Kawhi Leonard Is The Most Well-Rounded Elite Shooter Since Larry Bird

[FuzzyLumpkins]

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/kawhi-leonard-is-the-most-well-rounded-elite-shooter-since-larry-bird/?ex_cid=538twitter


Among Kawhi Leonard’s many, varied talents is something relatively new this season: Without much warning, and in addition to his stellar defense and rebounding, the Spurs forward has become one of the most devastating 3-point shooters in the league.

Leonard currently ranks second among qualified players in 3-point accuracy, having knocked down a ridiculous 48.4 percent of his threes. Before this season, his career high had been 37.9 percent (on 2.8 threes per game) and his high for attempts per game was 3.0; this year, he’s taking 3.8 per game and shattering his career numbers. Merely putting a shooting threat of that magnitude on the floor can dramatically grease the wheels of offensive efficiency: Since 1997-98,1 teams whose regular lineups featured a guy hitting at least 45 percent of his threes scored 2.7 more points per 100 possessions than their peers. But Leonard is more than just a long-distance sniper.

On top of his range, he also rates among the league’s best defenders (his +3.4 defensive Box Plus/Minus is in the 97th percentile of NBA players) and scorers (95th percentile in points per 36 minutes), with above-average rebounding (69th percentile in rebound rate) and passing (57th percentile in assist rate) thrown in for good measure. Leonard’s all-around excellence this season has placed him squarely in the mix with Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook and LeBron James for the mantle of NBA’s Best Player™.

[BillMc]

:bobo

[rexrobinson]

This also shows you how much potential he still has. Once his assist game starts to pick up....yikes for the rest of the NBA.

[YGWHI]

Kawhi has been amazing but his shot seemed a bit broken in the last games...Hopefully, a big game against Warriors helps him get out of his slump.

[Vito Corleone]

Bird was a great offensive player but if he played in an era where defense was emphasized he would be a liability on the floor.

With that said, Kawhi is no where close to bird as a shooter, Curry is on the same level as Bird, but Kawhi is on the level of say Clyde Drexler or even Steve Kerr.

Bird was an effortless 3pt shooter, Curry is an effortless 3pt shooter, Kawhi is a guy that exerts a lot of effort in his shot.

[SpursFan86]

Bird was a great offensive player but if he played in an era where defense was emphasized he would be a liability on the floor.

With that said, Kawhi is no where close to bird as a shooter, Curry is on the same level as Bird, but Kawhi is on the level of say Clyde Drexler or even Steve Kerr.

Bird was an effortless 3pt shooter, Curry is an effortless 3pt shooter, Kawhi is a guy that exerts a lot of effort in his shot.

Nah, Curry is on a level of his own...even compared to guys like Reggie Miller or Ray Allen.

Anyways, Kawhi's jumper has already seemed to fall back to earth a bit since December...so I'm jumping at the idea of putting him in the same conversation as Bird when it comes to shooting :lol I'd love to be proven wrong, but I don't think he's in that category (at least not yet).

[exstatic]

Bird was a great offensive player but if he played in an era where defense was emphasized he would be a liability on the floor.

With that said, Kawhi is no where close to bird as a shooter, Curry is on the same level as Bird, but Kawhi is on the level of say Clyde Drexler or even Steve Kerr.

Bird was an effortless 3pt shooter, Curry is an effortless 3pt shooter, Kawhi is a guy that exerts a lot of effort in his shot.

Larry Bird had four complete and consecutive seasons shooting less than 30% from beyond the arc. People here freaked when Kawhi had like 2-3 months below that mark last year and are castigating Green for shooting 33% so far this year.

I don't think Bird can be thought of as ever being an effortless 3 point shooter.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Larry Bird had four complete and consecutive seasons shooting less than 30% from beyond the arc. People here freaked when Kawhi had like 2-3 months below that mark last year and are castigating Green for shooting 33% so far this year.

I don't think Bird can be thought of as ever being an effortless 3 point shooter.

The proper comparison is to historical rates which were low not people's misguided assumptions.

[skulls138]

Bird was a great offensive player but if he played in an era where defense was emphasized he would be a liability on the floor.

With that said, Kawhi is no where close to bird as a shooter, Curry is on the same level as Bird, but Kawhi is on the level of say Clyde Drexler or even Steve Kerr.

Bird was an effortless 3pt shooter, Curry is an effortless 3pt shooter, Kawhi is a guy that exerts a lot of effort in his shot.Bird defeated the Pistons one of the best defensive teams ever....in a most humiliating way I might add. Kawhi? He needs some more seasons under his belt before I can compare him to the greats but if he continues like this he could be one of the, if not the most well rounded player of all time. And hes cool too. Im a lucky SOB to be a Spurs fan.