Reply With Quote
Leonard won't have much effect on Gay's production by waving a towel from the bench as he watches RJ play defense.
Now I know Leonard is a rookie with no real training camp or NBA experience, but can he slow Gay down? Or how many points does Gay put up on him.
Leonard won't have much effect on Gay's production by waving a towel from the bench as he watches RJ play defense.
I'm afraid of that myself. Big with this shortened schedule, Pop is going to have yo play him right.
to be honest i am happy that Gay is back. We have much more problems guarding bigs than perimeter players.
I hope he gets a lot of touches
Guys like Leonard will not be given a chance to guard an NBA star by Pop or the refs. I think it is one of the main reasons Pop sits first year players is because the whistle is always against them.
Even if Leonard were to start I highly doubt that he will be able to shut talented players like Gay off the gate with no experience.
Not to worry, the Gay is strong here.
In the 5 games I've seen kawhi play in temple, BYU, unconn, and the rockets x2 guys just do not try to score on him for whatever reason.
take the rockets games for example, budinger tried to score on him only like 3x and one of them kawhi stole the ball. I've made sure to focus solely on Leonard hoping to see his defense. Even t williams only tried to score against kawhi twice and one of those times kawhi blocked his shot.
In the uconn game j lamb went off for like 28 points but only scored 4 to 6 points on kawhi, every single other point was scored on kawhis back up. It's very very odd guys just don't try to attack him. Same thing went for the temple and byu games.
If he guards Rudy, I don't think Rudy s going to shy away from shooting. I like chase budinger but he ain't no Rudy gay, an not just in race!
Even if by some means he gets a shot to D up on Rudy, KL wouldn't stand a very good chance against a proven NBA scorer. KL is still in the embryonic stages of his career and I'm assuming he is still getting himself acclimated to the style of play in the NBA and to the system to which he has to play in. For a first year player, fresh out of college, that is a lot to ask for.
He won't get enough minutes to be much of a factor.
I don't expect much from Leonard if he plays much. I expect he'll get 10-15 mins probably.
Game will be different though. Arthur burned our 2nd unit in the playoffs.
I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that G Hill was guarding Kobe his rookie year....
Now don't go contradicting the ST myths with facts...
I believe Leonard will get get spot minutes tonight on Gay.
This is one of the best scouting reports I've seen on Kawhi, which gives you a good understanding of the type of player he is
Kawhi Leonard
Saw him in college and know the people who have worked with him, and I think he can be special. As a rookie, his biggest positive will be defense. Will be consistent defender, even in first year. Obviously, a learning curve offensively and defensively, but not as big on defense in how to fit in their system. Better spot shooter, including the three, than most think. At catch-and-shoot, he’ll be very solid, but not off dribble. Has to get his motor on consistent basis, which was issue in college.
Because of our lack of defensive players and Pop's preference for D, (Bowen and Hill) i think out of necesssity , it's a no brainer , Kawhi will play and get his minutes, guaranteed ! especially by the end of the reg season,
What i find interesting with the report is Kawhi actually has a decent catch and shoot game,, better than I thought. this guy won't have a problem with Pops system of SF spotting up from the corner. What he is not is an offensive isolation scorer. (he actually has no moves at all)
The most intriguing thing about the report is using his "motor on a consistent basis" many people noticed his lack of energy in the preseason games and expected him to be high energy guy instantly off the bench. This could be an issue or could be not, i'm not sure. but we have to watch this one. I actually don't get it, is this due to lack of focus and concentration or more of him just being passive and waiting for the game to come to him. he certainly has the tools.. this might be all mental.. hmm
Hill averaged 16.5 minutes per game his rookie year and we did not play the Lakers in the playoffs that year. Not exactly starter minutes, which is the focus of the discussion.
Gay's career pts/FGA mark of 1.19 is pretty inefficient for a lead dog. In contrast, Manu is 1.4, and Tony is 1.23.
It pretty much means any shot Rudy takes is one you want him to.
Its starts
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
