Can Kawhi Leonard still carry an NBA team to a title? | Los Angeles Clippers

Can Kawhi Leonard still carry an NBA team to a title? | Los Angeles Clippers

What’s up, guys? Thanks as always for supporting the show. It would mean a lot to me if you would take a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button so you don’t miss any more of our videos. Also, make sure you follow us all over social media so you don’t miss any of our content or show announcements. Last season in review for Kawaii played in just 37 games. He basically sat out until January and then for the first month kind of slowly ramped up and then more or less played like normal through the end of the season. And it looked like there was a stretch there where the Clippers lost a couple back-to-back games to the Lakers and like it looked like Kawhai just didn’t have that explosiveness. And I remember talking about it on the show like Kawhai just doesn’t look physically like himself. And then all of a sudden there was a runway there right before the end of the season where you’re like holy like Kawhai starting to look a little bit like Kawhai. And it was like are we heading for another one of those environments where he just suddenly in a playoff series looks like he might be the best player in the world. But the bad news is is that even though the plan worked and they got him to the finish line and he was able to finish the playoff run, the albeit short playoff run without getting hurt, it was also the first year that I can remember where a healthy Kawhai didn’t feel like the indomitable force that he was in previous years. When Kawhai was healthy in 2020 and in 2021 and in 2023 before he got hurt in those three in the last two playoff runs and before he got eliminated in 2020, he was that classic robot Kawhai with the scoring and efficiency. His numbers in those three playoff runs are kind of insane. 30 points, eight rebounds, five assists, 63.4% true shooting. That’s like off the charts good. And all of us remember what it was like watching him in those games. He looked like he was every bit as good as the very best players in the world when that was happening. That was the upside that we were all clinging to when we would discuss the Clippers. If Kawhai can stay healthy, he can be the best player in a playoff run potentially for the handful of games in what was it 2023? He would look better than KD in those games before he got hurt. That Clippers team looked destined for destined for a finals run in 2021 before he got hurt. But that upside just didn’t materialize this year. We got one game. Game two was wild. Vintage Kawaii. 15 for 19 from the field, four for seven from three, 39 points, walked down the Nuggets with two ice cold jumpers in the final two and a half minutes. It felt like those other playoff runs, but outside of game two against Denver, he was never able to bring that true superstar force to bear. Game one, nine for 15 from the field, which is obviously efficient, but he had just 22 points and he had seven turnovers with only two assists. It was a bad game for Kawhi. Game three, seven for 17. Game four, 10 for 22, 24 points, two assists. That’s a mediocre superstar game. A bad superstar game. Game five, eight for 15 from the field, 20 points, 11 assists. A fine game, but nothing special. Game six, 27, 10 and five on 11 for 22. That’s a really good game, but that’s not like robot superhero Kawhai. Game seven, elimination, everything on the line. Six for 13, 22 points, five rebounds, two assists. And there’s context there. Like Denver brought a lot of double teams against Kawawaii in that series, but at the same time, Kawhai did a really poor job of managing and solving those double teams. So even though the shooting percentages, as you zoomed out from the series, he was still 5040. like the shooting percentages look fine, but if you take out game two, he was actually pretty mediocre in that series and his scoring volume wasn’t good at all. So, the bottom line is in years past it felt like a healthy Kawawaii was as good as the best player is in the league, but this year Kawhai went into the playoffs healthy and he didn’t come close to that level. And that was really sad for me as a basketball fan. One of the things it felt like as we were watching it was like, oh man, like is this the end of Kawawaii’s prime? Like Kawi, for me as a basketball fan, I actually really like watching Kawhai. There’s a lot of like when I when I play in the post, a lot of the post work that I do, I’ve tried to mimic Kawhai in terms of physical postup play and using your shoulders to get separation. Like Kawhai’s a player that I’ve always been drawn to and it feels like we got robbed of his prime and now it just feels like we’re on the other side and that really sucks. Let’s take a look at the season real quick. Let’s go through some of his numbers. 37 games played, he had 22 points, six rebounds, and three assists. 2.1 stocks per game, 1.6 steals, which actually ranked 17th in the NBA. His percentages, he was below 50, just below 50% from the field. That was his first time below 50% since 2020. 41% from three and five attempts per game. Shot the ball well there. 81% from the line, but only three attempts per game. And this is perhaps the most concerning stat as it pertains to Kawhai’s declining athleticism. Kawhai is not a grifter. He doesn’t get to the line by doing janky He gets to the line as a supreme athlete that gets defenders out of position. But if you look back, his last full healthy season in San Antonio, his season in Toronto where he won the title, his season with the Clippers in 2020, in those seasons, he posted over seven free throw attempts per game in each of those three seasons. This year, just three, so less than half what he was at his peak. He’s just not getting defenders out of position the way that he used to. 56% in effective field goal percentage, which is which is fine, but it’s not kawaii. 59% true shooting, which is fine. It’s not Kawaii. It’s his lowest since 2020. Play type data. This is where you can really see the drop off down across the board. He was below a point per possession in pick and roll. The year before, he was at uh 1.04, which was 69th percentile. So, he dropped substantially year-over-year as a pick and roll player. He was below a point per possession in ISO this year. The year before, he was one of the best ISO players in the league, 1.25 25 points per ISO including passes which was in the 96th percentile. This year in the post 1.07 points per possession which is slightly above average but one year prior 1.14 seven points better per 100 possessions. A massive year-over-year deep a dip in his play type uh in his shot creation out of various play types. So I mean the reason why Kawhai’s dropped all the way to 13 on this list is simply that the equation has changed. It used to be that like if you could somehow navigate the season and get to the finish line with a healthy Kawaii, you got to have a top tier superstar at that point and he had the potential to outplay the best players in the league. He gave you that crazy upside, right? That like maybe they can win the title upside. But now it feels like if you get through a season with a healthy Kawaii, you get a second tier superstar. a guy that on any one night like in game two can reach that level and outplay the best players in the world, but a guy who on most nights is probably going to be a level below that. So, that’s how he lands at number 13 this year. All right, guys. That’s all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting the show. We’ll be back on a Wednesday with number 12 and number 11. I will see you guys then.

Jason breaks down why he ranks Los Angeles Clippers superstar Kawhi Leonard 13th in his NBA player rankings, discussing the highs he can still reach—his impressive win over Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in their first round series—as well as the inconsistencies he shown over the last few years even when healthy alongside Paul George and James Harden.

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