In the MVP thread, I stated, with some agreement, that Kawhi Leonard is most deserving of MVP and over James Harden this season. Taking this further, I think I can say that if you were starting from scratch and had to choose one or the other as your starting cornerstone player, it would have to be Leonard. I know they play different positions. And obviously their present teams are configured to that player. But if you were building from scratch, be honest with yourself and know you would prefer Leonard!
1. If you already have a #1, you want Kawhi (not Harden) as your #2. 2. If you don't have a #1, you want Harden (not Kawhi) as your #1. Also, point #1 is up for debate. Point #2 is not.
I MAAAAAAAAAAYBE would pick Kawhi if he's guaranteed his entire career with Pop vs Harden. But all that goes out the window if Harden could also somehow be coached by Pop. To summarize: Harden w/Pop > Kawhi w/Pop = Harden w/o Pop > Kawhi w/o Pop.
OP, Two threads on the same topic (e.g. Kawhi) in one day, just means OP doesn't know how to create threads, and feels if the debate in the first thread is not going as played, he needs to readjust the debate by making a second thread. This all goes in your Kawhi MVP? thread from yesterday, dude.
full disclosure: I just gave this thread the middle finger. I feel disrespected so I thought I needed to give some disrespect. Furthermore, Unlike.
What would you predict if this current 2017 Rockets roster had Kawhi in Harden's place? An Aldridge/Gasol front-court has majorly benefited the Spurs in ways that a Capela/Anderson front-court just doesn't. Also, Leonard needs a ball-handler next to him, whereas Harden is ball-dominant. It's something I don't like about him, actually, but it makes him better suited to be a #1 guy.
kawhi is so underrated that he actually gets overrated by some people. He is great defensively and very good offensively. While harden obviously can't keep up in any aspect of the defensive game - leonard is not even in the same league offensively as harden. I want the guy who has the ball in his hand offensively to be my star. You can see that star guards are able to carry their teams while a guy like anthony davis, who is clearly a superstar offensively and defensively can't even make the playoffs. The game isnt 50/50 (offense/defense) in terms of imporance, more like 70/30 in favor of offense. U can get guys to play good enough defense if it matters, u can't get them to play great offense when it matters - defense is about effort and also, but to a lesser extent, about skill - while offense is purely skill based. To me, theres no question i would take Harden over Leonard any day.
