Monday, September 11, 2017
Gregg Popovich to Kawhi Leonard Youre the Big 1
Gregg Popovich to Kawhi Leonard Youre the Big 1
Kawhi Anthony Leonard is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association. Leonard is listed as a small forward at 6 ft 7 in and 230 lb.
Leonard has started the season building on his excellent play against Miami. Hes averaging a career-high 15.1 points and 7.7 rebounds in 31.6 minutes per game, and hes had a few standout performances. Leonard made a few huge plays down the stretch against the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday and finished the game with 26 points and 10 boards. That was the fourth time he topped 20 points on the year.
Itd be unwise, however, to expect Leonard to put up those kind of numbers every night. Beyond the fact that there will be times where Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker are piling up points, its not Leonards or the Spurs style to force anything. Hell make smart plays and hell be aggressive, but itd be surprising if his usage rate jumped far above his current 21.9 percent by the end of the season.
San Antonio is lucky to have an array of playmakers as well as a 23-year-old rising star at small forward. Leonard is approaching franchise-player status, and Popovich is handling his development the right way. Well surely see him dominate from time to time, but he even said in the story that "theyre trying to score the ball as much as I am, and theyve already been here for 10 years and Coach Pop has the confidence in them, and theyve been here, they know more than me, so just got to ride with them and wait until theyre on their way out."
Popovichs advice is to play as if theyre out the door already. Thats the balance Leonard and the Spurs are trying to reach
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