Kawhi Leonard: Believing the hype

Kawhi Leonard

The NBA Finals of 2013 was an historic spectacle. LeBron James won his second consecutive ring and continued his journey of being recognized amongst the best ever to play the game. Dwayne Wade was so happy that he now wants to be referred to as “Three”. The city of Miami is celebrating at its raucous best, and all seems to have come right for South Beach.

While the fans and savants may have been raining accolades, adulations and almost ostentatious laurels on the Heat, one needs to take a moment and pay homage to a great San Antonio Spurs team, who were a “Duncan hook” and a “Ray Allen clutch three” away from being champions themselves.

For the Spurs BIG THREE of “Parker, Ginobili and Duncan”, it might very well have been their last legitimate title push. Harrowingly other than Duncan’s Game-6 and Game-7 performances, the famed trio just didn’t deliver in the Finals. Parker started out bright and set the tone with his spectacular Game-1 winner, but with a hamstring injury bothering him and LeBron defending against him, he just faded out as the series progressed. Ginobili was maybe the biggest disappointment of the whole Spurs team, as his inconsistent shooting and egregious ball-handling cost the Spurs dear in vital moments of Game 6 and 7.

So, if you are a Spurs fan, you should be worried. Duncan may still be beating Father Time, but he is no longer going to be the alpha guy of the team. Parker is your best player, but his health can be a major concern. Ginobili is not getting any younger and expecting him to be a clutch go-to-guy can be a little bit too much to ask of him.

But, if there are reasons to worry, the Spurs also need to exult and celebrate the rise or rather the growth of a certain Kawhi Leonard. The 21-year-old kid had the unenviable, arduous and gargantuan task of keeping LeBron “the king” James at bay.

It was not surprising that many savants had their doubts, and the skeptics were already out with their sympathies. Paul George was maybe the only player who bothered LeBron in the post-season, and he still ended up with 30-odd points, while also doing the rebounding chores and creating multiple plays. Jimmy Butler did his belligerent best, but still LeBron persisted through. At 6’8”, 250-pounds, and with his freakish athletic ability, LeBron is quite easily the greatest physical specimen the league has ever seen. Kawhi on the other hand, stood at 6’7” and 225 pounds. Disparity in match-ups couldn’t be more evident on paper, and if you were to judge it on paper alone, it was a sure mismatch.

Many had started questioning the wit behind letting Stephen Jackson go. Jackson was streaky, but a competitor and had the beef to stand up and muscle up against LeBron. He also had a raving reputation as a player who played his best when up against adversity and had proven his clutch qualities time and again. There were many who stood up and questioned the astute basketball intelligence and veracity of the sagacious Gregg Popovich, and it is not difficult to understand their reasons.

However, Popovich wasn’t worried because he believed and knew that the answers to all such speculations lied in trusting the hype around Kawhi Leonard. Letting Jackson go was his way of developing confidence and belief in Leonard. Quite similar to his decision of trading away George Hill to get Tony Parker more minutes and to ensure that he feeds off the confidence shown by Popovich. Great coaches have their way of inspiring confidence and Popovich is a sure master in getting his troops comfortable, and getting them to be more reliable and accountable.

Now, Popovich may have had some of the most prodigal basketball talents in the league, but it is not often that the nonchalant Popovich goes out of his way to promote a certain player. He didn’t do that to Manu Ginobili or Tony Parker, but about Leonard, even when he was just a rookie and still to attend his first training camp, he had the following words to say: “I think he’s going to be a star. And as time goes on, he’ll be the face of the Spurs, I think. At both ends of the court, he is really a special player. And what makes me be so confident about him is that he wants it so badly. He wants to be a good player, I mean a great player. He comes early, he stays late, and he’s coachable, he’s just like a sponge. When you consider he’s only had (two years) of college and no training camp yet, you can see that he’s going to be something else.”