Leonard was draft steal at No. 15
Raptors weren’t alone in underrating forward but did give him workout
There’s no better example of what a crapshoot the NBA draft is than Kawhi Leonard, widely seen as one of the top five players in the league when healthy.
Back in 2011, Leonard wasn’t even a lottery pick, selected 15th overall by the Indiana Pacers and flipped on draft night to the San Antonio Spurs for George Hill in a deal that hasn’t aged well. Twelve teams passed on Leonard, including the Toronto Raptors who picked Jonas Valanciunas at No. 5. The Cleveland Cavaliers and Utah Jazz took a pass twice.
The players selected ahead of Leonard were:
1. Kyrie Irving, Cleveland; 2. Derrick Williams, Minnesota; 3. Enes Kanter, Utah; 4. Tristan Thompson, Cleveland; 5. Valanciunas, Toronto; 6. Jan Vesely, Washington; 7. Bismack Biyombo, Sacramento. 8. Brandon Knight, Detroit; 9. Kemba Walker, Charlotte; 10. Jimmer Fredette, Milwaukee; 11. Klay Thompson, Golden State; 12. Alec Burks, Utah; 13. Markieff Morris, Phoenix; 14. Marcus Morris, Houston.
With the benefit of hindsight, every team would likely want a do-over. While some of the picks developed into solid rotation players, Irving and Thompson are the only other top-tier superstars to emerge from that group.
In the final days leading up to that draft, then-Raptors president and GM Bryan Colangelo seemed to have narrowed his list to four: Biyombo, Leonard, Knight and Valanciunas. Vesely and Walker were fallback possibilities, the Star’s Doug Smith reported at the time.
The Raptors brought in Leonard for a pre-draft workout along with Thompson, Marcus Morris, Cory Joseph (No. 29, San Antonio), Tobias Harris (No. 19, Charlotte) and Demontez Stitt (undrafted). Understandably, the GTA products, Thompson and Joseph, grabbed all the local headlines that day.
Leonard, then 20, was asked about his laid-back personality, whether he was caught up in the hype over where he ranked in the mock drafts and whether he thought he’d be a good fit playing with DeMar DeRozan, the franchise player he was traded for this week.
“He’s very athletic, I’m a little athletic,” Leonard told reporters. “He jumps high, we’re both from the California, southern area, so we’ll probably get along well if this team drafts me.”
His favourite player was Carmelo Anthony. He said he didn’t see anybody who had a similar game to his, but some people had compared him to Ron Artest or Gerald Wallace.
“I’m not trying to compare myself to anybody. I’m trying to be my own self, Kawhi Leonard, coming into the NBA and work hard for myself,” he said.
The biggest question mark heading into the draft was his shooting. He has since developed into an above-average three-point shooter, hitting at a career 38.6 per cent from above the arc, with a 49.5 per cent field-goal percentage overall.