KAWHI CLONE

Brown sees Leonard potential in first-round pick Smith

CAMDEN, N.J. » After his year at Texas Tech, a couple of intense workouts with the Sixers and all the usual NBA scouting routines, Zahir Smith essentially was reduced Friday to a two-word, Brett Brown scouting report.

“Kawhi,” Brown said, “Leonard.”

He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t mumble. The 76ers’ coach didn’t immediately attempt to walk it back, like that time Ben Simmons bristled when called a developing power forward. No, at a day-after-the-draft get-together at the Sixers’ training complex, Brown likened the Sixers’ effective first-round draft choice, a 6-4 backcourt project from Texas Tech, the 16th overall pick, to one of the top five players in the sport.

So how did 15 other teams miss that?

How did 15 other teams not see Leonard’s potential in Smith? Was it just because Leonard is a 6-7 small forward with an ability to match up with Kevin Durant, and Smith is a 6-4 college power forward destined to become a defense-first NBA guard? Kawhi Leonard? Really? “I’m sure if I dug back, I could come up with more,” Brown said. “But that’s the one I am most familiar with.”

Once an assistant in San Antonio and a text-every-day close friend of Gregg Popovich, Brown has a familiarity with all-thingsSpurs. He has even dropped vague hints that the 2021 first-round pick the Sixers gained by trading their No. 10 overall pick, Mikal Bridges, to Phoenix for Smith could be used in a trade package for a star. With Leonard likely to be traded, that was not a difficult code to crack.

But whether the Sixers trade for him or not, Brown insists he has acquired a player with the

CHARLES KRUPA — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE The Sixers traded for Texas Tech’s Zhaire Smith Thursday night. Coach Brett Brown sees potential for Smith to be a player like Spurs superstar Kawhi Leonard.