ESPN Article Request

[dabom]

Anyone got that new kawhi bit on espn insider?

[Uriel]

Yes, please. And thank you.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12258022/kawhi-leonard-defensive-impact-crucial-san-antonio-spurs-nba

[Vic Petro]

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12258022/kawhi-leonard-defensive-impact-crucial-san-antonio-spurs-nba

Kawhi Leonard (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/6450/kawhi-leonard)'s had quite the last 12 months, helping the San Antonio Spurs (http://espn.go.com/nba/team/_/name/sa/san-antonio-spurs) capture their first title in seven years, earning Finals MVP honors in the process. Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich declared (http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2014/12/02/the-big-shot-after-winning-finals-mvp-kawhi-leonard-ready-to-shoulder-load-for-san-antonio-spurs/) again that the team was built not around the Big Three, but the "Big One" of Leonard, a stance Popovich has expressed before in calling Leonard the future of the franchise. Despite the platitudes of his teammates and his coach, a rookie-scale extension was not agreed to last fall. However, most around the NBA expect Leonard to command maximum-level salary in the open market.
The Spurs' performance in the last month and a half has reinforced the idea of Leonard as the most important player on the roster. San Antonio struggled in Leonard's absence, going 7-8, and flourished upon his return, going 6-1 entering tonight's matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers (http://espn.go.com/nba/team/_/name/lac/los-angeles-clippers). The Spurs actually posted an uncharacteristically negative net rating in the month without Leonard, being outscored by more than a point per 100 possessions.
His return brought with it a sharp increase in net rating, as San Antonio has been besting opponents by almost seven points per 100 possessions, but there's a catch -- the Spurs' offense has increased only negligibly in that span (0.2 points per 100 possessions better). Leonard's impact has come almost exclusively on the defensive end. In essence, he takes them from a rather mediocre defensive outfit (allowing more than 102 points per 100 possessions) to an elite one (allowing 95 points per 100 possessions).


On the season


While Leonard is averaging a career high in points (15.3) and PER (20.0), his efficiency is at a career low, with an eFG percent below .500 for the first time in his career (.489). This is consistent with what we would expect of a player whose usage sharply increased -- a career high 22.5 percent after posting sub-20 percent usage every year of his career. Simply put, Leonard is not a dynamic enough offensive player to remain efficient as his offensive burden grows, which is consistent of the assessment I made of him last June (http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2014/story/_/id/11087354/nba-finals-2014-kawhi-leonard-rising-star-san-antonio-spurs), as he was surging his way to the Finals MVP.
While Leonard isn't a star in the traditional, offensive sense (you can't build an offense anchored by him), he is every bit a defensive star for the Spurs. His defensive rebound rate of 23 percent would be excellent for a power forward or center, let alone a wing. And it's not a product of cannibalization -- when Leonard's on the floor, the Spurs corral almost 80 percent of available defensive rebounds, a mark that would place them near the very top of the league in that category. Leonard's rebounding gives him and San Antonio a tremendous advantage in small-ball lineups, as they're able to take advantage of mismatches on the offensive end (pulling bigs away from the basket) while maintaining defensive integrity (protecting defensive glass).
Specifically, Leonard's versatility as a defender is virtually irreplaceable on the roster. Here's a great example from San Antonio's last game, a single play where he demonstrates his enormous value:
http://a.espncdn.com/graphics/2015/0131/Insider_150131_kawhi1_mh_576x294.jpgSynergy Sports Technology
Prior to the above screenshot, the Hornets had just grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked out to Gerald Henderson (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/3993/gerald-henderson) at the perimeter. After a swift but controlled (i.e. no fly-by) closeout, Leonard fights over the screen and remains attached to the ball handler and a high pick-and-roll is initiated. Notice as he takes an angle that prevents a straight line drive and sends Henderson away from the middle of the floor toward the waiting help defense of Tim Duncan (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/215/tim-duncan).
As the play continues to develop, Leonard instinctively "peels off" to the rolling big Jason Maxiell while Duncan corrals Henderson, who ends up kicking the ball out to Brian Roberts on the perimeter. As Leonard switches onto Maxiell, he fights to front the post, sitting on Maxiell's legs to prevent him from being able to explode out of a spin lob. Maxiell finally gives up on posting and moves up the floor to set another high pick, this time for Roberts.
http://a.espncdn.com/graphics/2015/0131/Insider_150131_kawhi2_mh_576x295.jpgSynergy Sports Technology
Now, Leonard is effectively playing the big's role in pick-and-roll defense; he's doing the same thing Duncan was doing for him a moment ago, moving up to greet the ball handler until his teammate, Tony Parker, can recover. He does this with the ease and effortlessness of a veteran big who's defended a million pick-and-rolls, and I can't stress enough how rare that is. Just like most bigs are uncomfortable guarding out on the perimeter, most smalls are unaccustomed to defending pick-and-roll from the screener position (it's also why a team like Oklahoma City causes so many problems with their 1-3 pick-and-rolls).
http://a.espncdn.com/graphics/2015/0131/Insider_150131_kawhi3_mh_576x294.jpgSynergy Sports Technology
Roberts is discouraged by Leonard's presence so he swings back to Henderson at the top, who is still matched up with Duncan from the earlier switch. As he blows by Duncan en route to the rim, Leonard again reprises the role of rim protector, rotating over to stop penetration. Henderson, like Roberts before him, thinks twice of his dribble drive and decides to pull back to the perimeter to reset, giving Leonard and Duncan the opportunity to switch back to their original assignments.
http://a.espncdn.com/graphics/2015/0131/Insider_150131_kawhi4_mh_576x294.jpgSynergy Sports Technology
Matched up with Henderson on the perimeter in a short clock situation, Leonard gets down in textbook defensive stance and denies the middle of the floor. Cody Zeller comes up to set a step-up pick-and-roll, which Leonard switches on. Henderson beats Duncan to the mark and gets to the paint, where Leonard fouls him to prevent the easy layup.
On one play, we saw Leonard closeout to the perimeter like a wing, fight the post-up like a big, help on dribble penetration like a big, guard out on a perimeter iso like a wing, and defend the pick-and-roll as a guard and a big. There aren't many players in the entire NBA with that type of Swiss army knife versatility and IQ, and that defensive impact is what makes him so important to San Antonio's success.


For San Antonio and Leonard to experience the type of success they enjoyed last spring, it's going to come from his impact on the defensive end. The focus offensively for him should be on scaling it back some and getting back to his comfort zone of blending within the team concept and choosing his spots, as he did in Games 3 through 5 of the Finals.

[dabom]

Good read. I did a similar play analysis earlier in the week. :bobo


:lol But seriously this guy fails to mention kawhis eye infection and broken hand and lack of preseason with the team as his shot being off a little bit.

[Vic Petro]

The author is Elhassan who is generally a dope.

[BillMc]

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12258022/kawhi-leonard-defensive-impact-crucial-san-antonio-spurs-nba

Kawhi Leonard (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/6450/kawhi-leonard)'s had quite the last 12 months, helping the San Antonio Spurs (http://espn.go.com/nba/team/_/name/sa/san-antonio-spurs) capture their first title in seven years, earning Finals MVP honors in the process. Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich declared (http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2014/12/02/the-big-shot-after-winning-finals-mvp-kawhi-leonard-ready-to-shoulder-load-for-san-antonio-spurs/) again that the team was built not around the Big Three, but the "Big One" of Leonard, a stance Popovich has expressed before in calling Leonard the future of the franchise. Despite the platitudes of his teammates and his coach, a rookie-scale extension was not agreed to last fall. However, most around the NBA expect Leonard to command maximum-level salary in the open market.
The Spurs' performance in the last month and a half has reinforced the idea of Leonard as the most important player on the roster. San Antonio struggled in Leonard's absence, going 7-8, and flourished upon his return, going 6-1 entering tonight's matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers (http://espn.go.com/nba/team/_/name/lac/los-angeles-clippers). The Spurs actually posted an uncharacteristically negative net rating in the month without Leonard, being outscored by more than a point per 100 possessions.
His return brought with it a sharp increase in net rating, as San Antonio has been besting opponents by almost seven points per 100 possessions, but there's a catch -- the Spurs' offense has increased only negligibly in that span (0.2 points per 100 possessions better). Leonard's impact has come almost exclusively on the defensive end. In essence, he takes them from a rather mediocre defensive outfit (allowing more than 102 points per 100 possessions) to an elite one (allowing 95 points per 100 possessions).


On the season


While Leonard is averaging a career high in points (15.3) and PER (20.0), his efficiency is at a career low, with an eFG percent below .500 for the first time in his career (.489). This is consistent with what we would expect of a player whose usage sharply increased -- a career high 22.5 percent after posting sub-20 percent usage every year of his career. Simply put, Leonard is not a dynamic enough offensive player to remain efficient as his offensive burden grows, which is consistent of the assessment I made of him last June (http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2014/story/_/id/11087354/nba-finals-2014-kawhi-leonard-rising-star-san-antonio-spurs), as he was surging his way to the Finals MVP.
While Leonard isn't a star in the traditional, offensive sense (you can't build an offense anchored by him), he is every bit a defensive star for the Spurs. His defensive rebound rate of 23 percent would be excellent for a power forward or center, let alone a wing. And it's not a product of cannibalization -- when Leonard's on the floor, the Spurs corral almost 80 percent of available defensive rebounds, a mark that would place them near the very top of the league in that category. Leonard's rebounding gives him and San Antonio a tremendous advantage in small-ball lineups, as they're able to take advantage of mismatches on the offensive end (pulling bigs away from the basket) while maintaining defensive integrity (protecting defensive glass).
Specifically, Leonard's versatility as a defender is virtually irreplaceable on the roster. Here's a great example from San Antonio's last game, a single play where he demonstrates his enormous value:
http://a.espncdn.com/graphics/2015/0131/Insider_150131_kawhi1_mh_576x294.jpgSynergy Sports Technology
Prior to the above screenshot, the Hornets had just grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked out to Gerald Henderson (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/3993/gerald-henderson) at the perimeter. After a swift but controlled (i.e. no fly-by) closeout, Leonard fights over the screen and remains attached to the ball handler and a high pick-and-roll is initiated. Notice as he takes an angle that prevents a straight line drive and sends Henderson away from the middle of the floor toward the waiting help defense of Tim Duncan (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/215/tim-duncan).
As the play continues to develop, Leonard instinctively "peels off" to the rolling big Jason Maxiell while Duncan corrals Henderson, who ends up kicking the ball out to Brian Roberts on the perimeter. As Leonard switches onto Maxiell, he fights to front the post, sitting on Maxiell's legs to prevent him from being able to explode out of a spin lob. Maxiell finally gives up on posting and moves up the floor to set another high pick, this time for Roberts.
http://a.espncdn.com/graphics/2015/0131/Insider_150131_kawhi2_mh_576x295.jpgSynergy Sports Technology
Now, Leonard is effectively playing the big's role in pick-and-roll defense; he's doing the same thing Duncan was doing for him a moment ago, moving up to greet the ball handler until his teammate, Tony Parker, can recover. He does this with the ease and effortlessness of a veteran big who's defended a million pick-and-rolls, and I can't stress enough how rare that is. Just like most bigs are uncomfortable guarding out on the perimeter, most smalls are unaccustomed to defending pick-and-roll from the screener position (it's also why a team like Oklahoma City causes so many problems with their 1-3 pick-and-rolls).
http://a.espncdn.com/graphics/2015/0131/Insider_150131_kawhi3_mh_576x294.jpgSynergy Sports Technology
Roberts is discouraged by Leonard's presence so he swings back to Henderson at the top, who is still matched up with Duncan from the earlier switch. As he blows by Duncan en route to the rim, Leonard again reprises the role of rim protector, rotating over to stop penetration. Henderson, like Roberts before him, thinks twice of his dribble drive and decides to pull back to the perimeter to reset, giving Leonard and Duncan the opportunity to switch back to their original assignments.
http://a.espncdn.com/graphics/2015/0131/Insider_150131_kawhi4_mh_576x294.jpgSynergy Sports Technology
Matched up with Henderson on the perimeter in a short clock situation, Leonard gets down in textbook defensive stance and denies the middle of the floor. Cody Zeller comes up to set a step-up pick-and-roll, which Leonard switches on. Henderson beats Duncan to the mark and gets to the paint, where Leonard fouls him to prevent the easy layup.
On one play, we saw Leonard closeout to the perimeter like a wing, fight the post-up like a big, help on dribble penetration like a big, guard out on a perimeter iso like a wing, and defend the pick-and-roll as a guard and a big. There aren't many players in the entire NBA with that type of Swiss army knife versatility and IQ, and that defensive impact is what makes him so important to San Antonio's success.


For San Antonio and Leonard to experience the type of success they enjoyed last spring, it's going to come from his impact on the defensive end. The focus offensively for him should be on scaling it back some and getting back to his comfort zone of blending within the team concept and choosing his spots, as he did in Games 3 through 5 of the Finals.

Great read. Thanks for posting!:toast Kawhi, if he stays healthy, is going to make the All Defensive team this year again. Maybe first team?

[dabom]

He was probably trying to toot his own horn, but real spurs fans know kawhi is an offensive machine too.

[dabom]

The author is Elhassan who is generally a dope.

He hates the spurs. A lot. Like a lot!!! LOT!!

[loveforthegame]

Thanks for posting. Lots of nice Leonard articles recently. Good stuff. :tu

[Namundy]

Generally agree with this analysis, however the transition must begin.