th SF taken on both the DX and nbadraft.net mocks. I'd rather get a significantly better SF next season.

Well in this draft you had better decide on value and not position because some positions are downright woeful at our draft slot. You can always make trades out of surpluses if we draft #5 next season, and it's also true that the next draft will be strong in other areas. There is no certainty we will draft #5 next year. We might be drafting 1 or 10.

And atleast Kawhi appears to be a versatile player. He could arguably play 30 minutes a game off the bench - playing the 2, 3 and a bit of 4 in a small lineup. If he pans out, I don't think there would ever be too much trouble finding minutes for him.

dagger · Post #124 » by **dagger** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 2:16 pm

NH wrote:The guy looks like Joey Graham version 2.0. Don't we already have a strong athletic guy who can't shoot at the 3 spot already? His name is James Johnson. One is enough. Go C or grab a PG or just trade to get someone who fits those needs. We can get a SF on the FA market or wait til next draft.

Joey Graham 1.0 would have been a good player if he had good basketball instincts, but he doesn't. His athleticism and skillset were pretty good. So it's hard to say someone will be Joey 2.0 without knowing if he can put his athleticism and skills to good use. Fortunately for us, Leonard is younger than Joey was in his draft year, so hopefully he hasn't reached the end of his learning curve.

tecumseh18 · Post #125 » by **tecumseh18** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 2:17 pm

NH wrote:The guy looks like Joey Graham version 2.0. Don't we already have a strong athletic guy who can't shoot at the 3 spot already? His name is James Johnson. One is enough. Go C or grab a PG or just trade to get someone who fits those needs. We can get a SF on the FA market or wait til next draft.

Agreed, but Joey had a decent midrange shot, much more reliable than Juju or JJ (or KL). He just couldn't play defence consistently.

If you subscribe to the theory that a team needs at least two legit 3 point threats in the starting lineup, drafting Leonard makes it look like Bargs stays. And plays.

I find it hard to get excited about this. I'm happy to ride it out with JJ for a full year while drafting someone who fills the strongest need for the Raps - i.e. a C. Hmm, maybe Cleveland is looking to draft both Kanter AND Jonas. So no potential C's on the board.

Pooh_Jeter · Post #126 » by **Pooh_Jeter** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 7:48 pm

You can add a jumpshot, it's tough to magically add elite rebounding and defensive skills. From all accounts Leonard's jump shot has already improved quite a bit.

We have one guy who actually plays defence and rebounds so we don't need another one?

If we were a legit contender next year I could see the hesitation in adding a wing who isn't a 3 point shooting threat, but we are headed towards the lottery next year. Wouldn't you rather have a group of young kids who bust their ass, play defence and don't lay down rather than what we had last year?

Clearly if Knight slips to 5 he is an ideal target. I don't get the lovefest with grabbing one of these centres though. It's not much different than the Araujo pick. We don't have a centre, so lets take one in the draft. These guys have more upside than Araujo, but they are far from sure things.

Blazing_royale · Post #127 » by **Blazing_royale** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 7:55 pm

if jumpshot is so easy to fix than why do we need to draft this guy when we have Johnson? who's intangibles are his defense and passing ability. he just needs to fix his jumpshot. we have a Leonard clone on our team already.

Pooh_Jeter · Post #128 » by **Pooh_Jeter** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 8:10 pm

Johnson is 24, Leonard is 19. Leonard has Marion/Artest potential. He could potentially guard PG's to PF's. Johnson isn't an amazing on ball defender, he is best suited guarding 3's and smaller 4's. Leonard is probably already a better shooter than Johnson.

The bust potential with Leonard is much lower than the Euro prospects. If JJ develops a jumpshot and Leonard is what many people think he is how is it a bad thing? Having two well rounded players who play defence and can rebound is a bad thing? There is always the possibility of dealing one of them if need be.

StringerBell · Post #129 » by **StringerBell** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 9:18 pm

Pooh_Jeter wrote:Johnson is 24, Leonard is 19. Leonard has Marion/Artest potential. He could potentially guard PG's to PF's. Johnson isn't an amazing on ball defender, he is best suited guarding 3's and smaller 4's. Leonard is probably already a better shooter than Johnson.

The bust potential with Leonard is much lower than the Euro prospects. If JJ develops a jumpshot and Leonard is what many people think he is how is it a bad thing? Having two well rounded players who play defence and can rebound is a bad thing? There is always the possibility of dealing one of them if need be.

Agree 100%. The kind of player Leonard projects to be is the exact kind of player the teams needs if they truly want to shift their focus to defense. The offense will come for him. It's not like we're talking about a guy who's as offensively raw as Biyombo.

yayotube · Post #130 » by **yayotube** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 9:25 pm

StringerBell wrote:
Pooh_Jeter wrote:Johnson is 24, Leonard is 19. Leonard has Marion/Artest potential. He could potentially guard PG's to PF's. Johnson isn't an amazing on ball defender, he is best suited guarding 3's and smaller 4's. Leonard is probably already a better shooter than Johnson.

The bust potential with Leonard is much lower than the Euro prospects. If JJ develops a jumpshot and Leonard is what many people think he is how is it a bad thing? Having two well rounded players who play defence and can rebound is a bad thing? There is always the possibility of dealing one of them if need be.

Agree 100%. The kind of player Leonard projects to be is the exact kind of player the teams needs if they truly want to shift their focus to defense. The offense will come for him. It's not like we're talking about a guy who's as offensively raw as Biyombo.

Stringer would approve of taking Leonard even though we have JJ, if only he didn't snake Brother Mouzone and Omar and lived to see draft day 2011. But James Johnson's ceiling is limited, yeah he's a good defender and can handle the rock but Leonard's potential is higher and he's way more versatile. Lockdown defender, huge hands, smooth athleticism and 4 years younger, and according to the progress he's made at Impact he already possesses a better J than JJ. And if you want to believe Jim Kelly, "he had the best proficiency shooting the 3" of anyone they worked out that day.

dagger · Post #131 » by **dagger** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 9:37 pm

Sounds like he didn't have a good shooting day in SAC

Mr.Raptorsingh · Post #132 » by **Mr.Raptorsingh** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 9:38 pm

I think I'd rather take Vesely over Leonard, but that's just me.

highness · Post #133 » by **highness** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 9:39 pm

I'd rather take Kemba over both those guys.

StringerBell · Post #134 » by **StringerBell** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 9:44 pm

StringerBell wrote: Agree 100%. The kind of player Leonard projects to be is the exact kind of player the teams needs if they truly want to shift their focus to defense. The offense will come for him. It's not like we're talking about a guy who's as offensively raw as Biyombo.

yayotube wrote:Stringer would approve of taking Leonard even though we have JJ, if only he didn't snake Brother Mouzone and Omar and lived to see draft day 2011. But James Johnson's ceif iling is limited, yeah he's a good defender and can handle the rock but Leonard's potential is higher and he's way more versatile. Lockdown defender, huge hands, smooth athleticism and 4 years younger, and according to the progress he's made at Impact he already possesses a better J than JJ. And if you want to believe Jim Kelly, "he had the best proficiency shooting the 3" of anyone they worked out that day.

Post #135 » by **FluLikeSymptoms** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 10:42 pm

Mr.Raptorsingh wrote:I think I'd rather take Vesely over Leonard, but that's just me.

highness wrote:I'd rather take Kemba over both those guys.

I'd rather draft a starter over Kemba.

raptor jesus · Post #136 » by **raptor jesus** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 10:56 pm

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6F03NAv-rg[/youtube]

Southward1 · Post #137 » by **Southward1** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 11:27 pm

His shooting stroke doesn't concern me as much as he tested as a average or below average athlete at the combine. The comparisons to Marion to Wallace are dead because of that. Marion is one of the greatest athletes in the history of the NBA and Wallace is no slouch. Leonard tested closer to Shane Battier or Trevor Ariza athletically.

Post #138 » by **FluLikeSymptoms** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 11:31 pm

Southward1 wrote:His shooting stroke doesn't concern me as much as he tested as a average or below average athlete at the combine. The comparisons to Marion to Wallace are dead because of that. Marion is one of the greatest athletes in the history of the NBA and Wallace is no slouch. Leonard tested closer to Shane Battier or Trevor Ariza athletically.

Once he cuts the 2001 off his head he'll be lighter.

Dalek · Post #139 » by **Dalek** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 11:44 pm

Southward1 wrote:His shooting stroke doesn't concern me as much as he tested as a average or below average athlete at the combine. The comparisons to Marion to Wallace are dead because of that. Marion is one of the greatest athletes in the history of the NBA and Wallace is no slouch. Leonard tested closer to Shane Battier or Trevor Ariza athletically.

Monta Ellis also tested poorly during the draft combine which is why he was a second rounder. Those workouts are not the only indication of how good an athlete is and there may be some circumstance like Leonard not warming up enough to max out his vertical. Regardless of what is reported, I know every team tests these guys individually and would know if they were decent or average athletes.

StringerBell · Post #140 » by **StringerBell** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 11:55 pm

Southward1 wrote:His shooting stroke doesn't concern me as much as he tested as a average or below average athlete at the combine. The comparisons to Marion to Wallace are dead because of that. Marion is one of the greatest athletes in the history of the NBA and Wallace is no slouch. Leonard tested closer to Shane Battier or Trevor Ariza athletically.

He's athletic enough, and his wingspan more than make up for his athleticism. I remember people saying Harden wasn't very athletic and we don't hear that anymore.

Oh, and give me a guy with a great motor and average athleticism over a freak athlete who'll only show up once every five games.