Popovich: Kawhi Was Not a Leader

[Kawhi_6rings]

Because Pop should be retired, at a certain point old men give no s anymore

Lmao anyone thinking Porker or Kawhi were leaders

kachoke is not a leader

[Spurs Homer]

how is he going to be leader if his not the franchise player? when patfo chase lma in free agency, kowtow to him to make him happy (more offensive touches) at the expense of kawhi being the focal point of the team to be built around...

then u had the vets, undermining whatever kawhis rise ... do u think enrique was willing to hand over the keys?

shouldve just kept kawhi for the season, get rid of enrique, lma, pau, mills, ginoboli....actually get rid of the vets

Except all of that proves false - when you remember that on the court -

Pop gave the keys to Kawhi on everything.
Parker was instructed to hand kawhi the ball and gtfo of the way.

Kawhi would handle the ball for 18 secs of the shot clock and if he had nothing he would dump it off to LA and kawhi's nut riders would crucify LA.

Most of the time however - it worked ok and Kawhi was the focal point of the offense and it went pretty well - until - Pachulia happened and then until


the quitting.

[Spurs fever]

Why wasn't this a story when Leonard took a shot at Pop by saying Nurse listened to his players? It makes me wonder if Pop got wind of that, because before it seemed like he didn't care to address anything Kawhi related. Guess this ain't gonna die anytime soon.

[DPG21920]

Pop sounds very, very hypocritical.

You have a hottie and always tell friends that your girl "is the most beautiful girl in the world", she breaks up with you and suddenly you say "doesn't matter. she's...ugly af"

Saltiness.

Except Pop even said just now that hes a great player. Kawhi proved he was not a leader last year, agree?

[DPG21920]

Det contradicting truthbomb!

#endthread

That literally was not a contradiction at all and verifies exactly what most are saying.

[cpds421]

Nephew’s camp will probably leak new details about what happened last year when the Spurs host the Raptors, just to mess up with Pop and the organization minds.

the Nephew. Don’t care if he helped the organization to win their 5th championship. What he did last year was unprofessional.

[Ginobilly]

I can't wait for the award winning do entary 10 years from now to truly know what really happened between all of them. There's bad blood,wwe style, between all of them.

[Chinook]

-I'm surprised Pop went there. That was a classic opportunity for Pop to dodge the question. But the question was so ridiculous that I guess Pop felt he had to be honest.

Yeah, Pop said this knowing full well how it was going to come off. This isn't a case like with Parker back in the day when there were translation/cultural barriers that could create awkward soundbites. Dude tries too hard to be loved by the league to do this by mistake. It's a different matter as to the motivation for saying this. I do think he's frustrated seeing how differently the paths have gone since the trade. Leonard hasn't been all that good, but his team looks great. There's a legit chance that Toronto wins a le and Leonard gets his second finals MVP, which likely settles the questions of who was right in the minds of the laity. Pop clearly didn't want to coach a rebuilding team and made win-now moves. That he may miss the playoffs for the first time since his first half-season the same year when Leonard has this success is probably pretty galling.

-Any comparisons to Duncan turned out to be unfounded.

This was obvious for a long time though. Tim was plenty vocal. He always got in the huddles, pulled guys aside, cheered folks on, etc. I'd argue Tim was more vocal than anyone currently on the roster. Dude just didn't like giving interviews.

Nephew's response to Pop's quote was fine.

Certainly suggests that there's more personal bad blood between the two men (not just between Kawhi's camp and PATFO as an en y), than I think some assumed. Really a sign of cracks under the hood of the team. They've been put through the ringer recently with more than just Kawhi. I could see a ton of changes in the entire business by the time LMA and DMDR are free agents.

Having watched Nephew quite a bit this year, I'd say he's about 80% of his 2017 offensive self and about 40% of his DPOY defensive self. Still damn good obviously but it'll be interesting to see if he can ever return to his former level of play. Maybe he'll reach peak level once he's completely healthy. We'll see.

You may know more than I do, but I really do buy the idea that the Spurs believe Leonard has a chronic injury that will hamper him for the rest of his career. It's an open question as to whether this Kawhi is worth the DPE. At his current level, I don't think he is worth it, even if he plays the whole post-season. He'd be worth a normal Bird-max just for the upside, but the DPE is a team-killer in pretty much every case. It's astonishing how stupid the owners were for letting that mess get into the CBA. Without it, I do think Leonard is still a Spur.

That protected pick the Raptors owe the Spurs is almost 100 percent guaranteed to convey. They'd have to lose Nephew and Lowry for the season for the protection to be in jeopardy (basically, it'll convey to the Spurs as long as the Raptors win at least 48-50 games).

Still gotta hope it's not 30 though. I mean, 30 is better than nothing, but 25ish would give them more options to move up or down the board given that their second is likely to be the 40s again.

[Old School 44]

I do believe Pop was a little salty. Ask yourself this question, if Kawhi was still with the Spurs and Pop was asked the same question, how do you think he'd respond? Probably just like Nick Nurse, and any other coach trying to appease his star player. I did find it interesting that Nurse chose to use the word "good" vs "great".

[acoelho1]

Whether or not Pop contradicted himself is irrelevant. KL is not a leader and leading by example is more than just working on your game. Not sitting with your teammates is not a good example. Not communicating to RC or Pop that you are unhappy is not a good example. Not willing to sit down and work things out is not a good example.

Also, I've watched the Raps extensively this year and Kawhi is definitely not himself. I don't think it's rust and he has been training not stop for awhile and had a full training came with 20 games into the season so my guess is that he's still hampered by the same issue he was dealing with the Spurs. They of course will never admit it since it would make them look bad but this Kawhi (although very good) is not the all world 2017 player we saw.

Nevertheless, I'm not as down on this team as some on the forum. Murray is coming back at all star level. The DDR acquisition has been a pleasant surprise and although I still feel like he can't be the #1 option, he is a more than solid #2. Walker is still unknown but man his physical tools are exciting and he showed that he can get whatever he wants on the court.

Before the season, I thought we were a lock for the playoffs but with all the injuries, I think now it's more 50/50 but it's going to be super tough in the west. 1 missed playoffs in 20 years is pretty damn good. Imagine if you were a Knicks fan.

[exstatic]

TBH, this is Pop taking pot shots. In 2017 before Kawhi got Pachulia'd it was obvious who the leader of this team was and who was gonna get us the ring. When Pop says like this it only validates Kawhi.

You're confusing 'best player' with 'leader'. Kawhi couldn't lead the starving to a buffet. He's got moves and basketball skills, though.

[duncan2k5]

He brought defense and points and he was a dog when he was with us. He was a pit bull going after that ball. He made people scared to dribble against him and teams scared to give the ball to their best player. BUT I just don't like the idea of paying a player that much money and that much percentage of our cap unless he's a Top 10 player all time or he's a Top 3 player in the game today and also an iron man who plays in at least 75 games a year and sucks up and plays when hurt (injured is different than hurt). And Kawhi was never that to me. We won a lot of games in the regular season and then he choked in the playoffs. You can say it's growing pains, but we only made one conference finals with him and that isn't worth $43 million. Maybe he can lead a team to a championship but I just dont think that he can. I don't mind eating crow if he leads the Raptors to a chip, but if he plays for the Clippers he will never win with them and he will spend the rest of his career proving me right.

U forgot he played on a sprained ankle in the game VS the warriors? Not only was it sprained in that game, it was sprained the week before... This narrative that any pain he got he sat out needs to die

[duncan2k5]

Kobe has 5 seasons of 80+ games. 4 of them he played all 82 games. He has 4 more seasons of playing 77 or more games. Kawhi has ZERO seasons of playing 77 or more games. His career high is 74 and then a whole lot of 60's. Kobe played hurt, he got injured like everyone else but the man played hurt. There's nothing revisionist about it. It's just more evidence that you don't actually follow basketball.

Kobe played for 20 seasons... This is Kawhi's 8th...how can u compare the two? In kobes first 8 seasons, he only played one full season... Stop the bull narrative that he played through everything... Lebron is a better example of being an iron man...

[DPG21920]

I can’t believe how many seemingly adults on here can’t grasp the concept of “great player” vs “leader”. You can lead a team to a le and not be a good leader. You can even argue the merits of what is more important; talent vs leadership. But there is no arguing that Pop said Kawhi is a great player and a bad leader. They are both true.

[DPG21920]

U forgot he played on a sprained ankle in the game VS the warriors? Not only was it sprained in that game, it was sprained the week before... This narrative that any pain he got he sat out needs to die

No. It doesn’t. He absolutely could have played last year and did not. That’s what you go off of. Not anything else.

[wildbill2u]

Leaders don't teammates' wives, tbh.

Cmon Man. That's a perk for the leader over the bench guys. If they don't like it, they can work harder and start.

[Hoops Czar]

I can’t believe how many seemingly adults on here can’t grasp the concept of “great player” vs “leader”. You can lead a team to a le and not be a good leader. You can even argue the merits of what is more important; talent vs leadership. But there is no arguing that Pop said Kawhi is a great player and a bad leader. They are both true.

If you can demand a trade, complain about your touches and check out in games and still be considered a leader like Aldridge, then Kawhi could still be considered a leader eventhough he quit on the organization for reasons unknown unless there's some sort of double standard that I'm not aware of.

[JeffDuncan]

I can’t believe how many seemingly adults on here can’t grasp the concept of “great player” vs “leader”. You can lead a team to a le and not be a good leader...

Ok, which teams have won the le with bad leadership? And who was the lousy leader who led them to that horrible fate of winning it all?

[DPG21920]

If you can demand a trade, complain about your touches and check out in games and still be considered a leader like Aldridge, then Kawhi could still be considered a leader eventhough he quit on the organization for reasons unknown unless there's some sort of double standard that I'm not aware of.

Now I remember why I stopped posting here as much

[DPG21920]

Ok, which teams have won the le with bad leadership? And who was the lousy leader who led them to that horrible fate of winning it all?

Jordan. Kobe.

[TheGreatYacht]

If you can demand a trade, complain about your touches and check out in games and still be considered a leader like Aldridge, then Kawhi could still be considered a leader eventhough he quit on the organization for reasons unknown unless there's some sort of double standard that I'm not aware of.

Now I remember why I stopped posting here as much

aaaaaaand DPG is not countering valid points as per usual

[Amuseddaysleeper]

Yeah, Pop said this knowing full well how it was going to come off. This isn't a case like with Parker back in the day when there were translation/cultural barriers that could create awkward soundbites. Dude tries too hard to be loved by the league to do this by mistake. It's a different matter as to the motivation for saying this. I do think he's frustrated seeing how differently the paths have gone since the trade. Leonard hasn't been all that good, but his team looks great. There's a legit chance that Toronto wins a le and Leonard gets his second finals MVP, which likely settles the questions of who was right in the minds of the laity. Pop clearly didn't want to coach a rebuilding team and made win-now moves. That he may miss the playoffs for the first time since his first half-season the same year when Leonard has this success is probably pretty galling.

Agree with most of what you said, but Pop was making piss poor moves in free agency. The roster surrounding Kawhi was a dumpster fire. LMA can't play well with other all stars and upping Gasol and Patty to nearly 100M combined is just laughable.

Kawhi is on a legit le contender, he's looking good sadly while the Spurs have nothing to build around moving forward. Murray's ceiling is that maybe of an all star but if DD and LMA are you top 2 players you're always gonna be luck to finish with a low playoff seed.

[bic50]

kachoke made of glasses

So bitter

[bic50]

You're confusing 'best player' with 'leader'. Kawhi couldn't lead the starving to a buffet. He's got moves and basketball skills, though.

Typically your best player is your leader. Pop would be calling Kawhi their leader if he was still a Spur today

[DPG21920]

aaaaaaand DPG is not countering valid points as per usual

I’ve already explained this. You can choose to ignore it if you wish. No one is saying LMA is some amazing leader; people are saying that the way LMA handled wanting out vs how Kawhi handled it show the gulf between the two. LMA, for his short-comings, handled his business like a solid leader would. Kawhi did not.