Leonard deserves better...Pop needs to get over himself.

[dbreiden83080]

BTW saying he deserves better. He could be stuck in Sacramento or playing for the damn Magic or something. He's playing for one of the great organizations, and great coaches of all time. It's a dream situation.

[spursfaninla]

Fake issue.

You offer no evidence that Kawhi was in fact exhausted any differently than he would have been all things equal in the playoffs, and no evidence, substantiation, or otherwise that playing more minutes during the RS would have helped. In fact the opposite is the case: playing more minutes during the regular season would have resulted in more wear in tear, injury, and fatigue. The season brings ulative damage to the athlete, and if he played more, he would have been even more worn out. Hence, the current practice of playing star players less if your bench is long.

Calling Kawhi a Liar

Put aside that you are calling Kawhi a total hypocrite. Man states flatly he cares about winning, not about awards, and you say, he actually thinks the exact opposite.

You are living in the past.

Most teams are thinking longer term and have reduced their franchise player minutes, especially if you have depth like the Spurs do. If you only have starters, well yes, you are going to play them into the ground. Teams that over-play their star player almost never win championships: http://www.espn.com/blog/truehoop/po...- le-chances

CASE IN POINT: Steph Curry played 32 MPG during his MVP year in 2015-16, and 34 MPG last year. Now that GS has a weak bench, yes, they probably play him more, but that is necessity. If they had the bench, they would keep him minutes down, guaranteed.

Thinking Long Term:

I would prefer that Kawhi play fewer minutes and play an extra 2-3 years, rather than have a higher peak and a shorter career, even if that means he never gets a regular season MVP. Personally, I want him to get at least one. I think he is right there. But MVP is equal parts production (as you note), and popularity contest. Kawhi has severe disadvantage in the marketing department. It is just unlikely, just like Bowen suffered for the same reason and never got a DPOY. Kawhi was just so much more dominant defensively that no one could ignore him, along with him benefiting from having a very flashy defensive style that appears visually disruptive, and being a steals machine which causal fans appreciate.

[GSH]

got OP playerfan will be the first to when Kawhi gets injured in meaningless garbagetime minutes

l

Yep. "What was that got Pop thinking, leaving Kawhi in the game when it was already won? Worst coach in the league."

I don't know if we've even gotten far enough into the season to tell what Pop's sub patterns are. The starting lineup has been so rotten that it's probably too early to tell what the plans are for Kawhi. This is something to keep in mind, but I don't think there's any way to tell what's going on until the end of November at the very least.

We aren't even close to tell what Pop's sub patterns might be. There is going to be a lot of shuffling and experimenting. We haven't even scratched the surface with Bertans and Lap. I wouldn't be surprised if Pop experiments with Dedmon starting (although I don't think it will be that way for long.) They obviously believe in KA, or they wouldn't have extended him. But if he doesn't step it up, he could get shuffled down the bench. The end of November may be too soon to know. It really isn't that far off.

[SAGirl]

Fake issue.

You offer no evidence that Kawhi was in fact exhausted any differently than he would have been all things equal in the playoffs, and no evidence, substantiation, or otherwise that playing more minutes during the RS would have helped. In fact the opposite is the case: playing more minutes during the regular season would have resulted in more wear in tear, injury, and fatigue. The season brings ulative damage to the athlete, and if he played more, he would have been even more worn out. Hence, the current practice of playing star players less if your bench is long.

Calling Kawhi a Liar

Put aside that you are calling Kawhi a total hypocrite. Man states flatly he cares about winning, not about awards, and you say, he actually thinks the exact opposite.

You are living in the past.

Most teams are thinking longer term and have reduced their franchise player minutes, especially if you have depth like the Spurs do. If you only have starters, well yes, you are going to play them into the ground. Teams that over-play their star player almost never win championships: http://www.espn.com/blog/truehoop/po...- le-chances

CASE IN POINT: Steph Curry played 32 MPG during his MVP year in 2015-16, and 34 MPG last year. Now that GS has a weak bench, yes, they probably play him more, but that is necessity. If they had the bench, they would keep him minutes down, guaranteed.

Thinking Long Term:

I would prefer that Kawhi play fewer minutes and play an extra 2-3 years, rather than have a higher peak and a shorter career, even if that means he never gets a regular season MVP. Personally, I want him to get at least one. I think he is right there. But MVP is equal parts production (as you note), and popularity contest. Kawhi has severe disadvantage in the marketing department. It is just unlikely, just like Bowen suffered for the same reason and never got a DPOY. Kawhi was just so much more dominant defensively that no one could ignore him, along with him benefiting from having a very flashy defensive style that appears visually disruptive, and being a steals machine which causal fans appreciate.

Good post. I especially liked the link you shared in how teams that run their stars down to the ground rarely win championships. Keeping him healthy for the season and long postseason (hopefully) is the goal, plus in this particular case, the B2B on the road, the uber garbage time against weak compe ion, the need to develop a young roster that is going to support Kawhi this season and the next (some guys are in 2 year deals, others are FA after this one --Lapro and Simmons. Pop needs to know what he has there). Those guys need to play as well.

On top of that, it's October. His conditioning right now has no direct bearing in April or May...

[Solid D]

[Solid D]

Kawhi Leonard now owns more wins (235) than any player in NBA history through his first 300 starts...and he played a big role in making that happen.

[r0drig0lac]

b2b bro..just relax

[SuperCam]

Kawhi is clearly option #1 when he's on the court. They force feed him the ball consistently in the half court and he even brings the ball up to initiate the offense at times. He's been the high scorer in every game. I don't understand the take, unless it's trolling.

OP is playerfan who is mad kiwi won't win MVP


MVP ladder through 3 games, tbh:

1. Alphabrook
2. LeKing
3. Lillard
4. Harden
5. Davis

[Solid D]

It's pretty darn clear playing at a level he is playing right now that Leonard clearly has individual award aspirations. David Robinson used to stat pad a lot, and Timmy averaged 39-40 mpgs in his mid 20's and would routinly play even when the game was WAY out of hand.
.

"It's the beginning of the season. We still can get better," Leonard said. "We want to keep going, moving forward. It's a team game. I'm going to need these guys in the playoffs to play their best basketball and be confident when they get there. [I'm] just picking and choosing where I shoot the ball, run the offense and get guys involved. I see how the defense is playing me and just go from there."

[Obstructed_View]

We aren't even close to tell what Pop's sub patterns might be. There is going to be a lot of shuffling and experimenting. We haven't even scratched the surface with Bertans and Lap. I wouldn't be surprised if Pop experiments with Dedmon starting (although I don't think it will be that way for long.) They obviously believe in KA, or they wouldn't have extended him. But if he doesn't step it up, he could get shuffled down the bench. The end of November may be too soon to know. It really isn't that far off.

What's more, it's pretty clear in the first three games that Tony Parker is the third or fourth best point guard on the team at this point at best. The starting lineup has a chance to change a lot, which will change how Kawhi is utilized.

[pgardn]

"It's the beginning of the season. We still can get better," Leonard said. "We want to keep going, moving forward. It's a team game. I'm going to need these guys in the playoffs to play their best basketball and be confident when they get there. [I'm] just picking and choosing where I shoot the ball, run the offense and get guys involved. I see how the defense is playing me and just go from there."

4 games into the season and the whining starts with the OP. I almost wish KL had not had his career high first game. The GD accolades will follow with a championship.

[ffadicted]

There's only one stat that matters, W-L

[spursistan]

Poop trotting out that ty late 3rd/early 4th lineup while resting Kawhi ..