2015-16 Kawhi Leonard

Out of that lot there was no SF which was a position of need at the time considering Bud was the incumbent at that position.

And I don't care what other teams did. Everything pointed to Leonard being one of the best if not the best SF in that draft but yet we went for a tweener in Mook Morris.

 

You guys realize that if we would have drafted Leonard, he probably wouldn't become the 50% 3 point shooter he is today. He shot like 25% in college.

He likely would not have become the best defensive player in the NBA either. Really, I'm HAPPY we didn't draft leonard, because we would have ruined his career.

Leonard deserves his props for taking his game to this level, but the guidance and coaching of the Spurs organization does too.

 

So in your mind the GM has to be 100% perfect, it doesn't matter if even the Spurs didn't know Leonard would be this good, just because he became a superstar and Mook Morris didn't develop into a star Morey sucks?

This is why people like you think Morey sucks, you judge him in a vacuum without looking at other GMs. Spurs and GSW are the best in class in the front office (coaching+GM). After those two? Its hard to find someone better than Morey, so if you fire Morey chances are you will get an inferior replacement.

This is like trading away Harden expecting a better superstar will land on your lap, totally short-sighted thinking.

 

While I generally agree with this, I remember being in the draft thread in clutchfans during this draft. When Kawhi dropped to us, everyone and I mean EVERYONE in clutchfans was rejoicing that we were going to take Kawhi. It was the absolute most obvious choice considering our team needs and the fact that a group of internet fans could pick it, you'd think Morey could too.

There are other drafts where you couldn't blame morey. Like misdrafting Royce White and PatPat.

 

Yeap Morey missed badly on this one. But it's not a surprise. He always seem to go with player with more offensive skill set. Ah, how nice it would be to have an elite all-around defender on the team.

 

He has a better PER than lebron.

 

Spurs have passed up plenty of good players since Pop started running things.

 

Come on... Kawhi was developed under the tutelage of the Spurs big 3 and Pop. He was never this good or showed any resemblance of it todays Kawhi in college. Stop hating for the sake of hating

 

Some things are obvious

To most who watched college ball Kawhi was the better player and the guy with the better skill set to make it big in the NBA

Same thing with White. Everyone knew of his anxiety problem. The guy was a top 5-7 pick based on skillset alone. You think other GM's are stupid that they let him drop all the way?

Morey just out thinks himself sometimes.

Like I have said, he is a good Gm. Not great, not top 5-7. His 2nd round picks have been good, his 1st round picks have left a lot to be desired overall.

 

Passing on kawhi Leonard is like passing on draymond green, doesn't make you an idiot for doing so. No one could have predicted Leonard of green could develop into top all nba caliber players.

Kawhi shot like 20-25% coming out of college. Green was undersized and couldn't shoot either.

I'd be willing to bet if we drafted both green and Leonard, they'd be nowhere near the players they are today. Maybe the spurs and warriors would have developed Morris into a better player than he is today, who knows.

 

30 teams passed on Jimmy Butler from that same draft, teams passed on Chandler parsons, it happens.

 

You could see the defense was always there, but....

I never expected KL to ever evolve such a diverse offensive game.

1) He improved his spot up 3pt shot to make him a devistating 3&D guy. And then...
2) Added a turnaround jumper.

Kudos to KL and the Spurs coaches.

 

Indeed, if drafted outside SA & into teams with established superstar such as Rockets, Whi might not have been able to develop his all around offensive game as early as this.

But make no mistake, this kid is a student of the game, totally focused in winning basketball, basically live & breathe for the game. His jump shot is not broken, it's just imperfect that it only needed a slight correction from the Spurs shot doctor, Chip Engelland, to get it up & running like what it is today.

If the Rox drafted him, i have NO DOUBT that he WILL be a great 2nd banana to Harden, at minimum. He will basically be the perfect 3 & D perimeter running mate for the beard. Hell, perhaps his stoicism & basketball focused way of life will rub over Harden too.

Thank God Morey is too smart for him self.

 

I don't follow every prospect so I was unfamiliar with Morris, but I watched a lot of SDSU that season and was so happy when KL fell to us. When we passed, I was so down in the dumps, it sucks that my initial gut was right, can't win em all Morey.

 

Stud.

Just another night at the office tonight.

Complete, all-around player.

 

http://www.poundingtherock.com/2015/12/1/9811272/ascent-kawhi-leonard

 

We didn't need Kawhi...at least not the player Kawhi was projected to become because we already had Chase Budinger who was playing at a decent level. The Rockets back then as a whole were mediocre but didn't have any glaring holes, that's why they were able to get 8th seed despite having no star players.

As for FTW Rockets or whoever, please spare me the monday quarterback analysis, maybe you thought Kawhi would be better but there's no way in hell you'd think Kawhi would be THIS good. It's impossible because Kawhi in college was shooting 3s at 25%. He also had big hands which generally don't translate to good shooting (notice how guys like Rajon Rondo and big men generally aren't good shooters). He had no indication of being a superstar or future MVP Finals in the NBA prior to the draft, not one draft board described him as someone with star potential or if they did, it was more of a Shawn Marion or Kirilenko super role player type of guy then an actual superstar. From the normal non-omniscient person's perspective, Morris had more star power potential than Leonard which is why Morris and his bro got picked higher and Kawhi lasted till the end of the lottery. As other posters already pointed out, how many players break their projections like Kawhi? And how much of Kawhi's excellence has to do with the Spurs? Yes, Kawhi's work ethic is amazing, but KJ Mcdaniels for example has legendary work ethic as well but look how far he is from Kawhi. Sometimes getting players is just the first step, if Kawhi had not landed on the Spurs I wonder how good he would've been.

The Rockets always put a premium on either proven contributors or gambled big on guys with superstar potential, this philosophy has led on some awful picks (Royce White, passing on Kawhi and that dude who was in Portland) but generally has resulted in more hits than misses with the Rockets generally getting undervalued players almost every year with guys like Landry/Brooks/Parsons being contributors whereas other teams dump their draft picks. Even Capela was drafted on this philosophy, and he's looking like a stud.

 

27 points with 7/9 3 pointers. Seriously can't believe we passed on this guy

 

I'm a big KU fan so I watched a lot of Morris twins when they were in college. His game did resemble melo light coming out of college he had a very unique offensive game on the elbos and was a pretty good ball handler and shooter for his 6'9 size.

With that said even I remeber being surprised we didn't take leonard with that 14th pick. KL Was supposed to go top 10 that's why I was shocked we even had a chance to get him at 14.

There's a few players imo that would mesh on the wing with JH perfect and KL is one of them, PG also. Those guys are legit 3&D guys with offensive playmaking capabilities.

Imagine JH running the show being able to swing it to KL/PG across court with the defense scambaling? It would give other teams nightmares.

We almost had PG in the draft also I think the Rockets were interested but he went like 3 picks before ours.

 

Good article, I remember reading some thread on here ranking nba players and a lot of people wouldn't even put kawhi in the top 10 wing players, let alone overall. Pretty funny how he's probably the third best wing player in the game now (after LeBron and durant)