Kawhi Leonard Has the Baton as San Antonio Spurs' Next Franchise Centerpiece
Kawhi Leonard hasn't retraced the steps of San Antonio Spurs cornerstones Tim Duncan and David Robinson.
Those two were No. 1 picks. Leonard, strange as this now sounds, lasted until the 15th selection of the 2011 NBA draft. Duncan and Robinson were beasts on the low block. Leonard wreaks havoc from the perimeter.
But there's an undeniable chain linking one silver-and-black superstar to the next. All three are transcendent two-way talents and have a supreme set of skills strong enough to support a dynasty.
Maybe it feels too early for some to seat the 23-year-old Leonard alongside two of the Alamo City's finest. In some ways, that isn't really fair to him or them.
After all, Robinson has been enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of fame since 2009. And Duncan's spot is saved for whenever the ageless wonder decides he's done threatening to spoil Father Time's unblemished record.
But Leonard's prolific present hints at a future of similar, perfectly Spursian brilliance. He's an unassuming trendsetter on an organization that has lulled the basketball world to sleep with an unprecedented run of dominance.
Teams don't do what San Antonio does. And few players boast a resume like Leonard's, despite the fact that he just completed his fourth NBA season.
Last June, he collected both a championship ring and a Finals MVP award. On Thursday, he was named the 2014-15 Defensive Player of the Year.
His most recent honor is one that history typically reserves for bigs. As Bleacher Report's Sean Highkin noted, the hardware put Leonard in some exclusive company:
And the names around him grow even more impressive when considering both awards he has won, per ESPN Stats & Info:
Leonard wrapped this campaign with the NBA's best defensive rating (96.4). He paced all perimeter players and ranked second overall with a 4.92 defensive real plus-minus, via ESPN.com.
At the offensive end—where he averaged 17.8 points on 61.2 percent shooting in last year's NBA Finals—he exploded in the second half after battling the injury bug for much of the first. His All-Star splits paint a terrifying picture of the efficient scoring machine he can be when he's healthy.
But the NBA's biggest nightmare is this: The Spurs haven't completely taken the kid gloves off of him yet.
"He's still kind of a neophyte as far as the things we're doing with him," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said, per Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News. "It takes time, and he’s progressed very quickly. But his upside is down the road."
In other words, there are brighter days ahead—for a world champion, Finals MVP and Defensive Player of the Year.
It doesn't sound possible. There shouldn't be a level above two-way terror.
But Pop is right. The Spurs are still figuring out what they have in their soaring star.
They know what he can do defensively. That's why they call his number to handle the toughest matchups in the most critical minutes.
But the offensive end is more of a process. Pop has expanded his system to see what Leonard can add. And the numbers say he can thrive in just about any situation.
| Isolation | 96 | 0.93 | 42.7 | 75.3 |
| PNR Ball-Handler | 104 | 0.90 | 45.7 | 85.0 |
| Post-Up | 151 | 0.94 | 47.2 | 78.5 |
| Spot-Up | 261 | 1.08 | 42.6 | 79.2 |
"He's at the stage of his career and the age where he has the energy to do everything," Manu Ginobili said, per McDonald. "It's so exciting. He's doing so well, everything seems like a good spot for him."
Leonard can find production within the offense. That's a necessity to surviving in San Antonio.
But he has the combination of skill and creativity needed to generate his own opportunities. And the Spurs have given him the green light to improvise when he sees something he can exploit.
His offensive involvement will only continue to grow going forward.
At some point, familiar faces like Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili won't be around to help the Spurs with their annual rise to championship-caliber juggernauts. Whenever this chapter closes, Leonard will help write the next one.
But he's already become the central figure in the final paragraphs of this one. As Parker explained recently, via Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News, the passing of the torch has already begun:
"It's like me and Manu back in the day. You have to share and wait your turn. Sometimes I don't see the ball for a long time, but Kawhi is playing unbelievable. And it's going to be Kawhi's team anyway. Like Timmy transitioned to Manu, Manu transitioned to me, now it's going to be transitioned to Kawhi. I'll try to do my best to stay aggressive and be involved. But Kawhi's going to be the man.
"
Kawhi is the man. And in a different, more substantial way than Ginobili and Parker ever were.
Those players have been immensely valuable in San Antonio's run. Parker has masterfully filled his head-of-the-snake role; Ginobili has added flavor to this otherwise vanilla attack.
But the two were offensive stars who graded out somewhere between serviceable and solid at the other end. Leonard's ability to control contests on either side of the ball is what moves him into that rarefied air alongside Duncan and Robinson.
Leonard knows he's getting better. His overstuffed stat sheets and growing list of accolades make it impossible not to.
"The game does slow down each year as you keep playing," Leonard said, per Andrew Keh of The New York Times.
But pry into his personal rise, and you'll only be met with San Antonio-style, selfless answers that value the collective over the individual.
"Once you have a whole group on the same page, each individual tends to play better," he said, via Keh.
That attitude will be just as crucial to keeping the Spurs on top as Leonard's tenacious defense and expanding offense. If the franchise centerpiece isn't placing anything above the team's best interest, how can anyone else?
It's not really a lesson Leonard learned from Duncan or one that was passed down from Robinson before. It's a powerful mindset each player brought on his own—one that carried the club to greatness for the better part of three decades and should continue doing the same as Leonard quietly slips into the driver's seat.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
