Leonard gets the benefit of no one being able to focus on him. You can't really double anyone on the spurs. You take Duncan and Aldridge away, and Leonard would not look as good as he does. He's a great player, but he is not a superstar(as in carry a team).
not really. whatever you think a superstar is which so many people have different definitions of because its thrown around so loosely, he is like it or not one of the top players in the league. he's up there with the best of them as of today regardless of what this no one being able to focus on him claim. I guess bc these days Duncan,Parker, manu are commanding double teams huh. yeah not really.
He does get double teams more and more now. Plus he has to expend all of his energy playing all-nba defense. You can't name more than 4-5 guys who dominate on both offense and defense nowadays. The guy is a superstar right now.
Easy top 10 player, borderline top 5 player. The best 2 way player in the league. But but Mook Morris....SMH
lool. Buttler is not on the same level of leonard, he is clearly below. Leonard can create for himself, its just that in crunchtime the spurs dont play hero ball, they look for the best shot avaible, moving the ball. You saying this proves you are either a hater or you havent seen him play all year.
a really really good player......who still doesn't have the handles or first step or fakes to create separation in the clutch and get himself (or a teammate) clean looks. case in point, the last play against CHI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBXvaL2OgOE
Marcus morris......Sigh....... Funny thing is, The Pacers could've had Kawhi AND PG13.....that would've been crazy
he can do all those things mentioned. you're terribly misinformed. maybe you're just use to the way Harden does it and that must define what a "superstar" is. well that's definitely not. try watching this guy consistently instead of posting isolated youtube clips to try an illustrate a point that is clearly wrong. I definitely take in the hardwork a player puts in and take notice. It's amazing to see the growth in KL's game with all the added dimensions. not something you see too often to become a top player in the league with patience and work ethic year after year.
Right, he's not yet a first option on offense, and hey, maybe he'll never be. But he's pretty much every thing else. And that is amazing, and well worth whatever his max contract is. That makes him a star to me.
i've already posted in this thread that kawhi is very very good, and really really good. i was PISSED when we drafted morris over him. i have seen him plenty, including this season. and i admire his growth as a player, even from last season to current. but all this being said, he still isn't a go-to guy at the end of games.
whatever this go-to guy means, that's not the spurs system and never was. they take what the defense gives them and they move the ball as a team to get the best shot. Hero ball has never been in their DNA. obviously that's gotten them a ton of success. take it for what its worth. The team is now centered around KL. Being this "go to guy at the end of games" whether you think so or not it takes nothing away from him being a top player in the league right now.
going back a decade, for instance, down the stretch of big games both parker and manu were able to break the defense down off the dribble. parker was the quickest player in the league and manu was the most deceptive off the dribble. getting into the paint and passing out to the corner for 3 -- we have seen that so many times. going back 2 decades, for instance, down the stretch of big games duncan was able to score in the paint one-on-one or pass out of the doubleteam for the open 3 -- we saw this dozens upon dozens of times. when kawhi can do either of these consistently, i'll consider him a go-to guy. and yes even in their system, the sperms still need a player to create that mismatch and get the defense out of position. even within the greatest of offensive systems, great offensive players still win games.
His defense alone scares me. I haven't said that about a defensive wing since Indiana Ron Artest. Add the fact that he can give you 20+ points and 7.5 rebounds while leading the league in 3pt% and he is one crazy player. No, he's not crazy like Kevin Durant, but what does that mean really? The Spurs find guys that aren't definitively tier 1 superstars, but play like them. Was Parker as good as Westbrook? Was Ginobili as good as Harden? Everyone will have an opinion, but the fact is those two won a bunch of championships while tier 1 stars were left watching. Leonard won't care about wining MVP when he's winning Finals MVPs.
so when parker and manu were doing that, did this make them superstars in the league? or were even considered top elite players in the league. Nope. You're stuck on some notion he needs to do this and that. that's not how it works. His impact on the game now is just as much as being a "go to guy". Regardless there isn't anything he can't do. he gets buckets, great shooter now, a much improved handle with the ball, great size and length, posts consistently against players, big/strong enough to finish drives in traffic, plays elite defense guarding any position, very high bball iq.
Looking forward for tonight's game against the Wolves, where he would go against tier 1 talent in Wiggins most likely. The Spurs really help them selves drafting correctly most of the time, too bad we missed out Rudy Gobert by one draft position, with him down low the defense would have been so freaking unreal.
