Who Is Kawhi Leonard?

How does talking about Kawhi Leonard have anything to do with the Sonics? He on the free agency radar for next year?

Leonard has nothing to do with Seattle, nor will San Antonio let him walk. He is a strong part of their future going forward. This is more of a primer for you to know some very good young players that have come into the league since the Sonics have been away.

Let's start off with he's a very good small forward. A very good one, not great, but very good. He excels in the lost art of the mid-range game, shooting over 52% (39-75) from outside the paint, but inside the three point line. His next best shooting strength is the corner three at 46% (42-92). He only averages just over 12 points per game, but it's an efficient 12 points per game. Only 15% of San Antonio's offense is run through him, so he has to get his points off broken plays, transition and spot ups.

He's best known for his defense though. He is one of those wing defenders that will drive you nuts. He's always around the ball, he usually has his hands on or near the ball and he's probably going to take it from you. He has a defensive efficiency rating of 95.8. Leonard leads the Spurs in tipped balls and is good for one clutch steal per game.

The guys over at 48 Minutes of Hell put this little video together and shows how good he really is:

To also get a better feel for his overall game, here's what he did in a very clutch game against OKC a couple weeks back.

Let's discuss. We are extremely close to having basketball back and you need to start learning up. I'll have a few of these coming out every day.