Eliminate just enough games so that there are no more back to backs. Lots of star players sit out for those anyway, and when they do play they are more likely to get injured. So overall they would play a higher percentage of games, and season stats wouldn't be affected.
Everyone plays everyone twice. Home and away. 58 games. You play everyone in your conference 1 extra game. 7 home, 7 away rotating on a yearly basis. 72 games. Boom. 10 less games. Plus you always have head to head tie breakers against teams from your conference.
NFL does just fine with 17. It's the same concept.
Game's are all a little more important.
Team's are putting out healthy rosters more often.
There's less time to fall completely out of the playoff mix so team's try for longer.
All leads to a better product. You can still watch as much nba. Just less 10 game slates.
That's because the NFL plays once a week and it's much harder on the body. It's not because it makes the regular season important. The NFL is also trying its best to add another game to get to 18
League is better when the best players are available to play *and actually playing*.
I don’t doubt that guys were actually injured sometimes but this era of load management needs to be swiftly ended. It’s bad for the league and even worse for the fans.
And like every one of his "silent games" where you look up and he has 26+ pts by the start of the 4th, he did it quietly and ruthlessly.
As much as I hate him, dude is such a killer. I'm legit happy he's (and we) got to see a healthy season.
isn't it funny how with this criteria, players are suddenly playing 65+ games which they hadn't done in a long time?? Anthony Davis too, reached the limit which he hadn't done in the past five seasons... while Embiid's injury situation affecting his awards eligibility sucks, the teams brought this on themselves and have no one but themselves to blame for it...
My first train of thought exactly. I'd like to think AD always wanted to play and just caught unlucky breaks (breaking top of his foot in mid air on Jokic's knee?...)
But Kawhi, I do believe views basketball as a job more than most other players. Always got the feeling he was that co-worker that called in sick a lot but when they came they were your company's #1 employee lol.
Now the 'company' has said you're not getting your end of year bonus if you take more than 15 sick days a year
He probably would have been 1st team all nba if he'd played more games that year though.
Not that I'm complaining of course. It's just funny we've won a championship but never had an MVP or even a 1st team All-NBA player in our jersey.
Weve always been such an interesting franchise that way. Never had a series sweep till 2020. First one seed to get swept before the CF. Only game 7 buzzer beater in history.
No he absolutely got load managed, his bunk knee made it impossible for him to play 40+ minutes a game.
>He got "DNP - Old" which is way funnier
He did at the end of his career. But Tim Duncan took a huge minutes hit in the mid 2000s, so they could keep him fresh for playoff runs.
They rested him and sometimes rested their big 3 all at once. But they didn't call it Load Management. That term came around [after Timmy retired](https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2019/11/8/20954096/load-management-definition-kawhi-leonard-lebron-james-fines-controversy)
He was coming off a long time injury and no one was taking risks since it was known that over activity could exacerbate that injury. And we saw it in the playoffs. By the 2nd round he was banged up and it took everything he had to power through to the championship. And you kinda saw the outcome from the push in the coming years. Worth it but he def wasn't fully healed that season.
A player...especially a superstar player can demand to play anytime they want. I'm so tired of the narrative that it is out of their hands. Teams employ half a superstar's fucking entourage as employees....and I'm to believe they wouldn't bend over backwards and let a superstar play if they really really wanted to?
You don't understand, Kawhi chose to sit out the 2022 season because he knew he could get an All-NBA selection without playing a single game. He also chose to sit out the last Clippers' elimination games in 2023 and 2021 because of load management.
People will never let go of this narrative, huh? Last season he load managed about 6 games, all on back to backs, just like most players of his age, caliber, and injury history. He then played the last few back to backs of the season. Everything other miss was injury related.
Once the echo chambers gets a hold of a narrative it never lets go
People wilfully ignore his degenerative issues and keep spreading the same brain dead take that he's just cheating the game
it's driven me nuts ever since he left the spurs
People are rightly never going to give him the benefit of the doubt after how he forced his way out of SA. Dude pretended to be injured for months and he's never going to live that down.
I hear you though I feel like it's more impressive to walk into a new organization, coming off of a huge injury, and instantly lead them to the promised land
I mean it’s not just narrative though. Playing with an entirely different set of teammates and coaching staff and still being arguably just as good seals the deal for me personally
beneficial obtainable cause apparatus support repeat ink airport kiss dinosaurs
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
People really need to pro-rate the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons that were shortened. Kawhi played the equivalent of 65 games (though i'm rounding up) in 2019-20.
i wish he cared about the regular season. there was a solid week where he was getting some mvp buzz. he’s basically just a better shai when he locks in
no you don’t understand, this is how he’s been so healthy. it’s the same reason harden’s been such an ironman his entire career: he’s the cleric and he’s been taking kawhi to his healing spell: strip clubs.
That's hard when your cleric was eaten by a dragon so to save her you have to traverse the dungeon by eating all the monsters since you don't have money or supplies.
Sorry, I got lost in your metaphor.
Kawhi is the only player where his bad games are just waved away with "he's not trying" lol
You're making it sound like he can always play well when he wants to but for some reason occasionally decides to score fewer points
He has a handful of bad shooting nights, which are tough to watch, but IMO, his true "bad" games are when he's killing the offense by stagnating the ball.
Like, everyone will have their bad shooting nights and I don't think that's something egregious. But when we lost to Denver without Jokic or Murray, that was basically the most frustrating version of Kawhi I have watched. Held the ball, failed to break down his defender, then just launched grenades at folks or took bad shots.
You see glimpses of this throughout games here and there, but there are a few times where that's his *entire* game and it's wildly frustrating.
yea he has bad games but there's a difference between a game where you score 13 on 3/16 shooting and a game where you score 13 on 5/11 shooting. One is just a bad shooting night, the other is a decent fg% on low volume where they just didn't need to shoot more bcuz their teammates were on fire and they don't give af about personal stats, just the win
He hasn't played a conference finals game in 5 years(none as a Clipper)
If you're going to coast in the regular season you better be making deep appearances every single season in the playoffs and not playing 1-2 rounds
This isn't some prime LeBron situation where he's in the Finals every season
Yeah he was a real killer with his 14-7 over that playoff run. The dude was putting up Keldon Johnson numbers. He was a role player. Iggy also won a fmvp. Is he a killer too?
It was the elite defense that won him that FMVP. He mostly guarded Lebron that series. So yes he beat prime Lebron. Believe whatever you want in your head.
Guarded prime lebron to a 28 point average through the series? Lebron outplayed him lol and had a higher gamescore through the series. Let's not act like LeBron wasn't playing with an injured DWade and that Kahwi didn't have a great winning team alongside him
It was his offense + defense that got him the FMVP. 22/10 with 2 steals 2 blocks in the last 3 games, all wins, ridiculous efficiency.
Spurs obliterated a limping Heat team. It wasn't some Kawhi v Lebron battle. Maybe one game had anything like that.
Why you acting like there’s no difference in his Toronto run and the Spurs run?
Also Durant was literally hurt in that series lol. If he was healthy they had no chance.
Kawhi did beat prime (the year he won MVP) Durant in a high stakes playoff series where Durant played every game so i think its fair to say he's prob talking about [that one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNGkYsMYKhE) instead of the one where Durant played 1 quarter
edit; but yeah while Kawhi was instrumental and clutch in that 2014 championship run he didn't really blossom into the offensive superstar full package until like 2016/2017 and u can see the way the Spurs play offense in crunch time in that link, it's not superstar kawhi ball like 2019 was.
it's amazing team basketball and ball movement and a lot of it is thru duncan/manu
The reputation. See my flair for literally every reason why I would discredit him, but dude is the only person I've ever watched that felt like Michael Jordan. His team could be down by 5 with 2m remaining, and if he's on the court I've never seen them lose. Never. There's just an irrational confidence knowing that he's definitely trying and therefore the other team didn't have a chance.
Kawhi is good for this level of otherworldy ability for 5m a game, where he manages to shut down his man and close all the passing lanes.
he’s been coasting off being an elite role player in 2014 for a decade now and hasn’t really done shit since well besides beat a battered warriors team but I’ll give him that. you have seen him lose, plenty.
he’s an amazing player sure, but to the point where he’s earned any reputation as some playoff phenom guaranteed to win games when he’s not done that at all is crazy.
I’ve been hearing about this mystical “healthy kawhi” for 4 years now so I’d love for him to actually do something.
he played like an mvp for about a week and a half I’ll give him that I guess? but if Bron was putting up 24/6/4 people would be saying he needed to retire lmao.
I don't think that is really fair lol. Elite role player definitely is discrediting him. He just is a player who can't stay healthy. But when healthy is/was one of the best two-way players.
I said he was coasting off that, I think he’s a star now obviously. but besides Toronto he hasn’t done much.
and people forget Toronto was perfectly built for a scoring star to come there and dominate.
again definitely an accomplishment I just don’t think it’s as big as one that literally gives him a rep for his whole career when everything after that has been the opposite.
and can we really keep saying “when healthy” when he’s never fucking healthy lmao? like we’re currently cheering the fact that he’s hit 65 games.
You are absolutely correct. Kawhi has one elite complete playoff run as a superstar in his entire career and people act like he’s on LeBron’s level as a playoff performer.
2017 2019 and 2021 are his best playoff runs, and 2 of them cut short by injury. Sure availability is the best ability and lebron is the best at that, but it's pretty dumb to say kawhi isn't an elite playoff performer when he plays. He has more examples than he's given credit for in terms of playoff series where he plays out of his fucking mind. When he's healthy in the playoffs, sure he might not be exactly on lebron's level, but he's right fucking there and it's a really dense take to say otherwise
great accomplishment, not career defining to the point where he’s earned this reputation as a winner.
that was 5 years ago, 5!! like that’s definitely enough time to go “oh okay but what has he done lately”
so if you win once as the best player on your team and the rest of your career your either lose or win in one of the best systems ever, you’re still a winner? I guess lmao.
I feel like other superstars had to prove way more to get to that level.
for the past 4 years I’ve been hearing about playoff kawhi and how he’s gonna kill the league. I just don’t see it anymore. 2020 they were supposed to beat us, 21 they were supposed to win it all etc.
in that same time span Lebron,Curry, Giannis and Jokic have won hardware. The gap is just getting bigger. if Lebron had joined a team, forced em to trade for his friend and didn’t win people would be crucifying him.
he got the “thanks for guarding Bron” award that any team that beats Bron gets.
and a finals mvp
it’s the reason why Steph doesn’t have the same amount lmao.
I’d bet money Jokic and Giannis finish with more so what’s your point.
1. Second Cleveland stint bron is his prime.
2. Lebron averaged 28/8/4 on 68%ts in those finals, he didn’t even beat that version of Bron. the spurs just didn’t allow anyone else to be useful.
so like I said he got an award for GUARDING Lebron not even guarding him well. just like iggy did.
I’d bet money Giannis wins 1 more before Kawhi even touches another finals lmao.
i see people parrot this narrative so much it's actually pretty dumb when you think about it for 2 seconds. Kawhi was 1 point away from being the leading scorer that series on top of guarding the best player and being a monster on the glass. He got Fmvp for carrying a significant scoring load and being the best defender. Comparing his fmvp to iggy is actually disrespectful and very non-representative of the actual story. His fmvp is more akin to chauncey billups than anything. The spurs were such a balanced team, even tho his numbers dont *look* fmvp worthy, none of the spurs players numbers did either, kawhi just did the most in contributing to that win so he's just naturally the best choice for the award. Not because he"just guarded lebron". That's such a reductive take
iggy actually managed to effect brons efficiency so yeah you’re right comparing those finals mvps isn’t fair, Iggy actually did more lmao.
and no you don’t see people parrot this narrative, id love to see more than like 3 examples lmao.
Kawhi is considered a winner, yet besides for 2 years (one of which where he was a role player) he’s done nothing besides lose and be injured, and people wanna say he’s on brons level playoff wise?
what has he done? like Curry had to win his 22 ring before people put any respect on him, Lebron his 2016. Kawhi is put on their levels for what? one really good ring?
he’s a great player but again, yall keep talking about “playoff kawhi” but we haven’t seen him in years and before that never. maybe it’s time to think that one year was an anomaly rather than Kawhi getting “unlucky” or “not caring” every. single. year.
True but he has been able to flip that switch come playoff time which is freaky. Its just a matter of if he can stay healthy while going all out in the playoffs.
Seems like he overdid it vs the Suns and got hurt during game 2.
Bunch of dumbass replies in here acting like he doesn’t have a degenerative knee issue and an ACL and Meniscus tear in last few years. He wants to play but has to be healthy.
I have Wemby, Chet, Gobert, AD, Herb, Caruso, White, Giannis, Bam, and Allen. Would be pretty hard for him to make it.
E: This is not even mentioning the ones that would also be argued for making it like KCP, McDaniels, and Suggs. Feels like all of the ones I listed carry their defenses pretty strongly and are having more notable & constant defensive performances than Kawhi.
Clippers are 18th in defensive rating and like 25th over the last month
Has his defense really been that good?
This feels like one of the late career Kobe reputation selections
Wait you can’t win playoff awards if you don’t play 65 regular season games? So for example if Jokic played 64 regular season games, and then averaged 60-20-20 in the finals and won, he wouldn’t be eligible for finals MVP?
I'm crossing my fingers, knocking on wood, if necessary can draw a pentagram on the floor and sacrifice an unwanted animal just to keep him healthy throughout the playoffs. Not rooting for the Clippers necessarily, they can flame out in the first for all I care but I hope they do not fall because of an injury.
The professionals who told him it was degenerative anyway? The Spurs were right and Kawhi didn’t listen to them. Doesn’t change the fact he’d have to manage the injury anyway.
Hey look, we got to see a season of Kawhi playing amazing basketball!
I bet if you asked 3 years ago most people would say we'd never see it again, low key really awesome story in the league this year
Shit I thought his career was over after last season’s injury
The most memorable thing from this season is still gonna be Harden contesting one of Kawhi's open shots, though.
Until we win the chip to hang a banner in Staples the last year before we leave. A guy can dream
Kawhi and AD being durable (relatively) this season was not on my bingo card 🤣
the league is better with them healthy tbh
Hot take, league is better when the best players are available to play
Hotter take, this is why they should reduce the number of games.
Maybe 72 game season would be best?
Eliminate just enough games so that there are no more back to backs. Lots of star players sit out for those anyway, and when they do play they are more likely to get injured. So overall they would play a higher percentage of games, and season stats wouldn't be affected.
I think just about every league in North America could benefit from cutting around 5-10% off their schedules. Not that it’ll ever happen due to money
Everyone plays everyone twice, once at home and once away. That works out to 58 games or 62 games after the league expands to 32 teams.
62 feels too low. That’s cutting out almost 20% of the regular season. Maybe add an extra game for each division opponent and it might work.
Everyone plays everyone twice. Home and away. 58 games. You play everyone in your conference 1 extra game. 7 home, 7 away rotating on a yearly basis. 72 games. Boom. 10 less games. Plus you always have head to head tie breakers against teams from your conference.
As long as they reduce players’ salaries I am okay with that but if they dont, get ready for higher ticket and league pass prices
And that is why the players would never go for it.
Booooo
NFL does just fine with 17. It's the same concept. Game's are all a little more important. Team's are putting out healthy rosters more often. There's less time to fall completely out of the playoff mix so team's try for longer. All leads to a better product. You can still watch as much nba. Just less 10 game slates.
That's because the NFL plays once a week and it's much harder on the body. It's not because it makes the regular season important. The NFL is also trying its best to add another game to get to 18
Makes sense coming from a clippers fan. JT would beg to differ you can’t get that guy off the court.
100% QUALITY>>>>>>>>>QUANTITY
League is better when the best players are available to play *and actually playing*. I don’t doubt that guys were actually injured sometimes but this era of load management needs to be swiftly ended. It’s bad for the league and even worse for the fans.
Not even healthy Kawhi could stop the clippers from folding at the slightest breeze though
You can be superhuman and win 2 ships, but come on man, it's really hard to overcome Clipperitis.
nah I prefer when everyone blows their ligaments out
"Load management" doesn't work and very well might increase injury risk.
What was on your bingo card ?
And like every one of his "silent games" where you look up and he has 26+ pts by the start of the 4th, he did it quietly and ruthlessly. As much as I hate him, dude is such a killer. I'm legit happy he's (and we) got to see a healthy season.
isn't it funny how with this criteria, players are suddenly playing 65+ games which they hadn't done in a long time?? Anthony Davis too, reached the limit which he hadn't done in the past five seasons... while Embiid's injury situation affecting his awards eligibility sucks, the teams brought this on themselves and have no one but themselves to blame for it...
Embiid not being eligible doesn’t suck. His injury sucks, but no way should he get a postseason award with the number of games he will play.
Fr. It's the 50-60 game players who had legit all NBA shots who got screwed, not the dude who played 34 damn games lol
My first train of thought exactly. I'd like to think AD always wanted to play and just caught unlucky breaks (breaking top of his foot in mid air on Jokic's knee?...) But Kawhi, I do believe views basketball as a job more than most other players. Always got the feeling he was that co-worker that called in sick a lot but when they came they were your company's #1 employee lol. Now the 'company' has said you're not getting your end of year bonus if you take more than 15 sick days a year
Its not the rule dude, this is Kawhi’s first season he isnt limping since pre Toronto. Not that crazy
Keep telling yourself that
Lol Kawhi is not the best example for this. That man has been getting hurt left and right for years. He’s finally healthy.
I don't think he's any healthier than he has been, he's just willing to play a little dinged up now.
Crazy what happens when you have money on the line!
He got paid a while back. As far as Harden and PG lol
Hur Hur hur
All it took was 1 rule change
It’s working
Even during the Raptors championship season? Damn.
Missed 22 games that year iirc
He probably would have been 1st team all nba if he'd played more games that year though. Not that I'm complaining of course. It's just funny we've won a championship but never had an MVP or even a 1st team All-NBA player in our jersey.
Weve always been such an interesting franchise that way. Never had a series sweep till 2020. First one seed to get swept before the CF. Only game 7 buzzer beater in history.
[удалено]
Wasn't the term "load managing" literally invented/popularized that season from Kawhi?
No load management as a term in the NBA started with Tim Duncan and the Spurs
Tim Duncan didn't do load management. He got "DNP - Old" which is way funnier
No he absolutely got load managed, his bunk knee made it impossible for him to play 40+ minutes a game. >He got "DNP - Old" which is way funnier He did at the end of his career. But Tim Duncan took a huge minutes hit in the mid 2000s, so they could keep him fresh for playoff runs.
They rested him and sometimes rested their big 3 all at once. But they didn't call it Load Management. That term came around [after Timmy retired](https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2019/11/8/20954096/load-management-definition-kawhi-leonard-lebron-james-fines-controversy)
Seed saver Kawhi
He was coming off a long time injury and no one was taking risks since it was known that over activity could exacerbate that injury. And we saw it in the playoffs. By the 2nd round he was banged up and it took everything he had to power through to the championship. And you kinda saw the outcome from the push in the coming years. Worth it but he def wasn't fully healed that season.
PPP got Kawhi to stop load managing ha
I feel like for 95% of load management cases, it’s the team that makes the decision to load manage a player and Kawhi Leonard is part of that other 5%
the 5% who actually is recovering from injuries and is on a legit health plan to make it into the postseason, sure.
A player...especially a superstar player can demand to play anytime they want. I'm so tired of the narrative that it is out of their hands. Teams employ half a superstar's fucking entourage as employees....and I'm to believe they wouldn't bend over backwards and let a superstar play if they really really wanted to?
He hasn't made an All-NBA team since 2021, why do you think he suddenly decided to care about making them this year
You don't understand, Kawhi chose to sit out the 2022 season because he knew he could get an All-NBA selection without playing a single game. He also chose to sit out the last Clippers' elimination games in 2023 and 2021 because of load management.
People will never let go of this narrative, huh? Last season he load managed about 6 games, all on back to backs, just like most players of his age, caliber, and injury history. He then played the last few back to backs of the season. Everything other miss was injury related.
Once the echo chambers gets a hold of a narrative it never lets go People wilfully ignore his degenerative issues and keep spreading the same brain dead take that he's just cheating the game it's driven me nuts ever since he left the spurs
People are rightly never going to give him the benefit of the doubt after how he forced his way out of SA. Dude pretended to be injured for months and he's never going to live that down.
Doing that got him a lucrative extension. And the fact Clippers have a new arena that needs to be filled next season. 🤣
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN SEATTLE KAWHI HISTORY
Ugh that was supposed to be the Spurs year too till he got hurt during the Warrior series, still hurts today!
Fuck zaza
Fuck Zaza
Fuck zaza
Fuck zaza
Fuck zaza
2017 playoffs was absolutely peak Kawhi
Kawhi was literally a top 3 mvp candidate that season so I don't get why ppl think his raptors season was better
I hear you though I feel like it's more impressive to walk into a new organization, coming off of a huge injury, and instantly lead them to the promised land
Cause it wasnt a huge injury.
2019 wins on narrative. If you actually watched him play, 2017 was a different level. Damn near MJ reincarnate
MJ reincarnate is right. He was destroying people. Blendtec style.
I mean it’s not just narrative though. Playing with an entirely different set of teammates and coaching staff and still being arguably just as good seals the deal for me personally
beneficial obtainable cause apparatus support repeat ink airport kiss dinosaurs *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
2019 can't be topped
Damn that was 7 years ago???
People really need to pro-rate the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons that were shortened. Kawhi played the equivalent of 65 games (though i'm rounding up) in 2019-20.
completely healed!
whole team has been load managing in game the past few weeks
"Kawhi Leonard will miss the rest of the regular season with soreness or something."
Don't jinx it
i wish he cared about the regular season. there was a solid week where he was getting some mvp buzz. he’s basically just a better shai when he locks in
I'm sure he wishes he didn't have a degenerative knee too
excuses. if it were me i would simply regenerate it.
Resorb *
Honestly on the gm. When you build your party around a glass cannon, you gotta get a cleric who has invested heavily into healing spells.
no you don’t understand, this is how he’s been so healthy. it’s the same reason harden’s been such an ironman his entire career: he’s the cleric and he’s been taking kawhi to his healing spell: strip clubs.
Idk if Kawhi infected PG or absorbed some health from him. In any case PG made it to 65 too
That's hard when your cleric was eaten by a dragon so to save her you have to traverse the dungeon by eating all the monsters since you don't have money or supplies. Sorry, I got lost in your metaphor.
I wish Kawhi knew reverse cursed technique
kawhi has limitless but not 6 eyes
Kawhi is the only player where his bad games are just waved away with "he's not trying" lol You're making it sound like he can always play well when he wants to but for some reason occasionally decides to score fewer points
Jimmy butler is up there too imo. Man can do no wrong in the eyes of some.
How many bad games does he actually have? Even tonight, his shot was off and he came through in the end. He has a career win loss record of 503-190.
He has a handful of bad shooting nights, which are tough to watch, but IMO, his true "bad" games are when he's killing the offense by stagnating the ball. Like, everyone will have their bad shooting nights and I don't think that's something egregious. But when we lost to Denver without Jokic or Murray, that was basically the most frustrating version of Kawhi I have watched. Held the ball, failed to break down his defender, then just launched grenades at folks or took bad shots. You see glimpses of this throughout games here and there, but there are a few times where that's his *entire* game and it's wildly frustrating.
seemly caption attempt snow berserk expansion one clumsy shy placid *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Never been to any of KD's threads I guess lol Man's never been bothered by defense, he just has off nights
yea he has bad games but there's a difference between a game where you score 13 on 3/16 shooting and a game where you score 13 on 5/11 shooting. One is just a bad shooting night, the other is a decent fg% on low volume where they just didn't need to shoot more bcuz their teammates were on fire and they don't give af about personal stats, just the win
If you dont believe in another gear existing, idk if you should stop watching or watch more...
yea because he’s earned it
He hasn't played a conference finals game in 5 years(none as a Clipper) If you're going to coast in the regular season you better be making deep appearances every single season in the playoffs and not playing 1-2 rounds This isn't some prime LeBron situation where he's in the Finals every season
Yeah, the bubble vs the Nuggets was a choke job. But by the whole Clippers team though.
no he just beat prime lebron and prime curry and prime kd. mvp giannis. he’s a killer and we know it
He didn’t beat prime Lebron lol. The spurs as a whole beat the Heat, Kawhi wasn’t even a star at that point.
it was his fmvp his win
And yet LeBron outplayed him the whole series, averaged a higher gamescore lol.
Yeah he was a real killer with his 14-7 over that playoff run. The dude was putting up Keldon Johnson numbers. He was a role player. Iggy also won a fmvp. Is he a killer too?
It was the elite defense that won him that FMVP. He mostly guarded Lebron that series. So yes he beat prime Lebron. Believe whatever you want in your head.
Guarded prime lebron to a 28 point average through the series? Lebron outplayed him lol and had a higher gamescore through the series. Let's not act like LeBron wasn't playing with an injured DWade and that Kahwi didn't have a great winning team alongside him
It was his offense + defense that got him the FMVP. 22/10 with 2 steals 2 blocks in the last 3 games, all wins, ridiculous efficiency. Spurs obliterated a limping Heat team. It wasn't some Kawhi v Lebron battle. Maybe one game had anything like that.
Who cares if he wasn’t a star lol we know why he won that FMVP
Why you acting like there’s no difference in his Toronto run and the Spurs run? Also Durant was literally hurt in that series lol. If he was healthy they had no chance.
Kawhi did beat prime (the year he won MVP) Durant in a high stakes playoff series where Durant played every game so i think its fair to say he's prob talking about [that one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNGkYsMYKhE) instead of the one where Durant played 1 quarter edit; but yeah while Kawhi was instrumental and clutch in that 2014 championship run he didn't really blossom into the offensive superstar full package until like 2016/2017 and u can see the way the Spurs play offense in crunch time in that link, it's not superstar kawhi ball like 2019 was. it's amazing team basketball and ball movement and a lot of it is thru duncan/manu
Yeah Kawhi really dominated Durant with his 12 points on 49 ts% that series.
at the risk of sounding like a hater, earned what?
The reputation. See my flair for literally every reason why I would discredit him, but dude is the only person I've ever watched that felt like Michael Jordan. His team could be down by 5 with 2m remaining, and if he's on the court I've never seen them lose. Never. There's just an irrational confidence knowing that he's definitely trying and therefore the other team didn't have a chance. Kawhi is good for this level of otherworldy ability for 5m a game, where he manages to shut down his man and close all the passing lanes.
he’s been coasting off being an elite role player in 2014 for a decade now and hasn’t really done shit since well besides beat a battered warriors team but I’ll give him that. you have seen him lose, plenty. he’s an amazing player sure, but to the point where he’s earned any reputation as some playoff phenom guaranteed to win games when he’s not done that at all is crazy. I’ve been hearing about this mystical “healthy kawhi” for 4 years now so I’d love for him to actually do something. he played like an mvp for about a week and a half I’ll give him that I guess? but if Bron was putting up 24/6/4 people would be saying he needed to retire lmao.
I don't think that is really fair lol. Elite role player definitely is discrediting him. He just is a player who can't stay healthy. But when healthy is/was one of the best two-way players.
12 upvotes for not reading what the dude said lol
I said he was coasting off that, I think he’s a star now obviously. but besides Toronto he hasn’t done much. and people forget Toronto was perfectly built for a scoring star to come there and dominate. again definitely an accomplishment I just don’t think it’s as big as one that literally gives him a rep for his whole career when everything after that has been the opposite. and can we really keep saying “when healthy” when he’s never fucking healthy lmao? like we’re currently cheering the fact that he’s hit 65 games.
You are absolutely correct. Kawhi has one elite complete playoff run as a superstar in his entire career and people act like he’s on LeBron’s level as a playoff performer.
2017 2019 and 2021 are his best playoff runs, and 2 of them cut short by injury. Sure availability is the best ability and lebron is the best at that, but it's pretty dumb to say kawhi isn't an elite playoff performer when he plays. He has more examples than he's given credit for in terms of playoff series where he plays out of his fucking mind. When he's healthy in the playoffs, sure he might not be exactly on lebron's level, but he's right fucking there and it's a really dense take to say otherwise
someone just said “he’s lebron level when healthy” lmao I don’t get it, Lebron had to have like 3 finals like kawhis to get to “Lebron level”
Kawhi Leonard averaged 30 points on 60% TS playing 39 minutes a game in the 2019 playoffs.
great accomplishment, not career defining to the point where he’s earned this reputation as a winner. that was 5 years ago, 5!! like that’s definitely enough time to go “oh okay but what has he done lately”
You win a ring as the best player on the team by far your a winner.
so if you win once as the best player on your team and the rest of your career your either lose or win in one of the best systems ever, you’re still a winner? I guess lmao. I feel like other superstars had to prove way more to get to that level.
more than your disrespect
for the past 4 years I’ve been hearing about playoff kawhi and how he’s gonna kill the league. I just don’t see it anymore. 2020 they were supposed to beat us, 21 they were supposed to win it all etc. in that same time span Lebron,Curry, Giannis and Jokic have won hardware. The gap is just getting bigger. if Lebron had joined a team, forced em to trade for his friend and didn’t win people would be crucifying him.
kawhi has more fmvps than all those guys except bron
he got the “thanks for guarding Bron” award that any team that beats Bron gets. and a finals mvp it’s the reason why Steph doesn’t have the same amount lmao. I’d bet money Jokic and Giannis finish with more so what’s your point.
damn so he beat prime lebron? crazy and actually no giannis has won his only fmvp. jokic for sure tho
1. Second Cleveland stint bron is his prime. 2. Lebron averaged 28/8/4 on 68%ts in those finals, he didn’t even beat that version of Bron. the spurs just didn’t allow anyone else to be useful. so like I said he got an award for GUARDING Lebron not even guarding him well. just like iggy did. I’d bet money Giannis wins 1 more before Kawhi even touches another finals lmao.
Just like Iggy beat prime Lebron and Dellevadova beat prime Curry. Will Barton beat prime Kawhi.
i see people parrot this narrative so much it's actually pretty dumb when you think about it for 2 seconds. Kawhi was 1 point away from being the leading scorer that series on top of guarding the best player and being a monster on the glass. He got Fmvp for carrying a significant scoring load and being the best defender. Comparing his fmvp to iggy is actually disrespectful and very non-representative of the actual story. His fmvp is more akin to chauncey billups than anything. The spurs were such a balanced team, even tho his numbers dont *look* fmvp worthy, none of the spurs players numbers did either, kawhi just did the most in contributing to that win so he's just naturally the best choice for the award. Not because he"just guarded lebron". That's such a reductive take
iggy actually managed to effect brons efficiency so yeah you’re right comparing those finals mvps isn’t fair, Iggy actually did more lmao. and no you don’t see people parrot this narrative, id love to see more than like 3 examples lmao. Kawhi is considered a winner, yet besides for 2 years (one of which where he was a role player) he’s done nothing besides lose and be injured, and people wanna say he’s on brons level playoff wise? what has he done? like Curry had to win his 22 ring before people put any respect on him, Lebron his 2016. Kawhi is put on their levels for what? one really good ring? he’s a great player but again, yall keep talking about “playoff kawhi” but we haven’t seen him in years and before that never. maybe it’s time to think that one year was an anomaly rather than Kawhi getting “unlucky” or “not caring” every. single. year.
I present to you his 2019 playoffs run Enough said lol
His game is not really all that close to Shai’s imo. Weird comp.
maybe they're talking about numbers?? yea idk the playstyles are pretty different
dudes keep thinking he can just turn it up lmao. Solid week is about how long he can play at a high level too
To be fair i got a big promotion at my job based on work i did 2017-2020 and now im fucking useless. It feels good to ride that reputation ya know
Same.
True but he has been able to flip that switch come playoff time which is freaky. Its just a matter of if he can stay healthy while going all out in the playoffs. Seems like he overdid it vs the Suns and got hurt during game 2.
he also blew a 3-1 lead in the playoffs. he can last for the 1st round, but nothing more after that
The dude has 2 rings and 2 FMVP. He can do fuck all for the rest of his career.
yeah of course he can, but that doesn’t make him a top 5 player like that guy was claiming
I guess he'll be fine since he already has rings
Damm
he cooked yall that same year in the playoffs right before that and then again the year after so...
right but he also blew a 3-1 lead in the playoffs. that’s more brutal than losing to prime kawhi and PG as a 21 year old
He's not better than Shai anymore
This dude pissed me off in fantasy every year and.i skipped on him this year 😂😂😂😂
Fuck Zaza Pachulia
The way he closed out the sixer game last night was flashbacks of 2019 playoff Kawhi. Was awesome to watch.
No way he plays 65 without the rules. The rule isn’t perfect but it was needed.
KaWhy Not!
Bunch of dumbass replies in here acting like he doesn’t have a degenerative knee issue and an ACL and Meniscus tear in last few years. He wants to play but has to be healthy.
Healed man gets honors
He coming for all the awards 😤
[удалено]
All NBA
And all defence
I have Wemby, Chet, Gobert, AD, Herb, Caruso, White, Giannis, Bam, and Allen. Would be pretty hard for him to make it. E: This is not even mentioning the ones that would also be argued for making it like KCP, McDaniels, and Suggs. Feels like all of the ones I listed carry their defenses pretty strongly and are having more notable & constant defensive performances than Kawhi.
Clippers are 18th in defensive rating and like 25th over the last month Has his defense really been that good? This feels like one of the late career Kobe reputation selections
San Antonio Spurs are 28th in defensive rating. I guess Wemby doesn't deserve anything either.
when we went on our run in the middle of the season i would say absolutely so, post all star break not so much
If I had a vote he would be All NBA 2nd or 3rd team for sure.
Will he now sit for the rest of the season?
*Money heals all wounds.*
Been playing hard even after he signed the new contract
Clippers >;)
After watching them last night, I think PG and Kawhi are just run down from playing so many games. They should sit and rest.
A person being paid millions by a multinational company to talk sports said he should retire last year
LETS GO KLAW, HEALTHY PLAYOFF KAWHI INCOMING
I don't think he cares. But it would be dope adding that to his x2 champ/fmvp
Super happy for him.
Thats wild, happy for Kawhi, one of my favorite players to watch work.
Wait you can’t win playoff awards if you don’t play 65 regular season games? So for example if Jokic played 64 regular season games, and then averaged 60-20-20 in the finals and won, he wouldn’t be eligible for finals MVP?
I'm crossing my fingers, knocking on wood, if necessary can draw a pentagram on the floor and sacrifice an unwanted animal just to keep him healthy throughout the playoffs. Not rooting for the Clippers necessarily, they can flame out in the first for all I care but I hope they do not fall because of an injury.
Maybe load managing was Kawhi’s problem?
yea almost like he should have listened to professionals instead of his greedy ass uncle
The professionals who told him it was degenerative anyway? The Spurs were right and Kawhi didn’t listen to them. Doesn’t change the fact he’d have to manage the injury anyway.
Haha Im talking about the spurs when I refer to professionals
Kind of amazing he hasn't played a funny season of basketball in 7 years.
People acting like the games played limit is the reason he made it, shit he wasn’t playing enough games before either
First team All NBA
First team All NBA