Concern about Kawhi's knees this season

So I know he took the summer off because of some knee tendonitis. Everyone had high expectations for Kawhi this season, Chuck even put him as a candidate all-star reserve.

But, from what I've watched, Kawhi seems to be lacking explosiveness and leaping ability this year. Anyone else notice this? Could this be a contributing factor in why he's kind of having a disappointing season and not meeting expectations?

Check these highlights where he's dunking or jumping
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQil2uBmQDw

Compared to 2012-2013 top 10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2LiOjxxTuo

Notice how he's barely getting off the ground for being like, 23 years old? In the 2012-2013 video, he's getting much higher with his dunks.

I'm really hoping its because Kawhi is saving himself for the playoffs in some CIA Pop plan, but im seriously concerned. We know he got a DNP -rest already this season for being such a young player, which is kind of crazy. We're hearing a bunch of trade rumors also involving some rather big names that I think is impossible to pull off unless kawhi's in the mix...

Maybe I'm just overreacting. Thoughts?

I agree man.

Maybe thats why there was talk he's available in trades if the price is right :downspin:

Kawhi is in trade rumors involving big names because, just like the Spurs, they want good players in return. Who would want to give up a good player for Errors? :lol

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Originally Posted by spurraider21

Maybe thats why there was talk he's available in trades if the price is right :downspin:

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That's what I'm thinking too..Spurs are known to get rid of dead assets ASAP when their value is high..

Kawhi is not an explosive player. Never has been. If you go and look at his DX profile, his no-step vert is 26, and his MAX vert is 32. That's pretty pedestrian. He's strong, long, and pretty quick.

hope kawhi is just taking it easy, im sure it's just cia pop

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Originally Posted by exstatic

Kawhi is not an explosive player. Never has been. If you go and look at his DX profile, his no-step vert is 26, and his MAX vert is 32. That's pretty pedestrian. He's strong, long, and pretty quick.

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Wouldn't NBA teams have work out regimens that can help increase a player's vertical leap? I'm surprised if his vertical is only 26 & 32.

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Originally Posted by Ice009

Wouldn't NBA teams have work out regimens that can help increase a player's vertical leap? I'm surprised if his vertical is only 26 & 32.

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There's only so much you can do. It's not like SDSU doesn't have a workout regimen for it's players. Those measurements were also at the draft combine, and most players have trainers work with them beforehand.

When you look at how many games he missed so far it's troubling even tho the broken hand is a freak accident...

If there's a real issue behind all this, they have to sell quickly... Maybe as soon as the next draft to move up...

I don't think that the Spurs would say that Kawhi is the face of Spurs future then
trading him is out of caricature for R.C. and Pop. Kawhi doesn't need to be the best high jumper
on the team to play defense*. (*see Bruce Bowen )..........

his beta mindset worries me more then his knees tbh...

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Originally Posted by freetiago

his beta mindset worries me more then his knees tbh...

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Tiago? He was one of the few to actually show up huge in games 6 and 7 last year! He showed me alot there when most of the other guys dissapeared! Him and Tim were the only ones who wanted it as far as that goes and what I saw. He does worry me at times as you said but he has shown in big games he can show.

I honestly think him and Green are coasting.

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Originally Posted by freetiago

his beta mindset worries me more then his knees tbh...

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He was really beta in games 6 and 7 of the finals last year (taking ... albeit bricking ... a three that had it fallen would have swung the title). The real beta up until the past two months hasn't even sniffed games 6 and 7 of the finals.

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Originally Posted by Baam

When you look at how many games he missed so far it's troubling even tho the broken hand is a freak accident...

If there's a real issue behind all this, they have to sell quickly... Maybe as soon as the next draft to move up...

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It's more about self-confidence than knee issue.

He's 22 years old, the coach has called him "the future face of the franchise", said he would call more plays for him, so the kid expectes to play a more prominent role, but early this season he realizes that his role is the same of last year.
He gets most of his points on opportunity plays and the coach rarely called his number. Even if he has a great game -like against Warriors or Wolves- he won't get more play time or more touches next games.

The same role in the same system. A month ago, he said "It's not for me to score on the team" "It's not built around me for that right now. So it's pretty much the same role as last year."

Obviously, for a young player who wants to be the dominant player of last Finals who helped Tim to carry the team, who wants to take the next step, that thing should be frustrating, so he seems to get really frustrated.

There's still plenty of time left in the season and Leonard is talented enough to improve, but lack of confidence is a big problem, especially when it comes to shooting the basketball. If he doesn't think the ball is going in every time he shoots, then why is he shooting?

I'm a bit pessimistic about "CIA POP" because nothing has changed since last year, the Spurs run the same plays, doing the same offensive and defensive schemes, the only opportunity in playoffs for Kawhi to step up if Tony or Manu have low performances like last two games in the Finals.

It's more of he's one of the main focus on the opposing team's scouting report now. As opposed to his first two seasons. Teams are more emphasized on stopping him because they know if you stop Leonard and Parker in the starting line-up, it's pretty much over for us. Plus, all they have to do is stick they're longest defender on Tp and its over. Not too worried about the kids knees. IIRC he hasn't missed any time this year because of them.

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Originally Posted by wildchild

It's more about self-confidence than knee issue.

He's 22 years old, the coach has called him "the future face of the franchise", said he would call more plays for him, so the kid expectes to play a more prominent role, but early this season he realizes that his role is the same of last year.
He gets most of his points on opportunity plays and the coach rarely called his number. Even if he has a great game -like against Warriors or Wolves- he won't get more play time or more touches next games.

The same role in the same system. A month ago, he said "It's not for me to score on the team" "It's not built around me for that right now. So it's pretty much the same role as last year."

Obviously, for a young player who wants to be the dominant player of last Finals who helped Tim to carry the team, who wants to take the next step, that thing should be frustrating, so he seems to get really frustrated.

There's still plenty of time left in the season and Leonard is talented enough to improve, but lack of confidence is a big problem, especially when it comes to shooting the basketball. If he doesn't think the ball is going in every time he shoots, then why is he shooting?

I'm a bit pessimistic about "CIA POP" because nothing has changed since last year, the Spurs run the same plays, doing the same offensive and defensive schemes, the only opportunity in playoffs for Kawhi to step up if Tony or Manu have low performances like last two games in the Finals.

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Kawhi gets up more shots this year than last year, and has led the team in shot attempts a couple games. So...ya.

Kawhi knows his role, and is we'll aware that he's not gonna get that many touches when he's playing with TP, and Timmy. Why would he become the focal point of the offense? He knows thus, and is content with it. People are grasping at straws itt.

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Originally Posted by exstatic

Kawhi is not an explosive player. Never has been. If you go and look at his DX profile, his no-step vert is 26, and his MAX vert is 32. That's pretty pedestrian. He's strong, long, and pretty quick.

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I've said this before. People think just because he dunks he's explosive. He not.

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Originally Posted by sehui

So I know he took the summer off because of some knee tendonitis. Everyone had high expectations for Kawhi this season, Chuck even put him as a candidate all-star reserve.

But, from what I've watched, Kawhi seems to be lacking explosiveness and leaping ability this year. Anyone else notice this? Could this be a contributing factor in why he's kind of having a disappointing season and not meeting expectations?

Check these highlights where he's dunking or jumping
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQil2uBmQDw

Compared to 2012-2013 top 10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2LiOjxxTuo

Notice how he's barely getting off the ground for being like, 23 years old? In the 2012-2013 video, he's getting much higher with his dunks.

I'm really hoping its because Kawhi is saving himself for the playoffs in some CIA Pop plan, but im seriously concerned. We know he got a DNP -rest already this season for being such a young player, which is kind of crazy. We're hearing a bunch of trade rumors also involving some rather big names that I think is impossible to pull off unless kawhi's in the mix...

Maybe I'm just overreacting. Thoughts?

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He's not saving himself. Guys his age don't save themselves for anything. He's giving what he has and your observations are probably correct.

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Originally Posted by UZER

I've said this before. People think just because he dunks he's explosive. He not.

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He's fast but not explosive, and even then only on the break. He doesn't have any legit one on one moves that don't include a pull up jumper. That stuff takes time to develop.

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Originally Posted by wildchild

It's more about self-confidence than knee issue.

He's 22 years old, the coach has called him "the future face of the franchise", said he would call more plays for him, so the kid expectes to play a more prominent role, but early this season he realizes that his role is the same of last year.
He gets most of his points on opportunity plays and the coach rarely called his number. Even if he has a great game -like against Warriors or Wolves- he won't get more play time or more touches next games.

The same role in the same system. A month ago, he said "It's not for me to score on the team" "It's not built around me for that right now. So it's pretty much the same role as last year."

Obviously, for a young player who wants to be the dominant player of last Finals who helped Tim to carry the team, who wants to take the next step, that thing should be frustrating, so he seems to get really frustrated.

There's still plenty of time left in the season and Leonard is talented enough to improve, but lack of confidence is a big problem, especially when it comes to shooting the basketball. If he doesn't think the ball is going in every time he shoots, then why is he shooting?

I'm a bit pessimistic about "CIA POP" because nothing has changed since last year, the Spurs run the same plays, doing the same offensive and defensive schemes, the only opportunity in playoffs for Kawhi to step up if Tony or Manu have low performances like last two games in the Finals.

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There are a thousand different ways one could run the Spurs team, and you can see 29 other ways around the league. Look for teams with similar talent that don't use a similar system and notice they are failures. The Spurs cannot win on talent alone, they don't have it. They have to win on set plays, a few gimmicks here and there (the sporadic zone) and some out of the woodwork play from random players. You take a team like NY or even the Clippers and you think they should have a better record than SA because they have more and younger talent. They lose games because they don't play smart. They don't call timeouts when they could. They trust their own ability to create more than they trust the coach's game plan (if he even has one other than Ubuntu and play harder). Everyone wants Pop to be progressive but the progressive coaches in the league are looking for jobs. The rest are trying as hard as they can to duplicate the Spurs system and for good reason. You cannot argue with the results.

I think the poster early on citing Leonard's relatively NBA pedestrian 32 inch vertical had this pegged. He can get nice looking and easy dunks due to his length but does not get way above the rim. The time off should be ideal for the health of his knees as is our roster depth. I really look for our defense to turn it up a notch to suffocate teams in comparison to without him in there. The Green/Leonard combo is flat nasty on defense as Miami found out last year.

Not getting above the rim never hurt Duncan much though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by exstatic

Kawhi is not an explosive player. Never has been. If you go and look at his DX profile, his no-step vert is 26, and his MAX vert is 32. That's pretty pedestrian. He's strong, long, and pretty quick.

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Theese was the guy who nailed it.