Kawhi Leonard: Ready To Take The Reins Of The Spurs

Even after Kawhi Leonard won the NBA Finals MVP Award last year, I wasn’t convinced of his potential just yet. Even though he was only 22 years old and had become the third youngest Finals MVP in NBA history, there were still holes to pick in his game.

He hadn’t taken the leap that everyone was expecting during the regular season. He had struggled in the first two games of the series before stepping up in a series where balanced contributions were the modus operandi for the San Antonio Spurs. And though he did a relatively good job making LeBron James work for his points, the notion that he “neutralized” King James was overblown.

That being said, Leonard has spent the last few months proving me (and everyone else who felt the same) wrong. Once again, his regular season numbers (16.5 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 2.3 SPG, 47.9 FG%, 34.9 4P%) didn’t scream “superstar,” but when he was fully healthy, Leonard started to blow people away at the perfect time of year.

After the All-Star break, Kawhi averaged 17.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.6 steals per game while shooting 51.2 percent from the floor and 36.3 percent from downtown. He wound up leading the league in steals per game and morphed back into the defensive terror that helped hold the world’s best player in check during the Finals last year.

Full disclosure: Draymond Green deserved the Defensive Player of the Year Award. He was the best defender on the league’s best defense, he received the most first place votes and the only reason he didn’t win is he was left off an absurd number of ballots by voters from the East coast who probably didn’t stay up late enough to watch him play.

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That being said, Leonard might have been a unanimous choice for DPOY had he not missed 18 games. Because when he was healthy, his unbelievable skills, instincts and wing span on the defensive end were reminiscent of Scottie Pippen, one of the best wing defenders in NBA history. But chalking up Leonard’s development to great defense and having baseball mitts for hands is selling him short.

The reason I struggled to buy into Sugar K Leonard as the next face of the franchise was his offense. Sure he was efficient in those Finals, but was he prepared to take the reins from Tim Duncan? Was he prepared to lead, and not just step up for the playoffs? Was he capable of scoring big-time buckets when his team needed one?

We’re still only in the first round, but since we can all agree this high-octane matchup between the Spurs and the Los Angeles Clippers is more fitting of being Western Conference Finals showdown, I think it’s safe to say what Leonard has shown through the first five games of the postseason is a very good sign.

Kawhi Leonard’s 2014-15 playoff shot chart, per NBA.com /

With the Spurs up 3-2, Leonard is averaging 23.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.6 steals per game while shooting 54.3 percent from the field and 47.4 percent from downtown. Add that to his swarming defense on Chris Paul and J.J. Redick and he’s been the reason San Antonio improbably has the series lead with a chance to close things out at home tonight.

I say “improbably” because other than Tim Duncan and Patty Mills, no one has played particularly well. Manu Ginobili has been a turnover machine who can’t shoot, Tony Parker has been mostly awful shooting less than 33 percent from the floor and if anyone finds Danny Green, tell him the Spurs need his three-point touch again.

Leonard, on the other hand, has come up clutch time and time again for these aging Spurs. In Game 2, he helped San Antonio steal a pivotal game on the road with 23 points and nine boards. He led the Spurs in a 27-point blowout of Los Angeles in Game 3 with a postseason career high of 32 points — despite the fact that Duncan, Parker and Ginobili combined for just 12 points.

In the pivotal Game 5 win, Leonard admittedly struggled, going 5-for-16 from the field. But throughout this series, he’s proven he can get the Spurs an easy basket when they need one. He’s not out there making game-winners or clutch one-on-one plays; that’s not the Spursian way. But he IS making the unglamorous buckets right around the rim to either help extend leads or cut into deficits.

Well, and also this:

Most of his baskets are just smart, easy plays. They’re the kind of buckets that go unnoticed, but they’re the exact kind of thing you’d expect from Duncan’s spiritual successor. I wasn’t convinced San Antonio had another superstar ready to take over, but at age 23, Kawhi is approaching his big moment.

When Duncan eventually retires (if he ever does), it will be the end of an era. But after what we’ve seen from Kawhi over the last two months, Spurs fans should feel assured that their franchise has a building block for the future.

Next: Golden State Warriors: 5 Areas To Improve In Second Round

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Kawhi Leonard: Ready To Take The Reins Of The San Antonio Spurs

By Gerald Bourguet | Apr 30, 2015

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