Meet Kawhi Leonard,
UJIRI IS BANKING THAT ONE OF NBA’S BEST PLAYERS IS SOUND OF MIND AND BODY
The Toronto Raptors have never had a player quite like Kawhi Leonard before, assuming they have him now at all.
That’s just the beginning of the great unknown to be unveiled here over time. That’s the roll of the dice for Masai Ujiri and Bobby Webster. Exactly who and what the Raptors acquired in parting with franchise favourite DeMar DeRozan is open to interpretation. And frankly, more than interpretation, it’s all a matter of guessing and secondguessing.
Because, frankly, we don’t know. They don’t know. And considering that Kawhi Leonard shares his feelings with almost no one for public consumption, maybe he doesn’t know.
Here’s what we do know. The Raptors traded away a player who didn’t want to be traded and was apparently promised that he wouldn’t be traded for a player who didn’t want to be traded to Toronto. That’s complicated. DeRozan didn’t want to leave. Leonard may not want to stay or even show up.
It’s a one-year shot if Leonard shows up and plays but for now there is no assurance he will do either of those things. He is a storied NBA player for so young a man. He has played for a championship team in San Antonio, was the playoffs MVP, was twice NBA defensive player of the year, was four times an NBA All-Defensive player and twice on the first all-star team at small forward. At the beginning of last season, the Washington Post rated him the third best player in the NBA, behind only LeBron James and Kevin Durant. At the same time, Sports Illustrated had him sixth in the NBA, arguing in print it couldn’t distinguish much between him and Steph Curry, rating him ahead of MVP James Harden.
That’s the kind of player the Raptors brought in Wednesday. That’s the kind of pedigree this franchise has been historically lacking.
But does the Leonard of Ujiri’s dreams even exist for the Raptors? This isn’t likely a case of trading for Hakeem Olajuwon at the wrong age. This isn’t likely a case of signing an injured DeMarre Carroll, and expensively whiffing on free agency.
It all starts with Leonard, though, and whether he ever warms to the notion of being a Raptor, living here, playing here, caring, being a difference-maker here. He played a lot of games with the Spurs last season, just most of them weren’t on the floor (he played only nine times). By the time the season ended, illness led to the trade to Toronto. The Spurs were sick of him and he was sick of them.
Nobody can really give you a straight answer on how bad Leonard’s quadriceps injury is, was or will be. Leonard wanted to be traded, specifically to the Los Angeles Lakers. Some other teams kicked tires on him, just not very hard.
The Raptors offered up a regular-season star in DeRozan, a solid backup big man in Jakub Poeltl and a sheltered first-round pick and it was enough. We do know this much: DeRozan will report to San Antonio and be the pro he has always been. Gregg Popovich will make him better because great coaches do that.
But with Leonard, there are clouds and mystery and very little noise. What if he shows up and goes through the motions? What if he doesn’t show up at all? The Raptors have traded away their best scorer for what? A hope. A guess. A special player.
Truth is: Maybe only Kawhi Leonard can answer that and, as usual, he’s not talking.