Everything Kawhi Leonard

[Hotshot]

Stephan Jackson is just speculating like everyone else. Maybe there is some truth but we wont know cause unlike Derozan, Kawhi isn't talking. Kawhi is the kind of dude who punches his ticket in at 9am and leaves at 5. No chit chat at the water cooler or going to work BBQ, he goes in and does his job and outside of it says as little as possible.

[rightsideup]

Me too. I had to Google Harden/Kardashi-whatever. It was only Khloe though so a lot of people probably didn't notice

Man his play really took a downturn when they were dating so did Tristan Thompson s for awhile. Kloe ,Kim and that gang are bad news for athletes

[TrueTorontoFan]

odell beckham jr too

[G__Deane]

Stephan Jackson is just speculating like everyone else. Maybe there is some truth but we wont know cause unlike Derozan, Kawhi isn't talking. Kawhi is the kind of dude who punches his ticket in at 9am and leaves at 5. No chit chat at the water cooler or going to work BBQ, he goes in and does his job and outside of it says as little as possible.

I agree about the outside of work watercooler/BBQ stuff but based on media reports re his work ethic and love for the gym, he's the opposite of a nine to fiver.

[G__Deane]

SN: Raptors coach Nick Nurse has ‘great’ first meeting with Kawhi Leonard

“I sat down and said, ‘Do you have any questions?’ And he started firing them,” Nurse told the Toronto Star. “And it just led us to a really easygoing [conversation]. Not what I was expecting. Very smart. Very intelligent. Very engaging. Really enjoyed it … [Management] had to drag us out of there in the end because they had to go do something else. But it was great.”

“We could have gone forever. [Raptors management] kept knocking on the door and I was like, ‘A couple more minutes.’ Because we were really into it,” Nurse said. “It was fun to listen to his take. He asked me, ‘How are you going to use me? Where are you going to get me the ball? What do you see?’ And I told him, ‘Listen. To me, you can do pretty much everything. You can post. You can drive. You can handle it up the floor. You can play screen and roll. You can come off pindowns.’ I said, ‘Did I miss anything?’ He’s like, ‘No, that’s about it.’ I said, ‘You’ll probably be doing all that stuff.’”

[ReubenJRD]

SN: Raptors coach Nick Nurse has ‘great’ first meeting with Kawhi Leonard

“I sat down and said, ‘Do you have any questions?’ And he started firing them,” Nurse told the Toronto Star. “And it just led us to a really easygoing [conversation]. Not what I was expecting. Very smart. Very intelligent. Very engaging. Really enjoyed it … [Management] had to drag us out of there in the end because they had to go do something else. But it was great.”

“We could have gone forever. [Raptors management] kept knocking on the door and I was like, ‘A couple more minutes.’ Because we were really into it,” Nurse said. “It was fun to listen to his take. He asked me, ‘How are you going to use me? Where are you going to get me the ball? What do you see?’ And I told him, ‘Listen. To me, you can do pretty much everything. You can post. You can drive. You can handle it up the floor. You can play screen and roll. You can come off pindowns.’ I said, ‘Did I miss anything?’ He’s like, ‘No, that’s about it.’ I said, ‘You’ll probably be doing all that stuff.’”

Seems like Kawhi is really invested into what they'll do, regardless if its only for a year.

I'm nervous about this whole Lowry thing, though. I think people overreacted about his spoke to/didn't speak to thing. I'm interested to see when Green/Leonard finally get formally introduced.

[G__Deane]

Seems like Kawhi is really invested into what they'll do, regardless if its only for a year.

I'm nervous about this whole Lowry thing, though. I think people overreacted about his spoke to/didn't speak to thing. I'm interested to see when Green/Leonard finally get formally introduced.

It could have already happened (even Lowry didn't know if they had spoken ) but he was just making a (ill advised) point that that week was all about USA basketball and he wasn't answering questions about DeMar or Kawhi....

[TrueTorontoFan]

question though is it really ill advised? It is a USA basketball camp.. not to say he is the most media savvy person. Personally, I am just done with this drama. If he praises Kawhi and comments on it it looks bad to his friend who is right there at the time. If he dawgs the deal... it looks bad from the organizational standpoint. It also doesn't help the situation. The best thing for him to say is nothing. The other thing is he probably hasn't talked to Kawhi yet to be honest and hasn't had the chance to even process this. He will have time to focus on this later on in the summer... or even closer to the season.

Not sure what people were expecting, and I am disappointed by the media trying to say his silence is making a stand.

[ReubenJRD]

question though is it really ill advised? It is a USA basketball camp.. not to say he is the most media savvy person. Personally, I am just done with this drama. If he praises Kawhi and comments on it it looks bad to his friend who is right there at the time. If he dawgs the deal... it looks bad from the organizational standpoint. It also doesn't help the situation. The best thing for him to say is nothing. The other thing is he probably hasn't talked to Kawhi yet to be honest and hasn't had the chance to even process this. He will have time to focus on this later on in the summer... or even closer to the season.

Not sure what people were expecting, and I am disappointed by the media trying to say his silence is making a stand.

As you mentioned, people will read into his comments regardless of what route he takes. He just seemed more pissed off with having to talk to media in the first place, and remember, he denied to speak to the media on the first day.

It could have already happened (even Lowry didn't know if they had spoken ) but he was just making a (ill advised) point that that week was all about USA basketball and he wasn't answering questions about DeMar or Kawhi....

I think what he was saying was fine. It's USA Basketball, keep it USA Basketball. But as someone who is in the media, I would definitely like the opportunity to do my job, regardless of the question.

[grindhouse]

If Kawhi is Jordan who is pippen?

[DanH]

If Kawhi is Jordan who is pippen?

If we're just talking second best player, wouldn't that be obvious? Lowry's been the best player on the team for a half decade.

[Puffer]

If we're just talking second best player, wouldn't that be obvious? Lowry's been the best player on the team for a half decade.

No question.

Which stats do you favor for "impact" player ranking? It would be interesting to list the current roster now, and then revisit it a few times over the season and then again in the playoffs.

[G__Deane]

question though is it really ill advised? It is a USA basketball camp.. not to say he is the most media savvy person. Personally, I am just done with this drama. If he praises Kawhi and comments on it it looks bad to his friend who is right there at the time. If he dawgs the deal... it looks bad from the organizational standpoint. It also doesn't help the situation. The best thing for him to say is nothing. The other thing is he probably hasn't talked to Kawhi yet to be honest and hasn't had the chance to even process this. He will have time to focus on this later on in the summer... or even closer to the season.


Not sure what people were expecting, and I am disappointed by the media trying to say his silence is making a stand.

Yes, it was ill advised only for the way he chose to handle it
Yes, the best thing for him would have been to say nothing, but he chose to make it a weird game instead; "I don't know if I have spoken to him??? With a smirk....
I'm done with the drama from all sides. Welcome Kawhi!

[LJ2]

What was Kawhi's usage like with the Spurs? Similar to DeMars's?

[DanH]

No question.

Which stats do you favor for "impact" player ranking? It would be interesting to see that list now, and then revisit it a few times over the season and then again in the playoffs.

There's a new one called PIPM that I really like. Seems very stable, and uses a lot more of the on-court performance numbers rather than boxscore inputs like RPM and BPM rely on. RAPM and APM are still the gold standard for multi season data but it's tough to track and useless in small samples (even for a full season it's more noise than signal).

But there are upsides to all of them. I think when I do win projections this year I'll include PIPM, as well as the usual RPM and WS approaches.