I disagree with this strongly. This was more so statistical noise, largely due to randomness. When Kawhi was in the game teams happened to shoot a higher 3 point percentage and since 3 point percentage is mostly random......he's more of a victim of bad luck than anything.
There's a whole nylon calculus article about it
Nylon Calculus: Missed 3-pointers are ruining Kawhi Leonard’s defensive numbers
Ahh gotcha, that makes sense. I agree, on ball defenders like Kawhi and Avery Bradley definitely don't have the impact as anchors such as Draymond and Gobert. It does feel as tho on ball defense is probably the most overrated aspect of judging defensive impact by most fans and media members. I think it's probably what played a huge role in Kobe having so many All Defensive Team Awards.
Before I understood this, I remember asking Jeremias Engleman (the creator of RPM) why Avery Bradley had low DRPM a few years ago. It makes a lot more sense to me these days.
Not this shyt again
As far as those stats go don’t forget they put Kawhi in corner and left him with their best player while the opposing team went at spurs so it royal screwed the stats also
As far as defense wise I do agree spurs are still a great defense team when he not there but also depends on who we play but more so still great
I do agree Kawhi is not same as dray and Gobert more so cuz they can do centers and offense load ain’t nowhere near his
Now on ball defense is not overrated when ur best player takes on teams best player and neutralize them on final play, important plays or whole game u don’t play up to par
U can say media overhyped all u want but his contemporaries agree he is best defender in league and perimeter too
Dray and gobert cannot guard certain pgs like Kawhi just like he can’t centers or certain pfs like them
All the elite players he has gone up against he has a highlight real for his defense and offense
He may not anchor but his impact is massive how isn’t that not u see
He alone has ravaged warriors team on numerous occasions too Steph klay iggy and dray
Hell u saw it in conference finals
Only guy can guard LeBron and Durant and slow them down and still put up points
Has more offense but important defense 1 man wrecking crew
That game saving defense
in the playoffs. That's why I said easily defendable stars.
saying you gotta punch and punch and punch til you cant punch anymore