Gregg Popovich, says that Kawhi Leonard "is the best player in the league right now"

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No not yet or maybe ever. I don't think Leonard will ever be as good as LeBron in finding the open man and finishing at the bucket. He is better in the mid-range shot and defense though. If he can beat the Warriors and then beat LeBron then he would be better.
 
O_Atoll said:
No not yet or maybe ever. I don't think Leonard will ever be as good as LeBron in finding the open man and finishing at the bucket. He is better in the mid-range shot and defense though. If he can beat the Warriors and then beat LeBron then he would be better.
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He's already done both. But no he's not better then James or Durant. He's definitely top 4 or 5 though

no one is beating the warriors with KD
 
Yeah no.

It's still Lebron. It's been Lebron, shit its been Lebron in years where Lebron didn't even win the damn title. Lebron also has a Finals MVP, on Kawhis team, and another one since then along with the very first one he got on OKC. Kawhi is a great player, but cmon, stop it.

And Kawhi never shut Lebron down in the finals. His team WON the finals over Lebrons, but he didn't shut anyone down:

27pts 7Rebounds 4assist 2steals on 56% shooting for the Finals isn't being shut down. There's a big difference there.
 
Cipherr said:
Yeah no.

It's still Lebron. It's been Lebron, shit its been Lebron in years where Lebron didn't even win the damn title. Lebron also has a Finals MVP, on Kawhis team, and another one since then along with the very first one he got on OKC. Kawhi is a great player, but cmon, stop it.

And Kawhi never shut Lebron down in the finals. His team WON the finals over Lebrons, but he didn't shut anyone down:

27pts 7Rebounds 4assist 2steals on 56% shooting for the Finals isn't being shut down. There's a big difference there.
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Except your looking at the bigger picture and not the advanced statistics of WHEN LeBron scored most of his points. Anybody can go look at anybody stats and say "Oh, the averaged 30pts therefore X didn't get shutdown by Y."

I stole this from a Reddit post since I don't know how to look up advanced statistics by myself lol.

This means Lebron’s game-by-game numbers (everything but the points remains the same of course) when specifically guarded by Kawhi throughout the 2014 Finals would look as follows:

Game 1: 11pts/6rbs/3asts/3stls/4tov

Game 2: 15pts/10rbs/3asts/2stls/4tov

Game 3: 4pts/5rbs/7asts/5stls/7tov

Game 4: 14pts/8rbs/2asts/0stls/3tov (if you count the one possession I referred to earlier in the game summary, Lebron would have 17pts on Kawhi in this game)

Game 5: 2pts/10rbs/5asts/0stls/1tov/2blks For the series then, Lebron’s averages against Kawhi throughout the five game series look like this:

9.6pts/7.8rbs/4asts/2stls/3.8tov/0.4blks
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Full link https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/3iiwz2/lebrons_statline_vs_kawhi_in_the_2014_finals_an/

Assuming the poster is accurate, 10 pts and a 1:1 ast/to ratio is pretty damn good defense for someone like LeBron. There aren't many who can slow down LeBron, but you gotta give a little credit to Kahwi.
 
ok if your life depended on one game and you got to draft the first pick,


you'd really pick kawhi leonard over fucking lebron? sure
 
StoOgE said:
Defense is mediocre. Doesn't try to close out high pressure games. I know a lot was on Westbrook in OKC, but KD would regularly pass out of iso situations or go disappear in the corner towards game end.

KD is my favorite player, but he has some frustrating tendencies.

I think of the 5, Bron and Leonard easily have the best defense. And while Leonard is the worst offensively of the 5, he's still the team leader of the 2nd best team in the NBA.
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KD is not mediocre defensively. I'm guessing you haven't watched him this year or maybe didn't pay attention to last year's playoffs. His perimeter defense is a half step below Leonard's and he's a better rim protector.
 
Pop isn't going to say something like this to try to convince anyone of anything except Kawhi. For sure this statement is something he felt was necessary to pump up Kawhi himself as he is an introvert who may very well need some confidence boosting from time to time.
 
Some excerpts from the ESPN blog:

According to ESPN Stats & Information, Harden was 0-of-5 with two turnovers with Leonard as his primary defender during the Spurs' win. (Harden made his lone attempt against Leonard in Game 1.) Three of those five misses were 3-point attempts, with the other two layups in traffic, one of which failed to even draw iron with the two-time Defensive Player of the Year's long arms contesting. Leonard blocked another Harden layup on a rare Rockets fast break.
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Leonard's offensive brilliance was breathtaking, a historically efficient exhibit. He scored 34 points on 13-of-16 shooting, putting up the best field goal percentage (81.3) in Spurs playoff history by a player with at least 15 attempts. He also had his best passing performance, dishing out a career-high eight assists.

How rare of air did Leonard's statistical line reach? The last time a player put up at least 30 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds while shooting 80 percent from the field in a playoff game: Michael Jordan in Game 2 of the 1991 NBA Finals.
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Not too shabby.
 
Lebron said:
Harden was basically imprisoned.

Please let him out, Kawhi.
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894d2174d3a1f73228305a5b955440c6.jpg
 
Kawhi is a much better individual defender and shooter than Lebron (and those hands are crazy), but Lebron is still the best player in the world because of how he impacts every aspect of the game. He's the ultimate floor general, making adjustments on both sides of the ball, getting teammates involved offensively, calling out the opposing team's plays and roaming/stealing defensively. He can control the pace of the game like he did in the 2015 finals. He makes momentum plays offensively and defensively (those chase down blocks, fuck you threes, and steals/massive dunks). He just imposes his will on the game, physically and mentally. He's far from perfect, of course. He's not a great shooter, he whines a lot, he flops/acts more hurt than he is, etc. When he plays hard, though, goddamn. He'll retire as the clear number 2 behind Jordan.
 
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