jboldt73 (49 posts)  9/24/2012 11:38 AM

Any reason to think that another year in the league would not boost his numbers?  26 min seems kind of low.

mbuser (4344 posts)  9/24/2012 1:11 PM

How many minutes do you think Pop will give him, and who loses minutes as they are currently assigned in the projections?

dcdoorknob (207 posts)  9/24/2012 3:48 PM

Yeah, they've got Leonard, Manu, Green and SJax all at SG/SF, and that's not even including Neal who can play some SG.  Seems most likely to me that Pop will continue to spread out the minutes.  Leonard only averaged 24 mpg last year and a decent portion of that was with Manu out.

jboldt73 (49 posts)  9/24/2012 6:39 PM

Yeah I guess at face value is it is hard to get mega minutes with that amount of players to share with.  Though I do see Manu not making 82 games and I don't see S Jax as much of a factor anymore.

BatlAngl (29 posts)  11/1/2012 5:29 PM

So, was Kawhi's 34+ minutes in his first game more of a result of Manu not playing or Pop really liking this kid?

He seemed like he belonged on the court in my eyes... what about you?

mbuser (4344 posts)  11/1/2012 5:34 PM

Oh, he most certainly belongs. Pop played his starters an average of 34 minutes, which is not like him. Manu is going to affect his minutes a bit, but we'll need to see a few more games - and a few with Manu - before we know exactly what Pop is up to.

dcdoorknob (207 posts)  11/1/2012 6:44 PM

Pop was probably thinking that his guys are fresh at the start of the season, and it was a really close game throughout, so he rode the starters more than he usually would.  I wouldn't read into it that much in terms of his overall philosophy of spreading minutes around, he has a real proven track record in that regard which should be weighed much more than just this one game.

bolt (85 posts)  11/1/2012 7:51 PM

Pop really seems to like him and I think he might get a little more than 26 but not much more (it's still Pop).

BatlAngl (29 posts)  11/16/2012 4:01 PM

tendinitis?! out 10-14 days?! Where'd this come from?! 

blizzard47 (20 posts)  12/1/2012 12:30 PM

Matt, any word if Kawhi Leonard is coming back tonight?

mrfuentes27 (20 posts)  12/1/2012 1:03 PM

According to http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2012/11/28/spurs-injured-forwards-leonard-jackson-healing-on-schedule/

Leonard, who also attended the function, said he hopes to return Saturday against Memphis — the Spurs’ first home game after returning from the road.

Hailfire4 (510 posts)  12/1/2012 6:09 PM

The Spurs are a secretive team. I too have read reports that kawhi will return tonite. I have also seen reports that Kawhi will not return tonite. I own Kawhi in one league and have been swapping him and Hump on and off the bench all day. Right now Hump is in my F spot. maybe Hump can go a quarter without getting ejected tonite. Honestly nobody really knows til he shows.

kslight (999 posts)  12/1/2012 6:30 PM

He's out tonight and a little longer:

https://twitter.com/JMcDonald_SAEN/status/275033211489370112

PaulMRichard (21 posts)  12/10/2012 12:11 PM

I know enough to not trust any news about any Spurs player, but....

This guy's injury is starting to worry me. I've been carrying his injured ass on my roster for 3 weeks and now it looks like it might be a few more

In hindsight he should have been dropped 3 weeks ago, but the questions is: is he dropable now?

Just don't kbnow if his production once he get's back warrants any more stashing

mbuser (4344 posts)  12/10/2012 4:20 PM

I get your frustration, but the Spurs are 17-4, 9-1 in their last 10, so they've got no need to rush him back. If you've stashed him this long.. it's not as if his role is in jeopardy.

So-Tex (249 posts)  12/10/2012 5:09 PM

I agree with Buser on this one...if you've stashed Leonard for this long, there's no reason to drop him now. When he does come back, he'll be right back in where he started.

But if you're that frustrated with sitting on him, maybe toss him out on the block and see what offers you get in return. He should still be worth more than a waiver wire pickup, in my opinion.

mbuser (4344 posts)  12/10/2012 5:26 PM

willboy, do you have a link?

So-Tex (249 posts)  12/10/2012 5:33 PM

I think they're reacting to this...

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/4896/news;_ylt=AjiFffR5hl8ItpO7bgeKHQmkvLYF

...via Rotowire. I haven't seen anything else to suggest he's out a specific amount of weeks though.

willboy2 (7 posts)  12/10/2012 7:05 PM

I don't.  Taken from the yahoo player notes from today (credited to rotowire).

mbuser (4344 posts)  12/10/2012 7:21 PM

Yeah, I wouldn't read too much into that. It's unfounded non-speculation.

mt4917 (20 posts)  12/12/2012 10:06 AM

That's helpful, thanks Matt - sometimes it's hard to decipher that info.  I gotta disagree, tho, that 'having stashed him for 3 weeks' should be a reason for keeping him.  Emotionally, it makes sense - you don't want to feel like you wasted an opportunity to pick someone else up -  but shouldn't we strip that out so we can decide what's best for our team going forward?

That said, I've stashed him on my teams, and for 9-cat, his floor - big asset in efficiency & steals - and his upside - a poor man's Shawn Marion '05-'06 - is worth holding on to.

mbuser (4344 posts)  12/12/2012 1:51 PM

Agreed that decisions should be made based on what makes the most sense for your team going forward. And rostering Leonard makes the most sense for your team going forward. I wasn't really saying that you should keep him because you've kept him this long, more that it was odd to drop him now that he's closer to a return.

blizzard47 (20 posts)  12/19/2012 1:45 PM

What does this D-League medical rehab assignment mean? That's playing in D-League for a while? Or that he's just testing out his injury?

nolagoblue (85 posts)  12/19/2012 2:32 PM

Players are starting to be sent down to the D-league before coming back from injury, kind of like baseball uses AAA as rehab assignments. Gives them a chance at more full practices, and actual game situations, etc. 

mbuser (4344 posts)  12/19/2012 4:52 PM

He'll be back in the Spurs' lineup at some point in the upcoming homestand, and as soon as Friday wouldn't be a shock.

bolt (85 posts)  2/10/2013 7:37 PM

A little comparison of Kawhi this year v Paul George 2011-12 and Batum of 2010-11 (so roughly the same stages of development.)  Pretty impressive. Still has his doubters too though so will be interesting to see where he ends up going in next year's drafts.

11 Teams 17 Per Team $200 Per Team [8 Active = pts 3 reb ast stl blk fg% ft%]

Own	Round	Rank	Value	ValueC	Name	Injury	Team	Pos	g	News	min/g	pts/g	3/g	reb/g	ast/g	stl/g	blk/g	fg%	fga/g	ft%	fta/g	ptsV	3V	rebV	astV	stlV	blkV	fg%V	ft%V
	6	65	0.10	-2.12	George, Paul		IND	SG/SF	31		29.7	12.1	1.4	5.6	2.4	1.7	0.6	0.440	9.7	0.802	2.7	-0.39	0.55	0.00	-0.29	1.47	-0.22	-0.52	0.23
	7	74	0.07	-0.04	Leonard, Kawhi		SAS	SG/SF	30		28.8	9.8	1.2	5.4	1.1	1.8	0.4	0.486	7.6	0.870	1.4	-0.92	0.32	-0.07	-0.87	1.92	-0.51	0.28	0.42
	11	114	-0.13	-1.89	Batum, Nicolas		POR	SG/SF	31		31.5	12.3	1.5	4.5	1.6	0.9	0.6	0.455	10.1	0.841	2.0	-0.34	0.68	-0.41	-0.66	-0.36	-0.16	-0.24	0.41
Own	Round	Rank	Value	ValueC	Name	Injury	Team	Pos	g	News	min/g	pts/g	3/g	reb/g	ast/g	stl/g	blk/g	fg%	fga/g	ft%	fta/g	ptsV	3V	rebV	astV	stlV	blkV	fg%V	ft%V
			0.04	-1.37	Avg Stats/Total Values				92		30.0	11.4	1.3	5.2	1.7	1.5	0.5	0.458	9.1	0.830	2.1	-1.63	1.56	-0.48	-1.80	3.00	-0.89	-0.49	1.05
			0.04	-1.37	Avg Stats/Total Values (active)				92		30.0	11.4	1.3	5.2	1.7	1.5	0.5	0.458	9.1	0.830	2.1	-1.63	1.56	-0.48	-1.80	3.00	-0.89	-0.49	1.05

mbuser (4344 posts)  2/10/2013 8:24 PM

Appreciate the effort. Basketball Reference's player comparison finder is a quick/easy way to do stuff like this. All three were in their second NBA seasons at age 21:

http://bkref.com/tiny/fS7Um

Hailfire4 (510 posts)  2/10/2013 8:30 PM

Kawhi was ranked 140 by Yahoo preseason ORank this year. This let him go at a discount in the 80ish range for astute drafters. next year I predict he will be ranked top 40 top 50 at worst. This will allow him to be drafted at a more equitable slot. Finding those undervalued guys is key to ur Yahoo drafts.

bolt (85 posts)  2/11/2013 5:53 PM

I think his perceived value is still relatively low - many people just don't get excited about a guy that can barely average 10ppg.  In my league I'd be lucky to get a top-75 player in exchange.  But we can already see the stellar defensive stats and efficiency - if he can expand his offense a bit and get more minutes/usage he'd be something special.  In a best-case scenario he could make the leap as soon as next season (e.g. stepping up with Manu possibly retiring).

Thanks Buser, should have known there'd be a tool for that.

bolt (85 posts)  3/25/2013 10:48 AM

The George/Batum potential is even more evident now he's upped his scoring a bit.

http://bkref.com/tiny/vS2oS

I have to drop either Kawhi or Teague in a keeper..difficult.