The NBA GM’s survey came out for this year, and there was some to like on it for LA Clippers fans.
Ty Lue was represented pretty well, and even was named as the best head coach at making in-game adjustments. He won it by a landslide.
Despite being the best player in the Western Conference, however, Kawhi Leonard was not represented well. I know he’s hurt right now, but he should still be evaluated as to how special of a player he is. The GM’s dropped the ball here.
LA Clippers’ superstar small forward Kawhi Leonard should have been named as the best small forward in the NBA.
Kawhi Leonard was totally snubbed on the list of top small forwards in the game.
First, LeBron James was listed ahead of him, and it’s unclear why.
This is the same James who needed a play-in game to make the postseason. This is the same James who got bounced in the first round of the playoffs. This is the same James who needed Anthony Davis to save him after missing the playoffs and watching Leonard win a championship.
Let’s be honest; as soon as Anthony Davis went down in the postseason, Bron folded. He even left the court before Game 6 even ended, quitting on his teammates.
Leonard, on the other hand, got his team past the first round on his back, and was playing outstanding basketball in the West Semis before he went down. And I know that he got hurt and technically wasn’t with the team when they knocked out the Jazz, and played the Suns tough in the Western Conference Finals. However, anyone who think the Clippers were worse without Leonard is obviously insane.
Also, Leonard was still on the court through his first round playoff win. A first round playoff win is certainly something James didn’t get this year.
Also, Leonard did all that he did this season with much more than his sidekick out. Sure, he did have his Robin in Paul George injured for much of the season last year, however he had the rest of the starting five out too. All of Marcus Morris Sr., Patrick Beverley, and Serge Ibaka missed extended time.
He still led his team to a top four seed. And yes, Leonard is currently hurt. Let’s not act like Bron doesn’t have durability issues himself, however. He played in seven less games than Leonard did last year.
Also, Leonard almost shot 50-40-90 last season. He connected on 39.8% of his threes compared to Bron’s 36.5%. He only shot 0.1% less than LeBron’s 51.3% field goal percentage, and let’s not forget how bad of a free throw shooter LeBron is.
LeBron shot under 70% from the line for the third year straight, while Leonard went 88.5% from the stripe.
It’s not just LBJ who was ranked higher than Kawhi on the small forwards list, but it was also Kevin Durant. In fact, he ran away with it; receiving 67% of the vote.
This one also makes no sense. I thought Kawhi was the one who has durability issues. That theory is completely debunked when checking out the reality of Durant.
Durant has played in a total of 35 games in these last two years. And I also missed what exactly Durant did last year in the times that he was healthy.
He put up huge numbers in a very stat-friendly Nash-D’Antoni system while being a significantly worse defensive player than Leonard.
Let’s not forget that Leonard has won multiple Defensive Player of the Year Awards. When have Kevin Durant or LeBron James even won one? Well, literally never.
In fact, KD has never even been an All-Defensive selection, and Leonard has seven times (James has only been selected six times by the way, despite having a way longer career than Leonard). Leonard was also an All-Defensive selection this year, which KD couldn’t have even dreamt of accomplishing.
And I’d like to also remind everyone that Bron hasn’t made an All-Defensive team since the 2013-2014 season. In addition, he hasn’t been named to the first team since the 2012-2013 season.
It’s funny how people just conveniently like to forget about defense.
KD also didn’t get as far as Leonard this year did despite having multiple superstars on his team with him. And don’t blame injuries. Like I said before when comparing Kawhi’s injured teammates to LeBron’s, Kawhi had it far worse.
So KD had Kyrie Irving hurt. That’s very unfortunate, however Kawhi wouldn’t have let that stop him from getting to a Conference Finals. That’s why he won just one less game than Durant did in the regular season despite playing in a much tougher conference against a much tougher schedule.
Also, Irving missed so many games for all sorts of reasons throughout the season, even when he was healthy. Missing games is unfortunately part of his game. KD picked him, so I have no sympathy for him whatsoever.
But anyways, let’s be fair and evaluate KD before he had to miss all this time in the last two seasons. Let’s think back to what he was doing before he had to miss all this time these last two years.
Well, he was losing to Leonard in the NBA Finals in six games, despite having Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, and DeMarcus Cousins at his disposal. Give me a break. Leonard is the best small forward in this league.