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He does draw doubleteams. He's just not very good at handling them yet. He usually gets trapped.
Being a great perimeter defender doesn't make someone a franchise player, because there's only so much impact they can have on a game. Elite defensive bigs can be foundations because they affect so much more of the game. However, even the most elite defensive bigs will struggle to be franchise players if they don't have a go-to offensive game. That's why Dwight Howard had a really short peak as a championship cornerstone.
He does draw doubleteams. He's just not very good at handling them yet. He usually gets trapped.
No never will be a franchise player. Just calling it as I see it.
Not surprised tbh. He's a terrible driver and doesn't have the explosiveness/athleticism to finish at the rim consistently.
So he is a top 95 driver in the league. Still better than 300 other guys.
And a top 10 player in the league.
That to go along with his 43% overall FG% and 33% from behind the arc. It's actually worst than I thought. Not surprising really, he's having his worst offensive season of his career and even less surprising, it comes with a drastic increase in his usage %. Hopefully, his offensive woes won't carry over to the defensive end.
Earlier in the season I thought his shooting woes were due to his eye problems, but at this point he should be over that. I think he is pressing and trying to hard. I voted no on the poll, but I guess it depends on what is meant by franchise player. Is it a player who can lead a team to the playoffs, or to a championship? If the only franchise players today are Lebron, Davis, and Durant the answer for Leonard is he's not on that level. What about Blake Griffin or Harden?
As for Pippen I never thought of him as a franchise player. He was a great player but it helped that Jordan was next to him.
I would throw some blame to Popovich for that. He doesn't try to give Kawhi any help to make it easier for him to score. Kawhi often gets the ball at a stand-still and his handle isn't good enough (yet) where he can break down the defense consistently. He rarely gets any screens or any plays run for him (like the guard-around) that would allow him to get some momentum on a hand-off where he could take one or two dribbles to get to the rim and score. I've seen this play run successfully with Duncan a handful of time only to never be seen again. This play should be a staple in the Spurs offense.
Kawhi also has a nice jumphook similar to Pippen but he's starting to find the defense focusing on him more in the post as that aspect of his game improves. He doesn't have the footwork or counters to the beat the doubleteams yet so how do you get the defense off him for easier buckets in the paint? How about calling some plays where he back cuts and flashes to the post for a quick catch and goes right up with the hook. Popovich is a great coach and all but he's not doing Kawhi any favors trying to ISO him all the time. Contrary to what people believe about Jordan and Pippen, a lot their offense came from moving without the ball in the triangle just as much as off the dribble.
I don't know why anyone believed/believes this, even during his FMVP run it seemed too good to be true and just more of a matter of cir stance than him establishing himself as a dominant NBA force. He's a great player, and really does deserve a Max, but he isn't going to be a guy that carries a team where he is the most talented player to 50 win seasons and deep playoff runs. However, next to the right guy, he will be a perfect #2 or probably ideally, #3 option. As much as I hate the clippers, I've always felt that his true impact would be on their team where he'd be surrounded by 2 better scorers, but would still be given every chance he wanted to score about 20 a game.
What I really don't like is that he has really fallen in love with his jump shot, every time the ball gets swung to him he pretty much always goes up with it, and his "post game" that he's apparently so good pretty much results in a midrange jump shot 95% of the time. I really miss those hook shots in the lane and in general just his tougher takes, hopefully he gets back to that aggression
Great post.I would throw some blame to Popovich for that. He doesn't try to give Kawhi any help to make it easier for him to score. Kawhi often gets the ball at a stand-still and his handle isn't good enough (yet) where he can break down the defense consistently. He rarely gets any screens or any plays run for him (like the guard-around) that would allow him to get some momentum on a hand-off where he could take one or two dribbles to get to the rim and score. I've seen this play run successfully with Duncan a handful of time only to never be seen again. This play should be a staple in the Spurs offense.
Kawhi also has a nice jumphook similar to Pippen but he's starting to find the defense focusing on him more in the post as that aspect of his game improves. He doesn't have the footwork or counters to the beat the doubleteams yet so how do you get the defense off him for easier buckets in the paint? How about calling some plays where he back cuts and flashes to the post for a quick catch and goes right up with the hook. Popovich is a great coach and all but he's not doing Kawhi any favors trying to ISO him all the time. Contrary to what people believe about Jordan and Pippen, a lot their offense came from moving without the ball in the triangle just as much as off the dribble.
What do you think of the overall Pippen comparison? Obviously he's 23 and not prime Pippen at this early stage, but as far as his long-term potential goes.
. Good find
Bad sign for someone who can't shoot smh
True.... Kawhi is still a work in progress, but despite my hopes I don't think he will ever be close to 'The Glide'
Everyone draws double team when they are driving to the basket. Kawhi included.
But teams don't game plan against him and don't send double team early when he just got the ball.
That's what I meant.
And no need to insult.
I can't believe you doubled down an the same take.
OK whatever.I can't believe you doubled down an the same take.
Is that a joke? Or are you demonstrating your lack of understanding of statistics once again.So he is a top 95 driver in the league. Still better than 300 other guys.
That list is not the 95-100 best drivers. It's six players out of the 100 who drive the most that have the worst percentage on drives.
Essentially, Kawhi drives way too much for not being good at it. That's what that tweet is implying.
You might be right but show me what statistic it is with a link and there better not be 300 worse drivers than him in there or else I'm right.
And even still I could careless about some tiny specs about kawhi's game as long as it comes with the total package you got.
Do you really think that 300 players in the league shoot worse than 28 percent on drives? No. There are players who probalby shoot worse, but they also don't drive a lot because they know they're not good at it. There are also players who probably have great percentages but whose success is based on them being very selective with their drives.
And even still I could careless about some tiny specs about kawhi's game as long as it comes with the total package you got.
Again, though, you rarely have substantive takes. You usually just 'know what you see.' It's not surprising that you'd be taken out of you breadth by a tweet.
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