Kawhi Leonard: Late Push For Defensive Player Of The Year?

The San Antonio Spurs continued their rebirth of sorts on Wednesday night, with an absolute domination of the Oklahoma City Thunder 130-91. Kawhi Leonard had an excellent game, which is becoming quite common, scoring 14 points, grabbing five boards, dishing out five assists, and recording a block and a steal.

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Heading into the game against the Thunder, Leonard was in the midst of a stretch where he had recorded at least three steals in four consecutive games. In three of those four games, he notched four steals. If you were dribbling a basketball in the vicinity of Kawhi Leonard in the last week, he most likely took it away from you, and it most likely turned into a fast-break bucket for the Spurs.

His offense has become steadier, but Leonard has been a beast defensively of late (in the clip below watch him terrorize the Hawks on both offense and defense).

ESPN’s Tom Haberstroh noted on the “Bill Don’t Lie” podcast that his play could make him a darkhorse to win Defensive Player of the Year. Kirk Goldsberry of Grantland is also taking notice. In a Mar. 23 article, Goldsberry commented on his unique physical attributes, and how Leonard’s steals come from playing fundamentally sound defense rather than foolishly hunting steals by taking unnecessary gambles:

"“Another thing to note here is that Leonard’s steals, unlike many of his peers’, are hardly ever the result of defensive gambling. He’s not riskily jumping into passing lanes or leaving his assignment open. His takeaways are usually a product of him playing terrific defense. That’s why steals, as a metric, offer an incomplete picture of defensive skill. They can be reflections of which players gamble the most as much as symbols of who plays the most consistently great defense.”"

Goldsberry’s piece discusses much more than that and is worth reading completely. The block of Russell Westbrook he references in the article (from last season’s Western Conference Finals) was particularly mind-blowing.

Leonard somehow has the presence of mind and agility to shift direction off of Reggie Jackson to strip a full-steam ahead Westbrook from behind. The fact that he did it in overtime of a one point game only adds to the legend of Kawhi. This type of brilliance has become so commonplace for Leonard it is easy to take it for granted.

No matter how you slice it, right now Leonard has taken his defense to another level. The analytics and the old fashioned eye-test tell that same story.

Leonard leads the NBA in steals per game with 2.3 a game, and you could make an entertaining highlight reel made up of only his thefts.The latest defensive real plus/minus statistics were updated on ESPN.com this week, and Leonard now has the seventh best DRPM in the NBA at 4.36. I’ve noticed that this metric tends to favor rim protecting big men, so Leonard being that high on the list is quite the accomplishment. That number puts him third best in the league for perimeter defenders, behind only Tony Allen and Draymond Green.

Even when you ignore the metrics and just watch him play, it is clear that he is back to defending at an elite level. Leonard flies around the perimeter while seemingly remaining in a fundamentally sound defensive position, sticking his massive hands in passing lanes to deflect passes and rack up steals. There is nothing he can’t do.

Locking down his man, unleashing vicious help-side blocks, ending possessions with a difficult rebound, and putting up gaudy steals numbers. He brings everything you want to the table.

In all likelihood, Draymond Green has the Defensive Player of the Year award wrapped up. He’s got the insane statistics, the powerful narrative, and he just plain deserves it. The versatility he gives the Warriors by being able to guard every position may slightly outweigh the immense benefits Kawhi provides San Antonio.

It is all a matter of preference when judging defense, we only tend to notice it when it is played very well or very poorly, so it is tough to quantify exactly how much of an impact each player makes. Either would be a deserving winner, but Green has been the favorite so long and his team having the best defensive rating in the NBA will be tough for voters to overlook.

Leonard’s contributions may not win him any individual hardware, but it has helped kill all the talk about the Spurs era of dominance finally coming to an end. Since he returned from injury, the Spurs have gone 21-10 and have moved from seventh to sixth in the Western Conference.

They currently find themselves only three games behind Houston for the third seed with only 11 games remaining. With a strong finish they may be able to climb into the top four, guaranteeing themselves home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. That would have been unthinkable in early January.

If the Spurs can navigate the treacherous Western Conference Playoffs to compete in their third straight NBA Finals, they just might have another meeting with old rival LeBron James.

I’d bet the only thing left in the NBA that scares James is Leonard draped all over him as he tries to get to the basket.

Well, that and a broken air conditioning unit.

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