Pop called Kawhi the future face of the franchise 4 years ago

[YGWHI]

It's time baby.

Love this pic! The smiles after that scary fall...

[dabom]

Love this pic! The smiles after that scary fall...

Yeah he keeps extending his arm after that and is laughing it off.

[apalisoc_9]

Best Player in the League.

[tholdren]

and spurs have nothing but quick exits with him as 2 or 1b. He's an all around player, he has not once shown he can control a game.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

and spurs have nothing but quick exits with him as 2 or 1b. He's an all around player, he has not once shown he can control a game.

In my opinion, no one other than Duncan has been able to be that guy consistently for the Spurs. Every great player the Spurs have had over the last 19 seasons were only there lending support to Timmy...aka the backbone of the team. Even the Big 3 was really TD with two great supporting cast mates. I love KL and feel like he's easily a top 7 player in this league, but it's going to take a lot of guys stepping up concurrently to fill the giant void left from the departure of Mr. Duncan. TD brought so many intangibles that never show up on the stat sheets. Expecting Kawhi to equal, or come even close, to what Timmy did is asking too much of him. I have always been a huge Leonard fan, and he's exceeded my expectations beyond anything I imagined, but anyone who tries to fill a legend's shoes, an all-time NBA top 5 legend like Tim, is going to disappoint a lot of fans who just won't get it.

[SAGirl]

Good post Helicopter Jones.
Sometimes the constant comparison also takes away from the appreciation of a player's current level of play for the team. Specially when the comparison is to someone that they will never measure up to. It's kind of inevitable I guess bc he's the franchise player, but he is a different guy, plays a different position, etc. I think the one who suffers most from the comparison is Lamarcus. He will really never measure up to Tim.

Just got to enjoy the season. I think Kawhi is still developing. He's still young and really has only been "the guy" for 2 seasons. Frankly still amazes me to watch Kawhi. I think there is a defeatist at ude in the boards from some pessimistic fans but it's not bc of Kawhi. The league is really perimeter oriented and the Spurs guards are old and on the decline. It's a hurdle, maybe a big hurdle if they don't hold up in the playoffs.