"kawhi leonard has been characterized as having an unyielding motor."

[gambit1990]

i'm surprised i hadn't seen this considering how many times i've youtubed him; it's the best video of him i've ever seen (and i haven't seen it posted here). from his college days, but still definitely worth watching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAJh9CNbzx0

bonus (you're gonna have to mute the audio):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTOLzadpLVs

here's to how much he'll be smiling when we win it all in a few months (if ginobili's healthy) and to all the years he'll be a spur :toast

[Dex]

Future of the Spurs....provided he doesn't bolt after his rookie contract.

[gambit1990]

Future of the Spurs....provided he doesn't bolt after his rookie contract.
i don't see that happening. hopefully it won't.

[jermaine]

I got a hard on looking at that dunk video.

[spurraider21]

i don't see that happening. hopefully it won't.
i don't see a scenario where he walks. we have him under control for 2 more seasons, and at that point when he's a RFA the spurs will match any offer

[phxspurfan]

For those who haven't read it lately, Kawhi's pre-draft scouting report:

http://www.nbadraft.net/players/kawhi-leonard

NBA Comparison: Luc Richard Mbah a Moute/ Gerald Wallace
Strengths: A hybrid forward with terrific length … He has a high motor and plays the game with a lot of energy … Spends majority of the time on the perimeter, but occasionally shows the ability to play with his back to the basket … Uses an effective turnaround jumper inside when posting up … An agile athlete, his strides are extremely long and he covers a lot of space when running the floor … Shows improvement in majority of areas from freshman to sophomore seasons … His shooting has improved and he has become a respectable threat from the outside … Operating out of the triple threat, he combines a nice jab with a fairly quick and long first step to create separation … He has a strong preference going to his pull-up jumper, and once he gets into a rhythm he can string a number makes together (his length and high release make it a difficult shot to contest) … He is fairly comfortable handling the ball in the open court and is capable of pushing it out off the rebound when the situation calls for it … Even with the improvements to his offensive game, he still continues to contribute heavily in the rebounding department … His huge hangs, length, energy and great timing, allow him to snatch balls on both ends that are well outside of his rebounding area … An extremely quick jumper, he is very good at tipping the ball and keeping it alive on the rim … Has the instincts and shows potential in becoming a very solid defender … His ability to get out in the passing lanes and also contest shots inside make him a very dangerous weapon on the defensive end …

Weaknesses: Does not have one aspect offensively that stands out or which allows him to consistently score the ball … With his size and frame, will almost certainly be a perimeter player at the next level, but he lacks the polish and skill necessary to consistently operate on the wing … He does not have break down ability off the dribble and he is especially shaky handling the ball with his left hand … His jumpshot (while definitely improved) is still very inconsistent … The release comes high off his head and it is somewhat of a sling motion, which results in a fairly flat shot that goes all over the place … At this level, he has a size advantage on almost a nightly basis, but he still chooses to take the majority of his shots from the outside … Takes a high number of off balance shots, but does not show the ability to convert them at a good percentage … He does not have a great touch around the basket, and unless he can get inside position on the defense, he struggles finishing when contested … Not very disciplined defensively, he gambles far too often and leaves his team susceptible to giving up easy baskets …





http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Kawhi-Leonard-5821/

Best Case: Shawn Marion
Worst Case: Luc Richard Mbah A Moute

If Leonard ever does develop into a more reliable isolation threat, improving his left hand should be among his top priorities, as despite seeing a near equal breakdown of drives in both directions (37 possessions going right, 35 going left), Leonard's efficiency going right (0.865 PPP) more than doubled his efficiency going left (0.429 PPP).

Leonard is not only an average ball-handler, but he also struggles to make shots consistently from beyond the arc. His 0.743 points per shots on jumpers ranks 16th of 17 in the class, where he shot an abysmal 31% from the field. His struggles extend both to his catch and shoot jumpers (32%) and pull-ups (28%).

[Cane]

Kawhi was one of the few bright spots in the not-so-nasty WCF vs OKC too:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tO-9Xvymw0

Rookie highlights including playoffs before WCF:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_nPd7PFfoQ

And look at the progress you can see in Leonard's game this season:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXemx5E9t20

[Cane]

Kawhi's full game on display vs this season's OKC:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNSkGGexxPE

/mancrush

[gambit1990]

i'd take kawhi over marion any day of the week. i love sean's comparison of leonard to a mini james worthy.

[Brazil]

Thanks for posting gambit :tu

[exstatic]

The motor is a difference maker. He'll be a LOT better NBA player than more talented guys taken ahead of him in the lottery because he isn't satisfied just being here.

[racm]

Tbh he's the second best guy in his draft class. Irving and Faried are the other players I'd take with a top 3 pick.

[MSPaint]

Tbh he's the second best guy in his draft class. Irving and Faried are the other players I'd take with a top 3 pick.

This. How the hell did this guy slip to 15th? Was he just not that impressive of a player in college? Two conference championships aren't enough? Or is it just further proof of the Spurs legendary draft ability?

[racm]

This. How the hell did this guy slip to 15th? Was he just not that impressive of a player in college? Two conference championships aren't enough? Or is it just further proof of the Spurs legendary draft ability?

He didn't go to a sexy school. He was seen as a tweener with no jumper. He wasn't seen as a scorer.

Plus, look at how the draft went:

1 Kyrie Irving - stud, too fragile
2 Derrick Williams - now there's a tweener with a shaky J
3 Enes Kanter - solid player, wouldn't use a top 3 pick on him though
4 Tristan Thompson - I like him, picked right where he should be
5 Jonas Valanciunas - one of the few good players on the Raptors
6 Jan Vesely - bust
7 Bismack Biyombo - poor man's Larry Sanders
8 Brandon Knight - the only guy apart from Drummond playing D on the Pistons
9 Kemba Walker - puts up big numbers on a bad team
10 Jimmer Fredette - DNP Too White
11 Klay Thompson - great shooter, nice complement to Curry
12 Alec Burks - meh
13 Markieff Morris - been ok
14 Marcus Morris - was okay, then traded to his bro's team
15 Kawhi Leonard - :wow :wow :wow

Spurs still had to give up George Hill, tbh.

[spurraider21]

He didn't go to a sexy school. He was seen as a tweener with no jumper. He wasn't seen as a scorer.

Plus, look at how the draft went:

1 Kyrie Irving - stud, too fragile
2 Derrick Williams - now there's a tweener with a shaky J
3 Enes Kanter - solid player, wouldn't use a top 3 pick on him though
4 Tristan Thompson - I like him, picked right where he should be
5 Jonas Valanciunas - one of the few good players on the Raptors
6 Jan Vesely - bust
7 Bismack Biyombo - poor man's Larry Sanders
8 Brandon Knight - the only guy apart from Drummond playing D on the Pistons
9 Kemba Walker - puts up big numbers on a bad team
10 Jimmer Fredette - DNP Too White
11 Klay Thompson - great shooter, nice complement to Curry
12 Alec Burks - meh
13 Markieff Morris - been ok
14 Marcus Morris - was okay, then traded to his bro's team
15 Kawhi Leonard - :wow :wow :wow

Spurs still had to give up George Hill, tbh.

no clue why the Bobcats drafted Biyombo tbh. They already had the same shit with Tyrus Thomas. I actually think Burks is solid for Utah. I think next year Burks and Hayward are full time starters at the wings for the Jazz and they'll be solid. I agree with your assessments on the other guys. Klay Thompson was a steal. Of course, so was kawhi

[SpursBills]

that's twice over the last five years that the spurs have hit by drafting players from smaller schools (Hill, Kawhi) - I wonder if this reflects the new trend in finding good players in unlikely places, much like how the spurs were one of the first to have a lot of success drafting international players.

[Aztecfan03]

He didn't go to a sexy school. He was seen as a tweener with no jumper. He wasn't seen as a scorer.


If I remember correctly he didn't have a great showing in march madness either. The team made it to sweet 16 but i felt Kawhi kinda had a poor showing.

[007nites]

Working on a Leonard mix. This should provide some good material.

[racm]

If I remember correctly he didn't have a great showing in march madness either. The team made it to sweet 16 but i felt Kawhi kinda had a poor showing.

True, but SDSU was dominant before the tournament.

[TrainOfThought5]

20/10/5 tbh...... and not a bucket less than 18/8/5 at the minimum. book it.

[Raven]

i actually think the nbadraft.net description was pretty accurate, i can also understand why kawhi was that much worse from range at college, since there is far less ball movement and a lot tighter coverage. The comparison sucks though :lol

[Raven]

He didn't go to a sexy school. He was seen as a tweener with no jumper. He wasn't seen as a scorer.

Plus, look at how the draft went:

1 Kyrie Irving - stud, too fragile
2 Derrick Williams - now there's a tweener with a shaky J
3 Enes Kanter - solid player, wouldn't use a top 3 pick on him though
4 Tristan Thompson - I like him, picked right where he should be
5 Jonas Valanciunas - one of the few good players on the Raptors
6 Jan Vesely - bust
7 Bismack Biyombo - poor man's Larry Sanders
8 Brandon Knight - the only guy apart from Drummond playing D on the Pistons
9 Kemba Walker - puts up big numbers on a bad team
10 Jimmer Fredette - DNP Too White
11 Klay Thompson - great shooter, nice complement to Curry
12 Alec Burks - meh
13 Markieff Morris - been ok
14 Marcus Morris - was okay, then traded to his bro's team
15 Kawhi Leonard - :wow :wow :wow

Spurs still had to give up George Hill, tbh.


1 Kyrie Irving - stud, too fragile
- true, but he also sucks at the D end and doesn't make teammates better. still very young
2 Derrick Williams - now there's a tweener with a shaky J
-sad story, permanently moved to pf, such a waste of potential
3 Enes Kanter - solid player, wouldn't use a top 3 pick on him though
-great pick imho, both soft hands and though player with perfect size. best young center imho
6 Jan Vesely - bust
-not worth commenting
7 Bismack Biyombo - poor man's Larry Sanders
-idiotic pick.. i get the reasoning, but he is both undersized and raw, that's just a terrible combination. i mean, a 6-9 center with no offense, seriously?
8 Brandon Knight - the only guy apart from Drummond playing D on the Pistons
-another tweener, he seems like a lost cause tbh
9 Kemba Walker - puts up big numbers on a bad team
-another idiotic pick, you never draft an undersized pg, that's just dumb, the chances of the player becoming allen iverson are like 1 to 7billion and even him couldn't win a ring or defend properly.
10 Jimmer Fredette - DNP Too White
-again an undersized player, he is a sg but was expected to slide to pg which is dumb to begin with, how could they expect to be anything other than terrible on D? i mean, him guarding Lawson?
11 Klay Thompson - great shooter, nice complement to Curry
- great pick and great value
12 Alec Burks - meh
- nice skills, he wasn't properly developed, he doesn't complement knight at all
13 Markieff Morris - been ok
-he's decent, doesn't seems to have a high ceiling though
14 Marcus Morris - was okay, then traded to his bro's team
-bust, too weak for the millsap type and bad hands for the love type

[Kuestmaster]

This kid is special.

[hater]

like I said, he's got bigtime moves

and those handles when he dribbles the ball... with those hands, dude looks like a velociraptor

[mrjap2x]

1 Kyrie Irving - stud, too fragile
- true, but he also sucks at the D end and doesn't make teammates better. still very young

I'd say its more of his teammate sucks rather than him not being a good facilitator.

[gambit1990]

coach nick from those cool bballbreakdown videos on youtube just tweeted that kawhi's his favorite player.

idk how to embed tweets on here but here is said tweet: twitter.com/bballSource/status/322489947355488257

[coachmac87]

He's the only player on the Spurs with a complete game. Had 3 ball. Mid range pull. Post game and can finish. Rebound. Play D and block shots. Only weakness is probably his passing but that'll come with more experience with the ball in his hands. Very few players in the league can do what he can do. He'll be an all star next year and could be for 5-7 consecutive years...

[gambit1990]

he's made some good bounce passes lately. but i agree, his passing can/will improve. i have trouble trying to figure out his ceiling.

[Spur|n|Austin]

like I said, he's got bigtime moves

and those handles when he dribbles the ball... with those hands, dude looks like a velociraptor

Last places you wanna be trapped with him, one-on-one during a fast break, or in a kitchen on an island.

[gambit1990]

he's improved every season. deserves the MIP award this year imo.

butler won it last year after improving his scoring from 13ppg to 20.
kawhi's improvement: 16 to 20.

and after 51 games... he's shooting 48%(!) from the 3 point line... after shooting 34% last year.

__________3PM-3PA
last season: 67-192
this season: 92-191


here's to how much he'll be smiling when we win it all in a few months (if ginobili's healthy) and to all the years he'll be a spur :toast
http://www.istorya.net/forums/attachments/basketball-81/10890d1403072177-kawhi-leonard-finals-mvp-you-thoughts-leonard1_zpsdacf3609.jpg

[Spurtacular]

9 Kemba Walker - puts up big numbers on a bad team
10 Jimmer Fredette - DNP Too White

KW puts up numbers cos he chucks on a bad team; and he wasn't even getting the numbers initially. This would have been the ideal team for Jimmer to have gone to. He would've been a starter with room to grow. It would have been an organic scenario to have been in.

[TrainOfThought5]

20/10/5 tbh...... and not a bucket less than 18/8/5 at the minimum. book it.

Goddamn im good.

[gambit1990]

i don't see that happening.
was right about him not leaving :toast

good thing too... kawhi went from what he was his rookie year... to putting up a WS/48 of .460 :wow:wow:wow

it's only been four games, there's pretty much no way he sustains that. but it seems like the ceiling for him keeps rising...



to give you some reference for his WS... lebron's is currently at .270.

[dabom]

was right about him not leaving :toast

good thing too... kawhi went from what he was his rookie year... to putting up a WS/48 of .460 :wow:wow:wow

it's only been four games, there's pretty much no way he sustains that. but it seems like the ceiling for him keeps rising...



to give you some reference for his WS... lebron's is currently at .270.

460 is super hero status. :lol