Kawhi Leonard is one of the game’s modern-day greats and will go down in history for his two-way dominance. He will likely end his career in the Hall of Fame and holds the unique accomplishment of having won a championship as the Finals MVP on two separate teams. That is a strangely framed award for sure, but it’s hard to think of other players who have done that. The only other name that comes to mind immediately is LeBron James for the Miami Heat and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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Still, we think of Kawhi as this great player but often forget why he fell to the 15th pick of the draft. Because of his excellent development, we as fans have largely forgotten that Leonard was a project that came to the San Antonio Spurs with serious flaws as a player.
Danny Green was Kawhi’s teammate for both of the latter’s title runs, one with the Spurs and the other with the Toronto Raptors. As such, Green can attest to just how much had to change for the forward to become the player he did. Green joined Gilbert Arena’s podcast “Gil’s Arena” where he discussed Kawhi’s development.
The segment started with Green reminiscing over Kawhi’s iconic Game 7 buzzer-beater against the Philadelphia 76ers. He went into detail about the worries the Raptors had during the playoffs about the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks.
When speaking about Kawhi, Green said, “Nobody could’ve predicted that bro, like from what he started out as to what he became. I never saw it coming…” Green talked about the work Leonard puts into his craft.
He said, “He puts in the work. Some guys won’t see it. Because he’s there early, he’s there late. But you can tell he puts in the work. There are a lot of other guys I’ve been around who are just talented and don’t put the work in. But he’s one of those guys who puts the work in.”
Green went on to say, “I seen him from when he first got into the league to what he became, because he [Kawhi Leonard] couldn’t shoot when he first came in. Not well. They had to reconstruct his shot a lot.”
“He worked on his shot every day,” Green recalled. “All started in close, free-throw line. And he’s expanded. Became a 40% three-point shooter.”
Chip Engellend is the assistant coach and trainer for the Spurs, who often gets credited with fixing Kawhi’s shot. He’s nicknamed the shot doctor in NBA circles. At San Diego State, Leonard shot a paltry 45% from the field and made only 25% of his threes. Since joining the NBA, those numbers are way up at 49.9% FG and 39.2% from deep.
We often look at prospects as potential stars if they can just figure out one last thing. Kawhi is a separate story. He was a player drafted as a defensive specialist who became one of the most lethal scorers in the 21st century. If it wasn’t for the developmental stories of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokić, and the injuries, we’d be naming Kawhi as the NBA’s most shocking rise.
