What would it look like to "feature" Kawhi?

Coach Gregg Popovich has said that he expects to feature Kawhi Leonardon offense this year, knowing that Father Time will eventually see that the Big Three fade into the sunset as David Robinson did before them. Just as the Admiral's son is enjoying a breakout season at wide receiver for Notre Dame, the Spurs want to put their own young star in a position to do the same.

The Spurs may have difficulty fulfilling this goal because the Spurs offense doesn't feature anyone. When at its best, the Spurs offense doesn't try to get the ball to any particular player.  Instead, the offense gets the ball to whoever on the floor has the best shot. This is a different approach than many teams -- the most notable examples being the Lakers and Kobe Bryant and the Knicks with Carmelo Anthony.

Saying the Spurs don't generally run plays does not mean there the Spurs don't have an offensive scheme.  A play dictates what everyone does, regardless of the defense (much like a football team will call a play, and everyone's role in that play is pre-ordained).  The Spurs run different sets, which basically dictate where the players start out.  Where they go, and where the ball goes, is then determined by how the players read and react depending on what the defense does. The Spurs special skill, honed by the coaching staff over the years, is reading and reacting quicker than other teams - and making the right decisions. Of course, making the shots that flow from those decisions helps too. Good shooters make good coaches. Of course, good coaches make good shooters too -- by getting the shooters good shots, and giving them the freedom to shoot them with confidence.

Keeping in mind that the Spurs rarely call plays at all, let alone for a particular player, what are some ways the Spurs might fulfill their stated goal of featuring their young star?

More playing time

The Spurs manage their players' minutes better than any team in the league.  However, while the Spurs have focused on minimizing the Big Three's minutes, especially in the regular season, Kawhi's minutes can surely go up.  The Spurs' 23-year old star-in-waiting averaged only 29 minutes per game in the regular season last year, down 2 minutes per game from the year prior. To put that in perspective, D-League escapee Kendall Marshall averaged that same 29 minutes per game for the Lakers last year.  Perhaps the Spurs could bump up 23-year old Kawhi's minutes to what 53-year old Dirk Nowitzki played for the Mavs last year -- 33 minutes per game.  Note that Kawhi averaged 32 minutes in the playoffs last year, against top competition. As you may recall, he did just fine.

More run with the second unit

Last year, Kawhi spent more time with the first unit than the season before. When Kawhi plays with the first unit, the ball will naturally be in Tony Parker's hands much of the time. Since TP is one of the best pick and roll players in the world, that is where the ball should be, which means it will not be in Kawhi's massive hands as much. Theoretically, the Spurs could make Kawhi the ball-handler in some pick and roll situations, but I do not expect that to happen.  However, on the second unit, the ball will naturally find its way to Kawhi more often.

This is especially true for the first months of the season with Patty Mils out. While we will be deprived of seeing Mills' "3 from Down Under" shooting until 2015, everyone on the second unit will have more opportunities. If Kawhi sees more time with the reserves, some of those additional scoring and creating opportunities will be his -- and they may come against the lesser defenders that populate most teams' bench units.  Further, while on the second unit, the Spurs could put him in the post more, especially if paired with Boris Diaw and/or Matt Bonner - giving him "close to the basket" opportunities not available when Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitterare on the floor with him.

Some might want Kawhi to become the Manu of the second unit, and while I want Kawhi to look for his opportunities to attack and create more, his looks need to come through the flow of the offense. It is a bit early to toss him the ball with 7 seconds on the shot clock, as the Spurs have done with Manu, and say "Go ahead and create". I would not ask any 23-year old forward to do what a unique talent like Manu has mastered over the years.

Lobs

The other team in L.A., the Clippers, will likely be the Spurs' primary competition in the West, especially until Kevin Durant comes back. The Clippers throw more lobs that anyone in the league and I believe the Spurs throw the least.  Pop has clearly made the decision that the highlight reel fun of the lob pass doesn't justify the practice time and risk of the turnover (or injury), which made this play during Game 5 of the Finals such a shock.  Kawhi may be the one Spur where the odds of completing the pass make it worthwhile, especially with Boris Diaw delivering.

Interestingly, that set play was similar to one we used to run at Claremont. Just as Pop (while at Pomona-Pitzer) may have borrowed it from us, we borrowed it from the Lakers. The Claremont coaches attended a coaching clinic with Pat Riley one summer, and he essentially taught us the Lakers Showtime fast break: Magic at the point, Scott and Worthy on the wings, and Kareem and Rambis either filling the post or trailing. We ran the D-3 version of that break for several years, and the Spurs brought it out of mothballs in Game 5. The back screen for Kawhi was essentially the same screen we would set for our all-conference post player Henry Albrecht -- the same screen the Lakers set on Kareem's man as the last option on the Showtime break. The Spurs ran it against the Heat 30 years later as a set play after a sideline in-bounds. Getting Kawhi opportunities to catch and score on lob passes would certainly help feature him more in the Spurs offense.

Post-ups

In my last piece, I talked about two skills Kawhi added and improved before last season. Once he recovers from his eye condition, it will be interesting to see if Kawhi worked this past summer on adding some post moves, and a counter. For instance, he was shooting an MJ-esque turn-around from the post in the preseason. Most great wing players, from Jordan to Kobe to Lebron, developed a post-up game as they matured. (This includes both scoring from the post, and passing out of the post after defenders are forced to double.) Kawhi should, and probably will, do the same.

One way the Spurs could get Kawhi post-up opportunities would be to have him act as the screener on 1-3 (point guard-small forward) ball screens. If the defense switches, Kawhi could then slide into the post, only now with a point guard trying to defend him.

One thing to keep in mind: Being an effective screener is a skill, and setting great screes takes time and practice.  This is especially true in the Spurs pick and roll attack, which often asks the screener to set one, two or even three ball screens in succession. One of the worst things a screener can do is try to help out the ball handler with a last-minute move into the defender's path, often leading to both a turnover and a foul. In this case it would be an extra foul on the Spurs' key defender. Coaching the screener to remain stationary, despite the temptation to move, is key. Like every player on the Spurs, Kawhi sets screens all game long, but he has spent very little time setting screens on pick and rolls. As smart as he is, he won't become an outstanding screener like Tiago Splitter overnight.

Attitude

I don't know if the Spurs and Kawhi will follow any of the specific possibilities listed above. They may not need to.  Part of what makes a player great is the attitude that he is the best player on the floor. Kawhi already has that attitude on the defensive end. We know he will continue to improve his individual offensive skills -- ball-handling, shooting, and passing -- and as time goes by, Kawhi's mind-set will follow. If there is one thing Pop encourages, it is converting that mind-set to action.

The "Live Look-Ins" into a team's huddles shown on TV are generally meaningless: Every NBA team has a deal with the networks -- you can look into the huddles, but you can't reveal any strategy. However, in the 2013 Finals, there was finally a meaningful look-in, not because there was strategy revealed, but because an attitude was being encouraged. Pop told the second unit (including Gary Neal, who took the advice to heart):

Move the basketball, you are getting great shots, just be confident and let 'em fly. Get your name in the paper.

If Kawhi can master that attitude, he will have plenty of opportunities to see his name in the paper too.

Kawhi Leonard's "disappointing" season

In the 2013 NBA Finals, Kawhi Leonard burst on the national scene (at least for non-Spurs fans) by matching up with King James, and holding his own - and then some. For stretches of the Finals, including Games 6 and 7, he outplayed the best player in the known universe. In Game 1, he covered Lebron for 35 minutes, and did not commit a single foul. Despite the disappointing outcome of the Finals for the Spurs, Kawhi seemed poised for a break-out regular season in 2013-2014.

But Kawhi did not have a break-out year in 2013-2014, and many were disappointed. He missed a stretch of the season after breaking his hand. His points, rebounds and assists per game went from 13.7/6.9/1.8 in 2012-2013 to 15.8/7.7/2.5 in 2013-2014. Solid numbers, sure, but he wasn't going to get any all-NBA votes with them. Of course, part of that is because the Spurs system spreads the ball and the minutes, and rarely runs plays to get any particular player shots -- not even the future face of the franchise.

But Kawhi's numbers are much more impressive than at first glance. Going from 13.7 to 15.8 points per 36 minutes is a 15% increase, and the improvements in rebounds and assists were 11% and 38%. He also kept his three point shooting percentage near 38% and increased his 2 point percentage from 55% to 58%.

More importantly, Kawhi did what we used to ask our players to do each year when I was coaching. Each summer, we wanted our guys to either add a new skill or improve on an existing one. It could be increasing shooting range, improving ball handling, getting stronger, or adding a new move or counter-move. In watching the Spurs last year, I believe Kawhi vastly improved in two important skills.

Defensively, we knew from the prior year's Finals he could match up with his designated cover. Last year, he added or improved his ability to match up with whatever perimeter player was in front of him, even if it was the other team's point guard. He incorporated what I always told my players when I was coaching - the most important thing about playing defense is caring that the other team not score. In shorthand: The most important thing about defense: Caring.

This then keyed the Spurs transition defense. Kawhi's willingness and ability to match up with whomever was in front of him eliminated the need for the other perimeter players to scramble back to their man. With Kawhi, he could put up his hand to announce "I got this" and match up with the opposing point guard, especially on those occasions when Tony Parker had just finished a hard drive to the hoop and was unable to get back to the other team's point.

A small forward with the ability to match the fastest player on the opposing team is a luxury most teams don't have. Among other things, it also frees players like TP to attack the rim, or Patty Mills to fire the corner 3, knowing that someone has their back in transition. As a result, it improves both the Spurs defense and the Spurs offense.
The second skill Kawhi added was the ability to take a defensive rebound and immediately push the ball up court himself, eliminating the need for an outlet pass. This skill clearly arose from a great deal of work on his ball-handling, which allows the coaching staff to give him the freedom to get the board and go. Just as MagicJohnson and Scottie Pippen did on their championship teams, grabbing a board and pounding the rock up the middle creates great opportunities.

With Kawhi, this often led to an open 3 for the Spurs shooters sprinting ahead, a coast to coast for Kawhi, or a smooth transition into the Spurs early transition game, with the defenders scrambling to avoid their own mismatches. And memorably, in Game 5 of the Finals, it led to Kawhi pulling up and drilling the 3 to give the Spurs their first lead - that was something he clearly would not have done the year before.

So will it be another disappointing season for Kawhi? If the standard is another year of across-the-board improvement in all facets of the game, mastery of two new skills, and another NBA Finals MVP award, Spurs fans should hope for another such disappointing season from their young star.

In my next piece, I will give some ideas about ways the Spurs might expand Kawhi's role as the season goes on and he begins the transition to the lead player role. Stay tuned.

When I coached against Gregg Popovich

When asked about his most intense experience as a coach, Gregg Popovich answered, "Hands down, Pomona-Pitzer vs. Claremont McKenna in Ducey Gymnasium."

J.R. Wilco asked me to introduce myself by describing how I became a Spurs fan and the newest member of Pounding the Rock's team of writers. The explanation starts with Pop's quote above , though most of the words he uses are probably foreign to most.  Let me define them:

Pomona-Pitzer is a combination of two outstanding liberal arts colleges, united in one athletic program, located 30 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. It has excellent NCAA Division 3 teams, known as the Sagehens. Yes, the Sagehens. Pop's last head coaching job before the Spurs was at Pomona-Pitzer.

Claremont McKenna is an outstanding liberal arts college located 30.1 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. It has an excellent NCAA Division 3 athletic program, known as the Stags. For several years while Pop was at Pomona-Pitzer, I was the assistant basketball coach for the Stags. I was (and remain) a full time trial lawyer in Los Angeles. During my tenure at Claremont McKenna, to my knowledge, I was the only practicing lawyer/NCAA basketball coach in the country.

Ducey Gymnasium is the Stags' home court, named after renowned former Stag coach Ted Ducey.  Interestingly, Coach Ducey's son, Jim Ducey, was once an assistant basketball coach for Claremont McKenna. He was also an assistant to Pop at Pomona-Pitzer .  Jim is both an all-around good guy and now the head coach at another league school, Redlands University.  In 2013, Redlands broke Claremont's run of 4 straight league titles, though the Stags came back and won again in 2014.

Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont are so close that on game nights the basketball teams simply walk down 6th Street in Claremont that one tenth of a mile to get from one school's gym to the other. For two of Pop's last years, when Pomona's new gym was being built, the Pomona team practiced (at 6:30 a.m. most days) and played their home games in Ducey Gymnasium.

Before the season, the players from the schools often play pick-up ball with and against the other team's players.   Players at the schools take classes on both campuses,  and most of the best players were recruited by both schools. The two teams are traditionally among the best in the league. As one can imagine, the rivalry between the teams, and the fans, is crazily intense. The games were so loud that we had to call in plays and defenses by holding up pieces of cardboard with different colors or numbers on them because the players didn't have a chance of hearing us over the crowd.

And because Ducey Gymnasium is so small, the players, coaches, officials, and fans are literally on top of each other for the standing room only during these rivalry games. We all remember Game One in San Antonio in last year's Finals, with no air conditioning.  Anyone who attended a Pomona-Pitzer vs. Claremont McKenna game in Ducey Gymnasium knows exactly what that was like.

Nowhere else in the country do two college teams inhabit virtually the same campus, have players in class together and then play against each other that night, walk down the street from one gym to the other for the rivalry game, have the outcome of the rivalry game determine not only bragging rights among fans and players, but often the league title for that year -- and hold the contests in a classic small-college gym in which the coaches would routinely sweat through their suits, all with the fans breathing down their necks from the row behind.

That's the environment that led to Pop's quote above.

***

Everyone in our league (the Southern California Interscholastic Athletic Conference - the SCIAC) kept an eye on Pop after he left Pomona-Pitzer to begin his NBA journey that led to the Spurs head coaching gig. He started as an assistant to Larry Brown with the Spurs (he had earlier taken a sabbatical from Pomona to coach a year with Brown at Kansas), then went to Golden State assisting Don Nelson before going upstairs for the Warriors, and then back to the Spurs as GM - and finally to coach of the Spurs.  And we all know how that has turned out.

While Pop was Larry Brown's assistant for the Spurs from 1988 through 1992, Claremont's head coach, the late great David Wells, and I met Pop at a TGIF in L.A. after a Lakers-Spurs game. He told us several fascinating things, including that he thought John Stockton was in many ways the best player in the league. He also was amazed that David Robinson, all 7'1'' of him, was the fastest player on the Spurs and often came in first in conditioning drills.

Even though it was hard to root for the Spurs when they played my Lakers in those early years, it was easy to root for the Spurs against the rest of the league. And the 1999 - 2010 decade was especially great.  Virtually every year, one of my two teams was in the NBA Finals. As time went on, I was won over by the Spurs' organization and their style of play as they were coached by my old colleague Gregg Popovich (I'm being generous with that term as I was just an assistant coach). Then, in 2012, I started writing my fake blog, which was actually just emails sent to friends, co-workers, and my ex-players -- trying to point out certain things about the game that I felt the experts and commentators were missing.

As a fully converted Spurs fan, I was thrilled when my favorite player, my man Manu, had the "Manu Game" in Game 5 of the 2013 Finals. And I was devastated after Games 6 and 7 of those same Finals. Finally, all was redeemed this past June.

And that my path to being asked to join the staff here, writing from distant California, with my basketball heart in San Antonio, especially since being a Laker fan today is really just rooting for laundry. So I am proud and honored to be invited to contribute. My comments will come from my unique perspective as a Spurs fan living in L.A., former college basketball player, and former college coach who had the privilege to coach for a time against the head coach of our rival school - Gregg Popovich.

And I should admit that my insights may perhaps be occasionally tainted due to my being an attorney.