Does he have the green light for tonight?
His knee was a problem before all-star weekend. Manipulate it all you want, but the data doesn't change. You seem to be refusing to grasp the reality that Pop holds players out of big games, and has done it so consistently that nobody's really surprised that he chose last night to hold Kawhi out.
Still at it? Last night game must be eating you up. How dare Pop sit out a starter and win by 30!
I hope people on this board can stop overrating Leonard now. He's a solid player and a strong piece for the future, but he's not one of the Big Three.
I don't think his importance is overated, especially when you consider Pop absolute refusal to start SJax when Leonard is out and instead going small with Green and Neal at the 2 and 3.
It's one game, for one game KY was the leading scorer on a big 3 less team that beat a playoff team...
Green had an extremely nice game tho and the Clips starting 3 is not exactly a monster, but I don't think we can rely on him having this kind of game on a regular basis at this point.
This is Paranoid Pop btw, I'm locked out of my account, can't remember my pw or the random email I used to register...
You could always try to PM Kori or timvp.
As far as Leonard goes, I don't think there's any doubt that he's important to the stretch run, but really, all of the Spurs' top eight are important. I just don't get why people though that sitting Kawhi with a known injury was tantamount to conceding a game for the Spurs.
No. Last night game good. Pop love sit starter still fact. You make strawman that fail.
Because the Clippers didn't show up for the game, KL's suddenly overrated? You clearly have not been watching the defense with Duncan, KL and Splitter on the front line. The fact that they didn't happen to need him doesn't diminish his value going forward.
Wait, you're trolling right?
I'm not trolling. I think Leonard is a fine player, but he's not up there with the Big Three. People in this thread were acting like he makes or breaks this roster on any given night, and that's just not the case. If Duncan, Parker and Ginobili are playing, I expect the Spurs to beat any team they play, no matter who else is out.
Spurs aren't winning a ring without Leonard just like they won't win a ring without any of the big 3. Maybe it's time you realize that. He might not be on the level of the big 3 just yet but he's just as important in order to accomplish the ultimate goal.
They're not going to win without Splitter, either, but you don't see people conceding games when he doesn't play. Maybe it's time you learn to read my posts before criticizing me. I didn't say the Spurs could win a le without him (or Splitter, or Diaw, or Green, or Jack now). I was specifically addressing people thinking the Spurs can't win ANY given game without him.
I think you would have seen the same reactions had Splitter been ruled out before last nights game.
Both guys are very important to winning. Not having either would be a big blow. It's pretty simple, that both guys have been key to putting the Spurs into an even higher level than they were last season.
Maybe, and if there were an easy way to determine that, I'd owe you an apology. But when Splitter was missing games last year, I don't recall people having the same doomsday predictions. I was just casually lurking at that time, though, so I can't say anything for sure.
I do know that the Spurs have gone through stretches without Duncan and Ginobili this season, and the board was generally optimistic during many of those games. The Spurs even played well when Leonard missed all of those games earlier this season. I think people freaking out about Leonard missing a game shows a lack of faith in the rest of the Spurs' players. If San Antonio can blow out Chicago without any of the Big Three, we damned sure should have expected a healthy Spurs to beat Los Angeles.
Exactly, but the Spurs' system is can survive a player missing a game, no matter who that player is. It's like people on this board were saying, "I know the Spurs can beat teams without Duncan and/or Ginobili, but Leonard is more important than those guys most of the time." They (meaning the bloggers) were even saying on 48 Minutes of that Leonard may have supplanted Manu in the Big Three. It's that kind of crap that just drives me up a wall.
I think it's probably the tendonitis, but it was about not having Kawhi play both games of a back to back, rather than the tendonitis flairing up to the point where it was dangerous to let him play at all. With a day between games I bet Kawhi would have played both. I'm sure Pop was thinking he'd have to rest Timmy and/or Manu tonight after a tough game against the Clips, so was planning to stagger who would sit for each game. It's definitely a bonus that Kawhi was able to sit and we were still able to get such an easy win.
A game or two in the season won't matter. As far as importance to team, I do like less reliance on Manu though. I don't think he can play those big minutes anymore, and Pop is better served by varying it up more. I like that Nando is on the team and can bring some of what Manu can from playmaking, while Kawhi brings some of his defensive attributes. No one will replace Manu, but I'm glad there are several guys who bring various attributes that he has.
Well put my friend.
Sure. The Spurs' chances of winning a le hinge of the Big Three playing to the best of their abilities, the Medium Three (Splitter, Leonard and Green) playing well on both sides of the ball, with at least one of them rising up to near-Big Three status each game, and the pack finding ways to fill in the cracks. If any of those three things fails to occur, the Spurs will be watching the Finals from home.
I understand what you were getting at now, Spurs fans should know not to count out the Spurs no matter who is in/out of the lineup. Saying that, I don't think Leonard is "overrated" at all.I do know that the Spurs have gone through stretches without Duncan and Ginobili this season, and the board was generally optimistic during many of those games. The Spurs even played well when Leonard missed all of those games earlier this season. I think people freaking out about Leonard missing a game shows a lack of faith in the rest of the Spurs' players. If San Antonio can blow out Chicago without any of the Big Three, we damned sure should have expected a healthy Spurs to beat Los Angeles.
I can't stress enough how much I like Leonard as a player. I think he's a key part to the team's success and will hopefully be around for years to come. But as I said in another post, you have people saying things like Leonard has pushed Manu out of the Big Three, or that Leonard is the leader of the perimeter defense.
This was in the 48 Minutes of article recapping the Kings' game (http://www.48minutesof .com/spurs...awhi-leonard):
Is the only choice we have whether to blindly hate on a player or to make irrational extensions like this? That game wasn't even a great example of Leonard's potential.The gradual rise of Kawhi Leonard also resumed its mission on Tuesday night. Leonard scored 15 points on 4-of-11 shooting. It wasn’t the most efficient night from the floor for Leonard, but the second year forward forced six foul shots and made the sort of intangible plays that help negate poor shooting percentages. One one play in the second half, Leonard used his unusually long arms to save a ball going out of bounds along the baseline right to Tim Duncan under the basket, who was able to draw a shooting foul.
Even with Manu Ginobili back in the rotation and playing well (12 points, seven rebounds), Leonard is making his case for membership in the Spurs’ big three. It’s like that scene in Drumline where Nick Cannon has to challenge someone to take their spot on the varsity (or whatever it’s called) [Andrew's note: Actually it wasn't Nick Cannon's character, it was another one. Check the comments below.]. Leonard’s working up the gusto right now to take on Ginobili.
I like 48MOH but their basketball analysis is not as good as what you read from the regulars here even tbh. This is probably worse than the one time I saw an article there where the writer suggested starting Bonner next to TD.
Leonard's a great player who's undoubtedly useful to have (I mean I've pretty much forgotten about Hill and I was heartbroken when he left), but fans like those ones are letting the Chicago game cloud their perceptions and they're not really looking at Leonard in the present imo.
He's not an all-star, so he's automatically not Manu, Parker or Duncan. If the Spurs want to win a le, however, they aren't doing it without a healthy Leonard starting next to Duncan and Splitter.
Sure. If you want, you can read the recent part of the thread to see that we all agreed on that. I was talking about something else.
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