Kawhi Leonard: Centerpiece or Cornerstone?

Like it or not, the San Antonio Spurs as we know them are on the verge of changing. The three players that brought them so much success over the past decade-plus are all long in the tooth (Tim Duncan is 39 years old, Tony Parker 33 and Manu Ginobili will be 38 next month) and will need to be replaced. Kawhi Leonard is tabbed as their next star, but is he more a centerpiece or a cornerstone?

For the sake of this piece, I’m considering a centerpiece to be someone like LeBron James, who can thrive in multiple systems, with many different types of players surrounding him. A cornerstone is someone more like Blake Griffin — he’ll be terrific and he’ll put up great numbers, but he needs to be surrounded by a certain set of players in a certain system, or else his effectiveness will be hampered.

Most Spurs fans won’t take any time at all to point towards Kawhi Leonard as a centerpiece, calling the former Finals MVP and reigning Defensive Player of the Year the heir to the throne. I’m not quite sold.

DEFENSE

Players don’t win the DPOY award by mistake. Leonard has been a defensive stalwart since he entered the league and has done nothing but improve. The soon-to-be 24-year-old out of San Diego State University has improved his defensive rebounding, steals and blocks per game in every season. Leonard led the league in steals per game (2.3) and defensive rating (96) in 2014-15.

Advanced field goal defense stats paint a positive picture as well, as Leonard held opponents to 1.7 percent worse on their 2-point attempts (2.9 percent worse from inside 10 feet) during the regular season.

Let’s not forget the job he did on LeBron James in the 2014 NBA Finals either, when he harassed James at every turn, earning the Spurs their fifth championship in 17 years. Leonard has that special Tony Allen gene, where you can put him on the best scorers in the league and he’ll come out on top more often than not.

I don’t think there’s any debate here — if we’re talking defensive qualities, Leonard is a centerpiece.

OFFENSE

If there’s a “weakest” part of Leonard’s game, it’s his offense. That’s not a slight, as he’s still a guy who has shown an ability to score in a multitude of ways, but he’s by no means as elite as he is defensively.

He’s shown progress here as well, increasing his output to a career-best 16.5 points per game in 2014-15. He shot an above-average 47.9 percent from the field, a respectable 34.9 percent from the 3-point line and a quality 80.2 percent from the charity stripe. Those numbers don’t stand out, but there could be a reason.

Leonard plays for a team (and a coach in Gregg Popovich) that values moving the ball as much as any team in the league. They run their offense, make the extra pass and scoff whenever anyone asks about putting up big individual numbers. That leads to the most common knock on Leonard:

Kawhi was one of 10 players to average more than 16 points per game on less than 13 field goal attempts (Kevin Love, Derrick Favors, Paul Millsap, Eric Bledsoe, Goran Dragic, J.J. Redick, Isaiah Thomas, George Hill and Darren Collison were the others). An interesting question — does being on that list tell us anything? None of those players are franchise centerpieces — NONE. Is it because they can’t create their own shot or don’t need to create their own shot? Better question — does that matter in the right system?

It’s more of a personal preference, but something that makes me take pause in this conversation is the fact that Leonard has moved away from the bucket in recent years (subsequently he’s increased his midrange attempts). That’s not a horrible thing, as he shot 48.1 percent from 10-to-16 feet last year, but he was a lights-out 72.4 percent from inside three feet. Why does this matter?

The numbers show that Leonard fared much better when he was assisted — not a surprising stat — but what interests me most here is where those numbers dropped off. Leonard was markedly better near the basket and outside the 3-point line with Parker on the court with him (and with Parker and Duncan both). Take a look at these numbers (playoffs included) from 2014-15:

That table paints the picture of a player who relies on the system to get him close and to get him good 3-point looks. Again, not damning by any means but in my eyes the best player on a championship team needs to be able to create for himself (and thus, for others). Time will tell as Kawhi can continue to grow, but right now he’s a cornerstone.

INTANGIBLES

Nobody will say it too loudly, but Leonard hasn’t shown the ability to be available for an entire season (though he’s been there in the playoffs when it mattered most). In the regular season, Leonard has played 252 of a possible 312 (80.7 percent) games the last four seasons. Not bad by any means, but a team can’t afford to have their best player miss a game every 10 days (on average).

From a leadership standpoint, there’s one thing that matters — where is Kawhi playing? If he’s playing under a strong leader like coach Popovich, I don’t care if Leonard ever says a word. He’ll be put in position to succeed and he’ll be prepared to do so. Replace Pop with Derek Fisher and take away Ginobili, Parker and Duncan — will Leonard step up to pass on the information he’s accrued from one of the greatest leaders in NBA history?

His previous coaches have gushed about his willingness to listen and apply their teachings. Coach Popovich had this to say to NBA.com:

"“He’s so quiet it’s unbelievable,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. “You could get him wrong, just thinking that he’s surly or whatever. But he’s really quiet, really respectful and he really cares.”“We talk about the fact that he’s going to have to speak more — he’s going to have to,” said Popovich. “When these guys are gone, what’s he going to do? Is he going to play in a phone booth all by himself and not talk to anybody? It’s a big deal. He has become more social. But he’s going to have to become more social geometrically compared to what he is now.”"

He’ll work as hard as anyone and will lead by example, but that’s often not good enough to lead young teams that need strong, vocal leadership. To me, that’s a cornerstone.

CENTERPIECE OR CORNERSTONE?

Leonard is a stud that I’d take on my team 10 out of 10 times, but he’s just not a franchise centerpiece yet. Anyone who says he is would be projecting, as Leonard’s career has been on a meteoric rise that hasn’t shown signs of slowing.

If you want to argue that Leonard will be a centerpiece by the time Parker, Duncan and Ginobili step aside, I can’t come up with a good argument against it (aside from the unwillingness/uncomfortable nature of being a leader) — but as of right now (if Leonard doesn’t improve) — he’s a cornerstone.

Next: NBA: 50 Greatest Players Of All Time

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