Church of Kawhi Leonard

[YGWHI]

"Kawhi Leonard of the San Antonio Spurs is a true stand up guy. He found out about a need in our community and didn't hesitate to lend a helping hand. Thanks Kawhi for giving back and showing these ball players a little love!"

https://www.instagram.com/p/BLPmW7zDPD3/

Well done, Kawhi. Well done.

[hooperflash]

[testies]

terrible
insists on playing pick n roll, should have sticken to being a 3&D guy

[YGWHI]

terrible
insists on playing pick n roll, should have sticken to being a 3&D guy

Stop trolling.

For the record, Kawhi has been one of the most efficient P&Rs ball-handlers in the league last season.

[ace3g]

Kawhi will be 39-40 years old and still be adding things to his game.

[PopTheGOAT]

Kawhi will be 39-40 years old and still be adding things to his game.

Manu called Kawhi's ability to get to the line "Harden-like"...ever seen this one before?
"The Arm Hook"

[ace3g]

Supreme NBA Ballers




http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/sto...ystical-powers

Kawhi Leonard

San Antonio Spurs | SF

Power: Defender of Earth and the cosmos
Key stat: Back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year awards
Mind-bending moment: Steal on Kevin Durant leading to poster dunk over Russell Westbrook.
While some stars impose their will on the opposition, Kawhi Leonard merely prevents his opponents from imposing theirs. He demonstrates more skills with his hands (1.8 steals, 1.0 blocks per game in 2015-16) than Stephen Strange did as a neurosurgeon, creating a virtual force field around the Spurs' basket. If Doctor Strange is Earth's defender against mystical threats, then Leonard is the defender against basketball threats. Illustration by Jay Anacleto and Chris Sotomayor

[spursistan]

Manu called Kawhi's ability to get to the line "Harden-like"...ever seen this one before?
"The Arm Hook"

det sig

[hooperflash]

Supreme NBA Ballers

"What are you gonna be for Halloween ?"

Kawhi Leonard Superhero

[PopTheGOAT]

det sig

photoshop does wonders

[ace3g]

Jordan Howenstine ‏@AirlessJordan

Kawhi Leonard started his 300th game tonight - he now has more wins than any other player in NBA history through 300 starts. 235-65 record.







Jordan Howenstine ‏@AirlessJordan

Most wins by player in first 300 starts:
1. Kawhi Leonard - 235
2. Byron Scott - 231
3. Danny Ainge - 229 (@EliasSports 1970)

[gambit1990]

after four games: leading the team in assists (4.3) and steals (3.3).

all the people who laughed last year when i said kawhi should be handling the ball

[bic50]

[tholdren]

Kawhi will be 39-40 years old and still be adding things to his game.

must have read my playoff rants. Glad to know KL can read. Keep it up KL - the reading and the basketball.

[ace3g]

ESPN Verified account ‏@espn

How does Kawhi Leonard train his brain? It all goes back to a strobe-lights regimen pioneered by Michael Jordan.



http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/1...w&sf41806553=1

[spursistan]

[spursistan]

[apalisoc_9]

Probably why Pop is so adamant on getting rid of the Kawhi Post ups. The 3 post ups is non-existant nowadys and it makes load of sense. If he can continue to improve on his PnR, Aldridge and Gasol will be naturally more involved offensivly when leonard has a scoring possesion. When he would post up, it was a scoring play.

It also allows the spurs to post up Aldirdge and Gasol more...making the spurs a bigger threat with offensive boards when of the bigs is posting up.

[MaNu4Tres]

Tom Haberstroh is missing the boat here.

Most of PnRs with Kawhi turn into different forms of isolations for Kawhi -- with his back to the basket if he doesn't get off his mid range jumper.

He doesn't create offense for others like the others Tom just compared Kawhi to.

The stat that would carry more weight is PPP in PnR opportunities that create shots FOR OTHERS (PPP in assists/hockey assists for others -- how efficient are the shots he creates for others). That stat would be more telling on how effective he is as a play-maker or creator. That aspect has a bigger impact on the game and the offense because its harder to defend and it creates better opportunities for his teammates and the team in the long run.

At the end of the day, yes Kawhi is leading the league in PPP with HIS shot opportunities out of the PnR, great! But I question how effective his PnRs truly are if he can't create for others well & break down a defense. Especially when it comes to playoff caliber defense on a game to game basis, teams, like the have in the past, will exploit this weakness of his in his PnRs , and they'll bait him into really tough shots since no other options ever materialize out of his PnRs.

[apalisoc_9]

Tom Haberstroh is missing the boat here.

Most of PnRs with Kawhi turn into different forms of isolations for Kawhi -- with his back to the basket if he doesn't get off his mid range jumper.

He doesn't create offense for others like the others Tom just compared Kawhi to.

The stat that would carry more weight is PPP in PnR opportunities that create shots FOR OTHERS (PPP in assists/hockey assists for others -- how efficient are the shots he creates for others). That stat would be more telling on how effective he is as a play-maker or creator. That aspect has a bigger impact on the game and the offense because its harder to defend and it creates better opportunities for his teammates and the team in the long run.

At the end of the day, yes Kawhi is leading the league in PPP with HIS shot opportunities out of the PnR, great! But I question how effective his PnRs truly are if he can't create for others well & break down a defense. Especially when it comes to playoff caliber defense on a game to game basis, teams, like the have in the past, will exploit this weakness of his in his PnRs , and they'll bait him into really tough shots since nothing else is really there as far as options are concerned.

Thats probably the idea though. Its evident Pop is moving away from 3 downs and wants the bigs to handle the post ups because as great as kawhi is on the post, you know its going to most likely be a shot.

If he can continue to score on PnR, the natural progression will be passing and creating opportunities. Right now, he really only has two moves...Either shot and score..and hes elite at doing that or a simple pop pass. That doesnt create much in a way of creation since it eliminates creating with corners threes, longer cross passes, cuts etc. Those are probaly the next progression. Pop believes he can improve on those aspects otherwise he wouldnt have tweeked Leonard's offense.

[MaNu4Tres]

Thats probably the idea though. Its evident Pop is moving away from 3 downs and wants the bigs to handle the post ups because as great as kawhi is on the post, you know its going to most likely be a shot.

If he can continue to score on PnR, the natural progression will be passing and creating opportunities. Right now, he really only has two moves...Either shot and score..and hes elite at doing that or a simple pop pass. That doesnt create much in a way of creation since it eliminates creating with corners threes, longer cross passes, cuts etc. Those are probaly the next progression. Pop believes he can improve on those aspects otherwise he wouldnt have tweeked Leonard's offense.

I really question is ability to get there, because typically players need to have the foot speed, quickness, acceleration or elite level of change of direction to create the needed space to be a good creator from PnRs. Leonard has never had that and still doesn't til this day. Every pick and roll is either a mid range pull up off of separation from the pick (great screens), or its a physical fight with his upper body to get around the screen and into essentially an isolation ( or a complicated way to get into an isolation) -- which is the end result from a lot of PnR sets. Very rarely does Kawhi come clean off the PnR to a wide open lane -- when he does its usually when the defense of the Wizards or Kings makes a mistake because he doesn't have the tools in his legs to create significant separation needed to be a good creator or initiator.

At the end of the day, Spurs need a better play-maker from the perimeter. They won't be a championship contender with Kawhi being the Man in PnRs and having him play elite defense. His PnRs aren't good enough from a shots created perspective, and his defense will suffer because he's human and humans can only conserve so much energy and stamina.

I rather Kawhi be ALL IN on D and the boards and have hints or spots of PnR for him offensively with a usage rate around where it was last year. That, in my opinion, is the way to utilize Kawhi & his skill set optimally.

[apalisoc_9]

I really question that though, because typically players need to have the foot speed, quickness, acceleration or elite level of change of direction to create the needed space to be a good creator from PnRs. Leonard has never had that and still doesn't til this day. Every pick and roll is either a mid range pull up off of separation from the pick (great screens), or its a physical fight with his upper body to get around the screen and into essentially an isolation ( or a complicated way to get into an isolation) -- which is the end result from a lot of PnR sets. Very rarely does Kawhi come clean off the PnR to a wide open lane -- when he does its usually when the defense of the Wizards or Kings makes a mistake because he doesn't have the tools in his legs to create significant separation needed to be a good creator or initiator.

I think the idea is that, you get bigs that can shoot and force bigs to not show, hedge or double. In those conditions, his speed wont be much of a factor since the lane is open forcing reactions from the other big or the guys defending the corner three. It makes sense because older Point Guards/Shooting Guards operate in a similar fashion.

And that's most likely another reason why Pau Gasol and david lee was signed at least for this year. They know Kawhi isnt going to be much of a facilitator this hear as he is a scorer so the idea is that the playmaking will come from the open big..(Pau). This was evident against MIN since he was running his screen game with pau and not Aldridge..Which obviously hurt Aldridge possesion numbers.

Kawhi isnt that good at passing to the rollman either, so his options are very limited right now. The saving grace is that hes a great scorer and hes surrounded by Two great midrange jumpers. So the only other thing he is capable of doing and do it good is force the help from the bigs and a wide open pop.

I suppose the issue is that No team is really that concenred with the bigs taking jumpers so the end result is him just trying to score as evident with his PR scoring numbers.

If he was less deadly as a scorer, most likely teams will prioritize Aldridge and Pau...mot the case.

[apalisoc_9]

So my guess is that even if Leonard doesnt develop the speed, PATFO is going to continue findong him a combination of Bigs thag can super space the floor for him.

Thats probably what PATFO had in mind with Gasol-Bertans etc.

[MaNu4Tres]

I think the idea is that, you get bigs that can shoot and force bigs to not show, hedge or double. In those conditions, his speed wont be much of a factor since the lane is open forcing reactions from the other big or the guys defending the corner three. It makes sense because older Point Guards/Shooting Guards operate in a similar fashion.

And that's most likely another reason why Pau Gasol and david lee was signed at least for this year. They know Kawhi isnt going to be much of a facilitator this hear as he is a scorer so the idea is that the playmaking will come from the open big..(Pau). This was evident against MIN since he was running his screen game with pau and not Aldridge..Which obviously hurt Aldridge possesion numbers.

Kawhi isnt that good at passing to the rollman either, so his options are very limited right now. The saving grace is that hes a great scorer and hes surrounded by Two great midrange jumpers. So the only other thing he is capable of doing and do it good is force the help from the bigs and a wide open pop.

I suppose the issue is that No team is really that concenred with the bigs taking jumpers so the end result is him just trying to score as evident with his PR scoring numbers.

If he was less deadly as a scorer, most likely teams will prioritize Aldridge and Pau...mot the case.

Thats the thing though, the good teams and most teams almost always hedge to a degree and that's Kawhi's problem -- he has problem getting around the corner on hedges and his man recovers in time because Kawhi's lack of acceleration and quickness. Teams would have to be stupid to prioritize defending the Pop from a big and not the drive from Kawhi -- that is why you saw OKC usually double Kawhi off the PnP last year in the playoffs until Roberson fully recovered ( which wasn't hard to do). Then worse case for the opposition, the big in the play would be a little late in contesting a mid range Pop from West or Aldridge ( which is something all smart teams should be willing to live with).

Another thing, one aspect of Kawhi being ALL IN on defense that people don't realize is how it helps the offense. Having him zoned in and allocating most of his energy defensively creates more transition opportunities and easy points. In the long run, especially in the playoffs, optimizing in this aspect is a huge edge to have.

[dabom]

Thinking we are going to go anywhere without Kawhi's scoring in the playoffs is ing idiotic. It's embarrassing really. And Back then We had Manu and Tony in facilitating roles. Not just one ing guy. I don't know why manutres keeps blaming Kawhi for lack of facilitator like somehow Kawhi is supposed to facilitate enough for Prime Tony and Manu combined.

Are you a ing moron?