More like top 25. He has a lot of room to grow! Can't wait if he brings that energy when the Rockets come to San Antonio.
He's a really nice player but no way he's top 10. Unless there is some strange MVP-Steph Curry argument because he is the best player on arguably the best team right now.
I like him as a player. He's a top 10 defensive player, but he leaves way to much to be desired on offense to be a top 10 overall player. The guy gets HOT over a 21 game stretch and averages 19ppg? Yeah, top 10 players average at least 25 when they're hot. He's not better than John Wall, not better than Kyle Lowry, DeMarcus Cousins, Blake Griffin, DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic, or Jimmy Butler, so how is it that he's a top 10 player when none of these guys are? You can argue that he's not even the most effective player on the team. Ginobli is a +8.6 when he plays vs doesn't. Leonard is a +4.9 and they both played a similar percentage of minutes. Lowe wasn't being literal when he said that. At least I hope he wasn't. Still a great player though.
Consider minutes played during that stretch. 28 minutes per game. Yes, he's better than all those players you listed. Vucevic? Lol.
Is he even the best player on his own team? I don't mean that as a slight considering the team. Top 10 is pretty much an annual or near-annual MVP candidate. He's not there, yet.
I don't see him being a franchise player at this point. I won't be discount him, but he's not top ten yet.
Finals MVP champion who played circles around LeBron? Hate to put another feather in the Spurs hat, but yeah he is.
He's a top 5 SF. Top 20 player. Is put him in the 3-5 range for SF. Durant and James headline. Heathy PG13, Gordon Hayward has done great things. Less injury prone too.
Very good point. I can agree with Lowe, that as of right now, he's playing like a top 10. I still can't see him as a perennial top ten player at this point, where you can build a franchise around. Harden was great last year, but this year he truly took it to that franchise level as he has become a more complete player.
I know he hasn't played until just this week but you left off Paul George though I could see some making the argument.
You are aware Lebron averaged 29 points on 57% shooting last year in the Finals right? Heat lost for reasons you are seeing this year a team sans Lebron. Leonard is a top 20 player. His offense (or needing to show the ability to carry an offense) will dictate his ranking in the future. His defense is top 3 at least. So if he can bring his offense near his defensive level (if he can just get to PG level offensively), then he will.
I don't think you listened correctly. He said top 10 right now, as in playing as of this moment. He even mentions how Durant would be ahead of him if he wasn't injured. So I don't think Lowe was saying he is one of the 10 best in the league, which should make your list a lot different. Direct quote "I'll tell you right now - Kawhi Leonard, right now, is one of the 10 best players in the NBA. Period. Full stop. This Kawhi Leonard. There are not 10 guys better than him in the NBA. We can go through the players if you want, there just aren't. And, you know, part of that is Durant's hurt, so that'll be one..."
shawn marion in his prime with better D potential, which is nothing to scoff at. he's not even as good as PG offensively and PG isn't that good offensively. he's easily the best perimeter defender in the league besides a healthy and motivated lebron in the playoffs though. top 5 small forwards when healthy: lebron kd melo (not saying i'd rather have him over the next 2 but IMO is still better than them) george leonard
Do you watch basketball? If the Spurs were offered a deal of Vucevic for Leonard they would do it in a heartbeat. You can build a team around him. He plays this position a lot of basketball fans consider pretty important. It's called center. Vucevic does some pretty special stuff, like rebounding, scoring, blocks, assists, high percentages. Also, if you want to take your head out of your *** and look at his stats at the very least it's here: http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/6478/nikola-vucevic I stand by what I said, not only is Vucevic a better player, he's a much better and much more valuable player than Leonard. I think you're not judging the player but the team and yes, the spurs are a top 10 team because of Poppavich, not Kawhi.
we had this argument already last year. he isn't a top 10 player. he's a really solid player who got hot in the finals and playing a system and have teammates to be able to maximize his potential. he can't create on his own consistently, he excels on defense and in the open court.
Lol, yes I do watch basketball and i don't just look at stats, which apparently is what you do. Vucevic's stats are what I call Juwan Howard stats. He makes no impact on the game whatsoever. Spurs would trade Leonard for him in a heartbeat? Oh man... Who is the one talking out of their behind here? I think it's you... Tell you what, let's wait until the playoffs when you get to actually watch Kawhi play instead of looking at stats.
I would take Kawhi over the bolded. He is a much better player than TP this season who arguably doesn't even have as much offensive impact as Kawhi. Forget about the defense. I don't value high volume, mediocre efficiency scorers like LMA. A lot of these guys are big names but their actual on court impact doesn't match Kawhi's. Top 10 might be a stretch but top 15-20ish isn't.
