Kawhi Leonard is, in my opinion. Overrated. But I don’t have conviction in my opinion when it comes to Kawhi. The reason why is because he plays for the San Antonio Spurs. Stats cannot be applied to any of the Spurs players. This is because their system is so different to everybody else’s. Popovich could pick a player to get 40 and it would happen. If Kawhi was on another team. Who’s to say he wouldn’t get LeBron James numbers?
Nevertheless. I can’t knock his talent. Gregg Popovich knows Kawhi is the future of San Antonio. And in a piece by Michael Lee of the Washington Post, Popovich recognises Kawhi as the “Big One” (instead of the big three).
Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich had no choice but to give Leonard the chance to come through for the team with his more seasoned options sidelined. But he wants Leonard to start making performances like Monday night – when he matched his regular season career-high with 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds – more of a regular occurrence with Duncan, Parker and Ginobili around and against more formidable competition.
“We’re trying to loosen up a bit and give him more of a green light,” Popovich said. “He’s getting more license. When you’re a young kid, you’re going to defer to Timmy and Manu and [Tony]. Now it’s like, ‘To heck with those guys. The Big Three, they’re older than dirt. To hell with them. You’re the Big One. You’ve got to go do your deal.’ So, we’re trying to get him to be more demonstrative in that regard.”
“I said, ‘This is you. This, Kawhi Leonard. You have arrived. This is what I’m talking about. Now you do it over, and over and over again. That’s what the big boys do,” Popovich said of Leonard, who posted 23.7 points on 68.6 percent shooting with 9.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in the final three games.
I will admit that those final three games were a thing of beauty. But I don’t see Kawhi Leonard being as prolific as the partnership of Duncan, Parker and Ginobili.
