Avs_19
Registered User
- Jun 28, 2007
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- 33,254
Which of Lebron, Westbrook, Harden, Davis, Curry, Durant, or Paul is he better than?
I can't really see a case for Leonard over any of them, and a case could be made for Antetokounmpo as well.
We can argue his exact placement, but that's really immaterial. Upgrading from Derozan to Leonard isn't a big enough upgrade to change the team's fortunes. The Raptors are still clearly worse than the Sixers and Celtics. I guess this is a big enough upgrade to make sure that they stay ahead of the Pacers though, but somehow I don't think that was the point of the move.
The only two I'm taking over Kawhi for sure are LeBron and Durant. You could argue for Davis as well and I wouldn't have any complaints there. Kawhi's two-way ability puts him above the others for me, even though Curry and Harden are better offensive players. The last time Kawhi was healthy people were debating whose better between him and Durant and that wasn't crazy at the time.
I think this trade puts the Raptors right there with the Sixers and not too far behind the Celtics. The main difference between this team and past years would be that the Raptors will have the best player in any series against the East.
Leonard hasn't shown he can elevate the Spurs though. Once they became his team the Spurs have been mediocre. Every single player I named has shown the ability to carry a team on their back. Leonard only has 2 seasons of averaging 20+ points and only 1 season averaging in the 25+ range for a below average passer and rebounder you'd like to see him consistently putting up 25+. I realize Leonard is one of the best 2 or 3 defenders in the league and that this is a big part of his value, but still, he's only really had one truly top of the line season the way I see it.
Regardless of where Leonard is being ranked though, I don't see this as being good enough to get them past the Sixers or Celtics and therefore its a bad move. I think its even worse from the Spurs perspective because it shows they can't see the writing on the wall and are going to settle for being a middle of the pack team.
I'd say the Spurs truly became Kawhi's team in 2016 because that was the first year after Duncan. They won 61 games that year, he averaged 25.5 PPG in the regular season, 27.7 PPG in the playoffs, led the Spurs to the WCF, and they were up by 20+ points on the Warriors in game one before Zaza ended his season. He also finished third in both MVP and DPOY voting that year.
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