San Antonio Spurs: Kawhi Leonard Making The Leap
Defense
Personally, I thought Draymond Green deserved the Defensive Player of the Year Award last year as the best defender on the league’s best defense, especially since Kawhi missed 18 games. But in any event, even if he doesn’t win back-to-back awards this season, no one will be able to say he didn’t deserve at least one DPOY Award based on what we’ve seen so far.
Everyone knows about how Kawhi Leonard’s hands are basically baseball gloves, but the incredible activity of those hands, combined with his all-encompassing wingspan, his quick footwork and his high basketball IQ make him the most nightmarish wing defender the NBA has seen since the days of Scottie Pippen.
Pop on Kawhi: "There are very few best players in the league who play both ends. I think that’s what makes him special."
— Quixem Ramirez (@quixem) November 3, 2015
Against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Leonard held Kevin Durant to 22 points on 6-of-19 shooting. Four games into the season, that’s still Durant’s season low in scoring and field goal percentage. Kawhi’s career high 32 points on 13-of-22 shooting were eye-opening, but it was just as impressive to see him manhandle the 2013-14 league MVP on the other end of the floor as well.
Leonard finished with three steals and two blocks in the game, and even when he got beat off the dribble, he was able to recover and make highlight worthy defensive plays:
Kevin Durant hasn’t been the only high scoring superstar to experience Kawhi’s suffocating embrace on the defensive end so far this season. Against the New York Knicks, Leonard put on another clinic against Carmelo Anthony, holding him to 19 points on an abysmal 4-of-17 shooting.
And just like Kevin Durant, Melo soon discovered that even his patented, go-to step-back wasn’t enough with Leonard locked in.
Leonard finished with four blocks on the night, three of which came on Melo. Though he did get beat off the dribble a few times, the Spurs’ help defense was quick enough to help cut off Anthony’s point of attack, giving Leonard more than enough time to recover and make a play on the ball:
Per NBA.com, Leonard has held his man to a combined 11-of-48 from the field (22.9 percent) — an incredible 19.2 percent less than what those opponents would normally shoot on such shots.
Kawhi Leonard is in his own class as a defender, and you almost have to feel for Draymond Green, because at this point, there’s a good chance Leonard doesn’t let go of that Defensive Player of the Year trophy for the next couple of years.
Next: A New Kind Of Spur