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| Leonard's tough, patient defense on LeBron almost helped his Spurs win a title and ruin James' legacy forever. (Credits: AP Photo/Lynn Sladky) |
In today's NBA it's becoming increasingly hard to pinpoint players to an exact position. You have the combo guard, the swingman, and now the pseudo 3/4 forward which is the newest spot on the floor that LeBron, Carmelo and Kevin Durant all more or less play. But still, we try. We try to place a top-5 at each position, we try to pigeonhole whoever's the cream of the crop at their position. As the NBA Finals wore, I started to come to a realization. A realization that made a lot of people at first go, "No way," and then eventually, "Yeah, I see it," and then finally, "I'm on board."
The top five pseudo 3/4s in the league are the following:
1. LeBron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. Carmelo Anthony
4. Paul George
5. Kawhi Leonard
Leonard is not one to abuse the stat sheet. You will not see him leading the league in any categories. He's not redefining the game, nor the position. But he is turning heads, and get this, he's only 21.
Sometimes when you play in an obscure place, people don't recognize you. On the surface, it's an obvious statement. In Leonard's case, he played for a quality, but relatively unwatched program in San Diego State. Sure, people know San Diego State. But do they know San Diego State? It isn't Duke, North Carolina, Kansas nor Kentucky. People don't know what SDSU is about and they surely aren't tuned into the Mountain West Network 24/7 or at all for that matter. Of course he was recognized by the scouts, earning him the 15th overall selection last year, but even they had their skepticism.
First and foremost the 21-year-old is an athlete with a high basketball IQ. That was clearly shown in First Team All-Rookie selection last year; people saw that his abilities could propel him towards a nice, long career. However, no one saw him emerging like he did this year. No one thought he'd become an integral part of a Western Conference winning Spurs team. No one saw his impact making waves against the Miami Heat.
He did make that impact, and Gregg Popovich looks like a genius for it. Kawhi Leonard became a legitimate star in the NBA in one series. Not only was he dunking all over people and averaging more than 14.5 points and 11 rebounds in seven NBA Finals games, but he also was guarding LeBron James which is the tallest task in the NBA. He didn't lock James down per say, but he did enough, at times, to force LeBron to defer to his teammates. He was a huge reason why people were raining complaints about LeBron's passiveness, lamenting him for his Downey soft interior. Leonard might have just earned the title as the "LeBron slower downer," because we all know the only person that can stop LeBron is himself.
Unfortunately for Leonard, the Spurs didn't win the title and many will look at his missed free throw late in Game 6 as a major reason to their ultimate choke job. But, without him the Spurs would have been swept off the court and embarrassed. If there's any solace that organization can take from a disappointing NBA Finals is Leonard; he'll be a cornerstone of this franchise for years to come.
I realize ultimately that it's not a lock that the second year star is legitimately top-5 material at his position but I'd put him there. Who else is going to go there? Paul Pierce is one option, but I like him better as a swingman (2/3 kind of guy) and he's getting olllllddddd. Danny Granger's another guy here, but he's a one trick pony and George (his own teammate) has surpassed him in every category but physically putting the ball in the hoop. Kobe Bryant? 2-guard. Rudy Gay? Mentally not strong enough. Andre Iguodala? Maybe, but he still can't figure out if he's a franchise player or not. I'm picking Leonard and I'm confident about it.
This argument would have a lot more pull if he had made that free throw and the Spurs were NBA Champions. But, sometimes loses make you stronger. I think Leonard's on his way up...way up.
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