While the offense is still functioning effectively when Kawhi successfully dishes to a driver or runs a play action, more often than not, that action never really initiates - the offensive set just ends in a desperation heave or a random step-back jumpshot. The offense has a bad habit of stalling, leaving half the players on the floor watching helplessly as Kawhi abuses his own screens or dribbles himself into positions where San Antonio's open players are completely inaccessible and multiple defenders have a chance at altering the shot. Although the Spurs are missing a lot of open shots with Kawhi on the floor, it seems like every few shots Kawhi controls ends up in a laughably botched pass or a complete prayer of a jumper. The eye test tends to agree with the stats on this one, too - it doesn't really feel like an anomaly. It's a tricky result for a core player that essentially everyone believes to be San Antonio's future. The main difference? The Spurs aren't making many jumpers when their young star's in the game (0.86 points per shot) - but they're canning them like sardines when he isn't on the floor, scoring 1.08 points per jumper when Kawhi is stuck to the pine. When he's not, the Spurs are scoring at a rate roughly equivalent to NBA Jam with all sliders maxed out. To put that in layman's terms: the Spurs are scoring at a rate roughly equivalent to a bottom-five offensive team when Kawhi's in the game. With Kawhi off the floor, the Spurs are averaging a blistering 1.18 points per possession. With Kawhi Leonard on the floor, the Spurs are averaging a pedestrian 1.00 points per possession. Perhaps even an all-star, although everyone admits that's less likely given the West's glut of amazing wings and forwards. He'd couple this with his always improving defensive brilliance and become a quasi-star.
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With more responsibility in the offense, he'd start to learn how to facilitate and search for his own shot through careful examination of defensive seams. The theories on how exactly that would come to pass ranged heavily, but most people agreed that he was due to take a large leap offensively. #1: KAWHI LEONARD ISN'T HELPING SAN ANTONIO'S OFFENSEĪfter last year's finals, just about everyone - me included - felt that Kawhi Leonard was due to take the proverbial "next step" this year. Let's get right to the good stuff from McGuire. It mostly dealt with various NBA trades, but what I found particularly interesting was his analysis of Kawhi Leonard's under-the-radar struggles within the team's halfcourt-offense, where - spoiler alert - he's kind of been offensive poison. The impeccably-named Aaron McGuire over at, one of my ten favorite websites with "Ginobili" in the title, had a great column up Tuesday morning.
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