Popovich Pleased With Leonard’s Defense On Durant
Feb 05, 2012 7:04 PM EST
Kawhi Leonard held Kevin Durant to 22 points on 19 shots in a 107-96 win for the Spurs over the Thunder on Saturday night.
“He did the best he could for a young rookie who has never really seen these guys before and really hasn’t practiced any of the defensive strategies we might use,” Gregg Popovich said.
Popovich has repeatedly compared Leonard to Bruce Bowen.
“It starts with his body,” Popovich said. ” He has good size and he’s really long. He’s got huge hands and quick feet and he has a propensity to play defense and he likes the role, kind of like Bruce did. But he’s a lot bigger than Bruce ever was.
“We have to get him as smart as Bruce, but we can only do that through experience and playing.”
Popovich also has been impressed by Leonard’s tenacity.
“Those physical aspects are great and intrinsically, you have a gift for it. He likes to do it,” Popovich said. “And he’s aggressive and not afraid to stick his nose in it. Failure doesn’t bother him. You score on him he doesn’t sulk and say gee coach, this and that. He goes back and tries to do it better.”
Read more:
http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/21 ... z1hxx3JgNOthis is the type of guidance that Jerry Sloan disciple or greg popovich disciple provides for raw talent. Not...i told them they were "playing like space jam".
Hopefully Leonsis studies in depth the lives of Sloan and Popovich and brings in as close to identical coach as possible to one of these two.
This is the wisdom that is lacking in both the wizards front office, wizard fan base, and temporary coaches. Gambling on a young coach who currently isn't part of world class organization that nearly reaches the playoffs every year regardless of the players for the last twenty years is the coach the wizards need. we need an longterm assistant or Popovich or Sloan. Pop is very happy and we have chance to rent sloan for the right price and business leadership from leonsis. But wizards fans have no clue who the next pop or sloan is and neither does management because we lack the ideas that are present from what pOP JUST SAID in the article i just linked.
http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/218801/Popovich_Pleased_With_Leonard%EF%BF%BDs_Defense_On_Duranta coach with a trusted vision and role of how player fits into a championship contender...before that player even knows it. A Trusted Vision is what sloan and pop provide. Not your dleague coach.