The 2019-20 Kawhi Leonard Thread

Bidofo · Post #341 » by **Bidofo** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 4:10 am

Man I wonder where HBK_Kliq is now lol

ZeppelinPage · Post #342 » by **ZeppelinPage** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 4:14 am

Big hit to his legacy tonight.

Not a good look to play like that in game 7, especially after your team blew two straight big leads.

JordansBulls · Post #343 » by **JordansBulls** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 4:33 am

ZeppelinPage wrote:Big hit to his legacy tonight.

Not a good look to play like that in game 7, especially after your team blew two straight big leads.

I agree as well, but not like Lebron hasn't as well. He lost with HCA 3 years in a row and even averaged 18 ppg in a series.

Arrow · Post #344 » by **Arrow** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 5:25 am

JordansBulls wrote:
ZeppelinPage wrote:Big hit to his legacy tonight.

Not a good look to play like that in game 7, especially after your team blew two straight big leads.

I agree as well, but not like Lebron hasn't as well. He lost with HCA 3 years in a row and even averaged 18 ppg in a series.

What are LeBron's stats in elimination games? What are Kawhi's? Your supposed best player in the game just shot 6/22 against the 16th ranked def and scored 0 points AGAIN in the 4th Q.

Heej · Post #345 » by **Heej** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 5:54 am

Kawhi is a system player. Played under the best coach in the league every year until now. KD saw through it

xb3at band1tx · Post #346 » by **xb3at band1tx** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 6:08 am

I still can't believe Klaw went out that way, dude looked like a JOBBER lol

JVL · Post #347 » by **JVL** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 6:20 am

Sad to say, because I like Kawhi and like seeing him succeed even if it's on the damn Clippers, but this was a disappearance act of epic proportions.

I've never seen any leading killer instinct from him in these playoffs. He mostly got his, except for G7, but that's about it. What concerns me most is how his defense was just nowhere to be found against Denver. This is about effort and intensity. I never felt it was where it had to be this series.

I'd say this is a humbling experience which will make him come back even better but I'm not sure Kawhi works like that.

That said, losing the series after being up 3-1 in the second round and specifically going out with this G7 performance is painful for his reputation. I doubt Kawhi cares at all, but maybe he should care a bit more.

xb3at band1tx · Post #348 » by **xb3at band1tx** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 6:25 am

Choking the 3-1 was bad enough, but good god that G7 performance was awful.

frica · Post #349 » by **frica** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 6:30 am

It's only going downhill from now on.
That degenerative knee ins't going to get any better.

bballcool34 · Post #350 » by **bballcool34** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 6:41 am

Heej wrote:Kawhi is a system player. Played under the best coach in the league every year until now. KD saw through it

I’m a LeBron fan - believe you are as well - and I hate the reactionary posts he’s got over the years. IMO we should avoid those...

As for Kawhi - I think this series showed some of his limitations (ie playmaking) - and let’s not act like his second option didn’t completely disappear

AdagioPace · Post #351 » by **AdagioPace** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 10:32 am

bballcool34 wrote:
Heej wrote:Kawhi is a system player. Played under the best coach in the league every year until now. KD saw through it

I’m a LeBron fan - believe you are as well - and I hate the reactionary posts he’s got over the years. IMO we should avoid those...

As for Kawhi - I think this series showed some of his limitations (ie playmaking) - and let’s not act like his second option didn’t completely disappear

this is the right term, the right answer. He does have weaknesses.
"system player" made sense until 2015 (2016 is already stretching).

Dutchball97 · Post #352 » by **Dutchball97** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:06 am

Weird to think that people had a clear top 4 of Giannis, Kawhi, LeBron and Harden and only LeBron made the conference finals. Up untill game 7 I'd have said that Kawhi would still have been the clear number 2 player behind LeBron win or lose but a game 7 performance that bad raises some questions. Was it just a problem of the Clips lacking playmaking? When Kawhi is the best playmaker on a team you've got to wonder what went wrong. He's a solid playmaker but it's never been his speciality. Maybe if the Clippers get a solid PG next year they will be much better? On the other hand what if Kawhi just isn't a leader? He did play on stacked teams with great leaders (Duncan/Pop, Lowry/Nurse). Do we have to accept just like KD, Giannis and Harden that Kawhi is a great player but can't lead a team to a championship like LeBron or Curry?

Arrow · Post #353 » by **Arrow** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:30 am

I forgot the exact stats, but I read in another thread that Kawhi in elimination games shoots in the 48-51 TS% range. Yikes. His career TS% is 61.4, one of the highest among 20+ PPG scorers. To have a drop that big when your playoff life is on the line speaks volume. People forget because the Raptors won last year, but Kawhi was 15/38 before his game-winning shot. The guy has never played well with his back against the wall.

LA Bird · Post #354 » by **LA Bird** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:35 am

Hopefully this will end the "Kawhi is top 25 all time" talk he was getting last summer. Kawhi's longevity was always lacking but it was overlooked just because he had 2 FMVPs. Fans as usual are too eager to crown the next all time great before their career actually plays out.

Spoiler:

Homer38 · Post #355 » by **Homer38** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:38 am

Arrow wrote:I forgot the exact stats, but I read in another thread that Kawhi in elimination games shoots in the 48-51 TS% range. Yikes. His career TS% is 61.4, one of the highest among 20+ PPG scorers. To have a drop that big when your playoff life is on the line speaks volume. People forget because the Raptors won last year, but Kawhi was 15/38 before his game-winning shot. The guy has never played well with his back against the wall.

And 2-3 overall in game 7 for him.One of his wins was last year,the other was in 2014 vs Dallas(7-14 for 15 points)

freethedevil · Post #356 » by **freethedevil** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:01 pm

Heej wrote:Kawhi is a system player. Played under the best coach in the league every year until now. KD saw through it

Lmao what?

KD got outplayed by westbrook in the 16 playoffs and proceeded to run to a 73 win team. GTFO here.

70sFan · Post #357 » by **70sFan** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:35 pm

That's why you shouldn't overrate active players to ridiculous degree. I don't think that the last 3 games made Kawhi worse than what we thought he was, but anyone can underperform. Kawhi is not top 10 or even top 20 player ever right now and even though he peaked very high, he's not some kind of GOAT-level player either.

It doesn't mean that after this underperformance he can't reach that level. I still view Kawhi as one of the best players in the league and one of the best playoff performers in last 10 years. Comparing him to LeBron, Jordan, Duncan or Kareem was just premature though.

Heej · Post #358 » by **Heej** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 1:12 pm

freethedevil wrote:
Heej wrote:Kawhi is a system player. Played under the best coach in the league every year until now. KD saw through it

Lmao what?

KD got outplayed by westbrook in the 16 playoffs and proceeded to run to a 73 win team. GTFO here.

KD called him a system player back in 2014 and it's still true today.

freethedevil · Post #359 » by **freethedevil** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 1:14 pm

Heej wrote:
freethedevil wrote:
Heej wrote:Kawhi is a system player. Played under the best coach in the league every year until now. KD saw through it

Lmao what?

KD got outplayed by westbrook in the 16 playoffs and proceeded to run to a 73 win team. GTFO here.

KD called him a system player back in 2014 and it's still true today.

System player know system player when he see it.

Heej · Post #360 » by **Heej** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 1:16 pm

freethedevil wrote:
Heej wrote:
freethedevil wrote:Lmao what?

KD got outplayed by westbrook in the 16 playoffs and proceeded to run to a 73 win team. GTFO here.

KD called him a system player back in 2014 and it's still true today.

System player know system player when he see it.

Not sure if KD is but **** it I'm cool with any slander against these guys today lol