Pounding the Rock: The Disease of More, Kawhi Leonard

[Nolan]

http://www.poundingtherock.com/2014/12/4/7332397/the-disease-of-more-kawhi-leonard

Coach Popovich is doing the complete opposite of that with Leonard, and it's hurting the team as well as Kawhi. I'm not a fan of the offense stopping so Kawhi can post up. The Spurs are at their best when the ball doesn't stick. Pop is getting away from that in the early part of this season as he attempts to will Kawhi into something he's not: a top ten offensive talent.

Kawhi doesn't have the athleticism to be a Kobe-in-his-prime type of offensive player, yet he is taking many Kobe-in-his-prime type of shots this season. He lacks the jumping ability to truly dominate his position offensively. Specifically, his jumper doesn't have the necessary height to it to get it off comfortably on a consistent basis. Because of this, he makes 1.5 too many fakes when he posts up, and the result is an off-balance, poor shot.

I assume Pop's argument for pushing Leonard to forget about the 'Big Three' and become the 'Big One' is that the 'Big Three' are 'older than dirt' and a transition has to take place at some point. But this championship window is still wide-open and sacrificing wins and team chemistry at this point of the franchise's arc just feels like an inappropriate risk.

I'm fearful that I mistook Kawhi's quiet demeanor for humbleness. Tim is humble. Tony is humble. Manu is humble. David was humble. Avery was humble. Sean was humble. What Kawhi is doing is not humble, in my opinion. It began with his agent throwing the Spurs organization under the bus for not offering Kawhi the max. Obviously, it makes more sense to wait and give him the max later for salary cap reasons. It will give the Spurs their best opportunity to surround Kawhi with talent if Tim and Manu retire after this season. Anyone can see that. It doesn't even take intelligence. It's just common sense. But his agent decided to go to the press with ridiculous, illogical thoughts and I found it very unsettling.

It's a pretty interesting read, I can't say that I completely agree with him but I have noticed that when the offense runs though Kahwi things tend to get bogged down.

Thoughts?

[co_laper]

He's not entirely wrong.

I don't get the last paragraph though. He's saying that he's afraid that what he's seeing Kawhi is not what humble is simply because Kawhi's agent was asking the max. Hey, even Kawhi is on record saying he understood why the Spurs wanted to wait and that he loves it here and thinks he's going to be a Spur for life. Can't blame Kawhi for wanting the max as soon as he can get it too. If he suddenly suffered a freak career injury, he's not gonna get paid.

I agree that Kawhi isn't yet the type of offensive talent such as Kobe. However, his post ups along with the increasing usage of Diaw's post game adds a different dimension that we can throw at other teams. It's not like we post Kawhi up like we did Duncan in early 2000s. Also it's important for his development, and that's our future. It's not hurting the team enough to cry about it. Add in the fact that Kawhi's been pretty efficient scoring the ball in isolations because we usually post him up more than usual when there's a mismatch.

[imagump1313]

You can't teach offense. What I mean by that is you can get guys to be better scorers in a system but in a one on one or 2 on one situation guys mostly score naturally on instinct. A player either has it or he doesn't at this level. I never expected Leonard to become this huge scorer that everyone seems to think he will become.

Yes, you can maximize someone's potential but that doesn't mean they are magically going to become a huge scorer. It is a natural thing that either some guys get or do not get. Its frustrating when teams try to force this. Detroit is trying to do the same with Andre Drummond. The guy is talented at what he does but he will never be the huge post up threat in this league that people seem to think he will become.

[Nolan]

He's not entirely wrong.

I don't get the last paragraph though. He's saying that he's afraid that what he's seeing Kawhi is not what humble is simply because Kawhi's agent was asking the max. Hey, even Kawhi is on record saying he understood why the Spurs wanted to wait and that he loves it here and thinks he's going to be a Spur for life. Can't blame Kawhi for wanting the max as soon as he can get it too. If he suddenly suffered a freak career injury, he's not gonna get paid.

I agree that Kawhi isn't yet the type of offensive talent such as Kobe. However, his post ups along with the increasing usage of Diaw's post game adds a different dimension that we can throw at other teams. It's not like we post Kawhi up like we did Duncan in early 2000s. Also it's important for his development, and that's our future. It's not hurting the team enough to cry about it. Add in the fact that Kawhi's been pretty efficient scoring the ball in isolations because we usually post him up more than usual when there's a mismatch.

It's different when the old guys take discounts, they've already had their big paydays and Kahwi deserves his so I totally agree with you.

I like the Kawhi post up late in the clock, he's an efficent scorer with his back to the basket but lately we've going to it too early in the clock and kills all ball movement and lets the defense crowd one side of the court. I'm sure Pops will figure it all out in the end though.

[imagump1313]

Sorry for the edit but i think this is a good question that I'd like to hear other's thoughts on.

Thinking about this: I'm trying to come up with any player that has ever played in the NBA that wasn't a natural scorer to begin with that ever turned into a great scorer. Does anyone have any examples?

I remember people saying the same things about guys like Dennis Rodman when I was a kid. While he obviously got better during his career, he never became even a decent scorer. I can think of dozens of examples just like Rodman that never materialized but can't recall anyone who actually became a scorer.

[Nolan]

Sorry for the edit but i think this is a good question that I'd like to hear other's thoughts on.

Thinking about this: I'm trying to come up with any player that has ever played in the NBA that wasn't a natural scorer to begin with that ever turned into a great scorer. Does anyone have any examples?

I remember people saying the same things about guys like Dennis Rodman when I was a kid. While he obviously got better during his career, he never became even a decent scorer. I can think of dozens of examples just like Rodman that never materialized but can't recall anyone who actually became a scorer.

Jimmy Butler and Wes Matthews are two recent examples. Both guys were nothing more than role players when they entered the league now they're go to guys for their respective teams.

[co_laper]

Sorry for the edit but i think this is a good question that I'd like to hear other's thoughts on.

Thinking about this: I'm trying to come up with any player that has ever played in the NBA that wasn't a natural scorer to begin with that ever turned into a great scorer. Does anyone have any examples?

I remember people saying the same things about guys like Dennis Rodman when I was a kid. While he obviously got better during his career, he never became even a decent scorer. I can think of dozens of examples just like Rodman that never materialized but can't recall anyone who actually became a scorer.

Honestly, I don't expect Kawhi to ever turn out to be a "Great" scorer. He's still far away from that. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't go to him and exploit his strengths during the game. Right now, that's usually his post up game and his ability to get to the rim, although he's very right hand dominant. His passing skills leave a lot to be desired. Has no left hand whatsoever. Shaky ballhandling skills.

Ideally, he should be a great 2nd option/star on championship level teams in his prime. Atleast that's my prediction. But there aren't 30 legit franchise level superstar players in this league. Most teams have to accept having a 2nd tier superstar to be their franchise players. That, I think, is what's going to happen here in San Antonio.

I don't think anybody expect us to remain title contenders once Manu/TD is gone, unless we actually pick up star some players to replace them. Personally, I'm alright with mediocrity for a while. We had a great run.

I understand that a lot of fans don't like to be those treadmill type teams where we're just stuck in the middle. If you're one of those fans, you'd probably want the team to rebuild from scratch or whatever. I think that if the Spurs stop winning and that goes on longer than expected, the Spurs might lose their fans interest just like any other small market teams. And when that happens, the possibility of this team being moved elsewhere increases.

Mediocrity atleast keeps the hardcore fans stay engaged. No one stays engaged to the team where they just suck year after year, especially if we're talking small market teams.