nate33 wrote:gesa2 wrote:I still have reservations about Leonard at 6. Looks like his skills are those of a college 4 but with a little better passing, and he'll never make it size wise as anything but a 3. I'm wary about reports from workout camps saying a guy that couldn't shoot outside of 12 feet for 2 years is all of a sudden hitting 3's with good form. That's what they ALWAYS say this time of year. Seems like a good energy player, but not someone we couldn't find pretty easily on the free agent market. I'd try for Valuncias or Byombo.
I'm wary of that when we're talking about a guy with a fairly long track record of being a poor shooter. I remember Chad Ford pumping Iguodola's improved jumper in workouts. While I think it's certainly possible for a guy to put in the time in the offseason to actually improve his shot, what is often the case is that the improvement isn't permanent. As soon as the player backs off from the intense shooting drills, his shot disappears. What you often end up with is a guy like Marion or Iggy. They'll have a passable jumper, but it's only a reliable shot in maybe one or two years of their career.
I'm not sure this applies to Leonard though. Leonard is so young that he doesn't have much of a track record as a poor shooter. He was presumably exclusively a center or power forward in high school. He got into college and played a little bit more SF and shot 29% from 3 and 75% from the line. That's not all that bad for a freshmen with no perimeter experience.
Looking at his gamelog, I note that he shot just 23.8% from 3 in his first 22 games. He shot 40% from 3 in his last 12 games (albeit on just under 2 attempts per game). He is now reportedly shooting even better. So what we have isn't a poor shooter who is suddenly shooting well. We have a guy who has steadily improved his shot after starting out as a big man who wasn't asked to play on the perimeter at all.
Hmmm. Maybe I'm talking myself into Kawhi Leonard too.
Just to put things into perspective, it's easy to shoot jumpers when you're the only one in the gym. Just like with Kanter, it's easy to dunk and do hook shots when you're being guarded by a chair.
