Listened to the "Bill don't Lie" podcast today http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=12630135 Zach Lowe said without question Kawhi Leonard is a top 10 NBA player. Full stop. Got me to thinking if I could come up with 10 players I think are better and I came up with far more than 10. What do you think? James Harden Russell Westbrook Steph Curry Lebron James Chris Paul Anthony Davis Marc Gasol Kyrie Irving Damian Lillard Lamarcus Aldridge Kevin Durant Carmelo Anthony Klay Thompson Tony Parker This doesn't even include guys like Dwight Howard, Kevin Love, John Wall, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Deandre Jordan, Joakim Noah, Jimmy Butler, Derrick Rose, Tim Duncan, etc etc. Am I off base here? I generally trust Lowe, but lately he seems to be turning into a poor mans version of Bill Simmons instead of being the smart NBA guy I'm used to....
I don't think it's clear-cut that Leonard is a top 10 guy, but I think he certainly is in the conversation at the back end of the group. To me, in whatever order, Harden, Westbrook, Curry, LeBron, Chris Paul, Brow, Gasol, Durant and maybe Aldridge are for sure ahead of him. That's eight or nine, and one could make a decent case for any of the other guys for the remaining one or two spots. Flip the question around a little bit. If you put every NBA player in the pot and were re-drafting teams, would Leonard go in the top 10?
It's hard to say how good Kawhi is because he plays on the Spurs, and the Spurs make him the best player he can ever be. I don't think he's a top 10 player, but then again I don't watch a lot of Spurs ball. We'll see in the playoffs if he can make the same impact he did in the finals matchup last year.
Kawhi is a strange guy to rate for me. I understand how some could view him as a top 10 guy, but the only contending team I could see him being the best overall player on is a team built like SA that utilizes a team oriented attack.
I'd take Kawhi over the one's bolded, and I could probably be persuaded to put him ahead of Klay. He's pretty much Paul George, no? Helps to play for Popavich and with guys like Duncan, Manu, and Parker, but dude's playing unreal lately. It'll be interesting to see him as a true first option.
No. His efficiency had gone down with increased offensive responsibility. I still think he is a very good player and one day could be a top 10 player.
better than the ones in bold i know that for sure. Id almost even say better than Carmelo since he doesnt bring much else other than scoring
I would say Kwahi is definitely a top two way player but I read yesterday that his career high is 26 points! I know it has to do with the spurs system etc but compare that to Harden who is averaging more than that this season.
I will echo the others. He is on the fringe but I get the feeling that if he were forced to carry a team as the clear cut, franchise player he would be closer to Ariza during his first stint as a Rocket than he would be to Harden's performance since coming to H-Town.
No, maybe in the future, but I don't see him becoming an elite player -- he's certainly not a guy I would build a team around.
Top 50, probably. Top 50 is a great NBA starter. Top 10 is a little carried away. Put him on a struggling Eastern team and does he make a big impact? Put Harden, Lebron, CP, even 2013-2014 Dwight Howard on a struggling Eastern team and suddenly they're in the top 8.
I think Lowe is projecting. There's certainly a possibility that Kawhi could become a top 10 player, but he's not there yet. It reminds me of another guy that everyone has forgotten about. About halfway through last year everyone would have said Paul George was a top 10 guy. Even if he hadn't got hurt, by the end of the season, he'd slipped a bit.
put it like this, can he have a team built around him? no. can he play alongside a superstar? yes. can he be that superstar? no. if he was that superstar, spurs wouldve extended him.
He is already carrying the Spurs right now. A lot of misinformed posts in this thread, but hey, that's natural if you don't watch the team and know the facts.