What will it take for Popovich to play Leonard 36 minutes a game

[freetiago]

Hes 21 years old
popovich use to play duncan 40 minutes a night
when did he become so soft
leonard should be playing minutes with the bench and running some pick and rolls and post ups
let turnobili play with the starters more or off the ball

[Brunodf]

Hes 21 years old
popovich use to play duncan 40 minutes a night
when did he become so soft
leonard should be playing minutes with the bench and running some pick and rolls and post ups
let turnobili play with the starters more or off the ball

After that Ginobili injury against the Suns in the last game of the season...

[Cry Havoc]

Popovich has the luxury of not needing to play Leonard that long every game. Instead, he's undoubtedly using every chance he can as a teaching opportunity. He'd rather take a player out to teach him something relevant than leave him in to get more minutes per game.

[freetiago]

and its complete bullshit
like the new york game when carmelo got a very generous very late whistle on the first shot of the game and pop subbed in jackson
what is he teaching him there
dont breathe on carmelo

should be playing him more and giving him more responsibilities
he trusts nando de colo more then he does leonard even though we all saw him wreck summer league

[swaggerjackson]

That is true. And I have a lot of faith in Kawhi, but he has not been amazing since coming back from the injury. Not his fault, he has missed a lot of games and is still a very young player. But I am saying that his play has not been to the point where we would be enticed to play him virtually the whole game. He needs to play more consistently on both ends of the floor and be more aggressive on offense before that happens. That being said I think in the future he will be a 40+ minute a game player.

[chapnis]

Pop was ridiculously tough on Parker during his early seasons, that seemed to pan out okay...

[Obstructed_View]

Pop was ridiculously tough on Parker during his early seasons, that seemed to pan out okay...

True. Parker never played over 35 minutes a game in any season of his career though.

[DapDaGenius]

Hes 21 years old
popovich use to play duncan 40 minutes a night
when did he become so soft
leonard should be playing minutes with the bench and running some pick and rolls and post ups
let turnobili play with the starters more or off the ball

"What will it take?"

The same thing that it took for Bonner to get his way and stay on the team...:jack

[TDMVPDPOY]

makes no sense to play KL with the fkn bench filled with fkn heroes who will not pass it to him...

[Phenomanul]

Also no need to aggravate Kawhi's knee tendinitis needlessly...

[Libri]

True. Parker never played over 35 minutes a game in any season of his career though.

A better comparison would be Bruce.

[Chinook]

The Spurs have a lot of wings to play. There's no need to force-feed one player. It's not like with Duncan, where he was an MVP candidate as a rookie. Leonard is not a clear-cut better option than Green, Ginobili, or Neal or Jack in certain situations. Pop has to give them all minutes.

[ffadicted]

Tim and manu retiring. We don't need him to play 36 minutes.

[Jumi]

The Spurs have a lot of wings to play. There's no need to force-feed one player. It's not like with Duncan, where he was an MVP candidate as a rookie. Leonard is not a clear-cut better option than Green, Ginobili, or Neal or Jack in certain situations. Pop has to give them all minutes.

I'd forgotten just how dominant Duncan was from day one! Damn we're fortunate!!!!!!!!

[freetiago]

Theres only 1 small forward on the roster with jack out
they opted to go small with turnobili and green at the 3
Leonard is a better option then either at the 3 and he could play 4 instead of bonner

im not asking why he hasnt played 36 the whole season even though he should since jackson is garbage
but with jack out theres no excuse not to play him normal starter minutes

[chapnis]

In San Antonio 30 minutes is normal starter minutes. He probably will play more minutes in the playoffs and closer games, but what is the point in playing him lots when we are easily winning games by double digits?

[DesignatedT]

He just got back from a long term injury. Only an idiot would throw him out there for 36 mpg right after his return.

[Chinook]

I'd forgotten just how dominant Duncan was from day one! Damn we're fortunate!!!!!!!!

Yep. It was pretty incredible. Here's the link to the voting results, if anyone wants to see: http://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards_1998.html

[Jumi]

ROY, top five in defensive player of the year and mvp!

[itzsoweezee]

along the same line, there is no reason Tiago Splitter should be averaging less than 30 minutes a game, let alone averaging less minutes than both Duncan and Diaw.

[racm]

There's no need to give him Luol Deng minutes when Pop trusts his bench.

And fwiw Manu seems to play slightly better at SF, unlike Green who completely stinks at the 3.

[freetiago]

anything over 40 is overkill
36 is normal and a 21 year old can handle it
and lets not act like all these bench players wont choke in the playoffs and itll be leonard playing 36 minutes anyway when they do
ginobili is better at SF because those players are more physical
while SG usually involves chasing guys around screens and manu getting blown by while he tries to gamble for a steal after a pick
he is a good post defender and hes ok in 1v1 situations

[chapnis]

Sure Kawhi Leonard can handle 36 minutes, but the team doesn't need him to. No point him playing minutes just for the sake of him playing minutes.

[exstatic]

Also no need to aggravate Kawhi's knee tendinitis needlessly...

This.

[therealtruth]

Sure Kawhi Leonard can handle 36 minutes, but the team doesn't need him to. No point him playing minutes just for the sake of him playing minutes.

When we need better defense in the playoffs we will need to play our better defenders longer. We're able to get away with it in the regular season. But in the playoffs we're going to take our defense up another notch.

[Slippy]

Pop of late has been quite hard on Kawai, yanking him promptly . Once he minimises the mistakes then the mins should increase.

[Spurs da champs]

Offense.

[silverblk mystix]

It took three years for Tiago to be utilized. A genius works at his own pace. Trust in Pop.