is kawhi.....

[sa_butta]

Funny that the only non-Spurs player they spoke to was Richard Jefferson...

[Bambililos]

I think it was TP too, but I'm so Church of Parker I don't know if that counts. His rookie year is when I became a fan of him and the Spurs, they were amazing, and I sticked to them since then.

[DrSteffo]

Nooooo, Parker and Manu of course. Then if you look at stats it's Blair and if you look at their actual level of play Splitter is up there with Leonard too.

[roycrikside]

Manu was hobbled for some of his rookie season but she showed a lot of potential, eventually became a reliable closer and then did great work in the playoffs.

She? LJ CIA CoP for sure


Anyway, I think it's apples and oranges to compare Kawhi's rookie season with Manu or Tony's. Kawhi has the benefit of Tony and Manu on the team already to create shots and make the game really easy for him. All Leonard has to do is run the floor in transition, hit open threes and hustle for offensive rebounds.

[TMTTRIO]

TP. Manu was a 25 year old rookie who had trouble with injuries and only showed little glimses of what he could really do. Pop still had a hard time trusting him for a long time. It wasn't until after the Olympics where Manu led his team to a gold medal that Pop started letting go of the reigns on him and this is where we really start seeing the best of him.

[Yorae]

Well it's not fair to leonard since he can't be the team's third best player considering the team has already duncan, manu and tony. He may not be the best rookie, not even close but defensively? I think he is the best since timmy. But he could be one of our best rookies ever if the steady improvement game by game doesn't stop and he came up big in the playoffs.