Gregg Popovich: Kawhi Leonard can be a 2-way star like Michael Jordan
Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard is becoming a superstar.
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2 min read
Kawhi Leonard is just 24 years old and already has a Finals MVP trophy and a Defensive Player of the Year trophy sitting at home. He doesn't need to get any better, so it says something about him that he's spending time watching tape of Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley. San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich talked about where Leonard's game is going on Wednesday, via the San Antonio Express-News' Jeff McDonald:
Q. Leonard has already been a monster at both ends so far this season. What is the next step in his evolution?
Popovich: “At this point, he’s just trying to figure out what to do when people come after him. He’s getting double-teamed now. That’s a whole different basketball game. So he’s watching Barkley tape and Jordan tape and seeing what those guys did. Those guys were great baiters. They’d get in a situation where they knew where they wanted to go with the pass. Right now, he’s learning when do I try to score, when am I in a crowd, when am I not in crowd, when do I let it go? All those decisions. That’s the part of the game he’s working on.
“He already plays at both ends, which is pretty spectacular. There aren’t too many guys in the league who can excel at both ends. They’re good players, but they’re mostly offensive. They don’t do what he does.”
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Q. Do you worry about the energy he has to expend to do that at both ends of the court?
Popovich: “It’s about how good a player do you want to be? He has the ability to do what a Michael Jordan did at both ends. I don’t mean he’s Michael Jordan, but Michael played both ends of the floor. Kobe does the same thing, when he so desires. You think about the best players in the league, they’re not two-way players. He wants to do that, and he stays after it every day. Chip Engelland and Chad Forcier do a great job developing him. He works hard at it. We’re working him in the pick and roll now, so I can give him the ball like I do Manu.”
You can't praise Leonard enough for his dedication to his craft. When he was drafted No. 15 overall -- seriously, No. 15 overall! -- in 2011, he was not known as a 3-point shooter or a playmaker. He turned into a threat from long range before his first season even started, and he has improved year after year in terms of creating for himself. Oh, and he's become perhaps the most feared defender in the entire league.
The Spurs often get all the credit for his development, but Popovich's comments reflect the reality of the situation: Their culture would have meant nothing if Leonard wasn't willing to work.
Popovich isn't the kind of person who's prone to hyperbole, and he certainly wouldn't throw Jordan's name around carelessly. It's significant that the best coach in the NBA mentioned the greatest player of all-time in the same sentence as Leonard, especially given that he's only in his fifth year in the league. No pressure.
