This column reflects the opinion of the writer and does not in any way reflect the views of The Stanford Daily.
If you’ve watched SportsCenter or logged onto a sports webpage at all during the last few months, you’ve heard about the battle for NBA MVP between Russell Westbrook and James Harden. They’ve put up gaudy numbers and broken records, all while willing their teams to playoff spots one year after the departure of stars. Indeed, Harden and Westbrook have had impressive seasons, yet despite their showmanship the real MVP this season has been Kawhi Leonard.
The Spurs are one year removed from the retirements of mainstays Tim Duncan and Matt Bonner. Long-time greats Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili have seen their production drop off. Yet this team has both survived a generational turnover and surpassed 60 wins, and it still holds the second best record in the association – that’s thanks to Kawhi.
The offensive side of the ball is often where the MVP award is decided, and Kawhi’s offensive efficiency is excellent. He put up 25.7 points per-game in a Spurs offense that shares the ball so well that no Spur has averaged that many points in a season since 1993 (the same year the first Jurassic Park movie entertained fans with scenes of Chris Bosh chasing Jeff Goldblum).
It’s true; Leonard didn’t average a triple double or assist on 2500 points this season. All he did was shoot better than Westbrook and Harden from every distance while turning the ball over about a third as much. While they were busy padding their stats and garnering the majority of the headlines, Kawhi was quietly building the highest Offensive Rating of the trio through his brand of heady basketball and knockdown shooting.
Meanwhile, Westbrook and Harden each broke the record for turnovers in a season. The most in a season by a player besides these two is from Artis Gilmore in 1978, an era of huge Afros and tiny shorts. This isn’t a record that’s falling every year or even every decade; these were truly astounding levels of sloppiness. In fact, neither of the two players ranked in the top 90 in assist/turnover ratio this season. Context certainly diminishes the value of their inflated assist numbers.
Defense wins championships, and Kawhi is the anchor of the league’s most efficient defense. The reigning two-time Defensive Player of the Year has been terrorizing opponent’s top scorers for six seasons now. He’s among the league’s leaders in steals, deflections and loose balls recovered. He has hands that are scary big, arms that are disproportionately long yet muscular and a top-notch understanding of NBA defense. Leonard’s combination of physical attributes, smarts and want makes him the league’s premier defender.
The other MVP candidates, Harden and Westbrook, have only heard legends about this thing called defense. Westbrook has anemic contest rates, and is giving opponent guards far too many open and uncontested looks in order to chase defensive rebounds. James Harden in many cases blows assignments on defense, and will take plays off that end up costing his team easy baskets. By every defensive metric and eye test, Kawhi is miles ahead of these two. He’s miles ahead of just about everyone.
Leonard is a transformative player who kept the Spurs juggernaut in the upper echelons of the NBA despite a change in regime. A team that lost its generational stars and Matt Bonner to aging should be in the gutter with the Lakers. Instead, they’re still winning 60+ games and competing for titles. Kawhi is the kind of player that makes his team better, and the kind of teammate with which veterans want to join arms. He’s a winner in every sense of the word.
Kawhi Leonard has his team ranked highly on defense and offense and on its way to the second seed in the West. His team took the season series from both Oklahoma City and Houston, powered by his elite levels of efficiency on both ends of the court. It’s likely the media will overlook him when it comes time to vote for MVP, but you won’t hear Leonard complaining about the injustice. He’ll be too busy quietly leading yet another playoff run for the Spurs.
Contact Grant Avalon if you want to repeatedly show Russ’s 50-point triple double (the one that ensured he broke the all-time triple-double with 42 games) at gavalon ‘at’ stanford.edu.