The dumbest opinion of the year is Barkley saying Leonard is best player

[Kawhi]

Nope.

Nope he says. Kawhi is averaging 21 on insane efficiency. Lets compare again.

TS% compared to elite offensive players:
Kawhi Leonard: .626 -
Stephen Curry: .685
Kevin Durant: .635
LeBron James: .569 - elite, apparently

He is up there with Durant and is far more efficient than James. Not elite.

[Kawhi]

kawhi is a beast, but i dont think he could do what curry is doing on a consistent basis.

Of course not, but who else can? The man is playing at an insane level right now, no one in the league today compares to him.

[nba_55]

Nope he says. Kawhi is averaging 21 on insane efficiency. Lets compare again.

TS% compared to elite offensive players:
Kawhi Leonard: .626 -
Stephen Curry: .685
Kevin Durant: .635
LeBron James: .569 - elite, apparently

He is up there with Durant and is far more efficient than James. Not elite.

When he takes over games offensively like Durant and Curry did last night or like Lebron did in the finals last year, we will call him elite. Until then, he is good, but far from elite.

[Kawhi]

When he takes over games offensively like Durant and Curry did last night or like Lebron did in the finals last year, we will call him elite. Until then, he is good, but far from elite.

So he just has to take a lot of dumb, low efficiency shots like James did in the '15 finals in order for you to consider him elite? Hilarious take.

.398 FG%
.310 3P%
.477 TS%
.431 eFG%

[nba_55]

So he just has to take a lot of dumb, low efficiency shots like James did in the '15 finals in order for you to consider him elite? Hilarious take.

.398 FG%
.310 3P%
.477 TS%
.431 eFG%

It's not only about efficiency. Lebron took over the games offensively by controling the pace, with his playmaking and his scoring. Leonard can't do that. Elite offensive players like Durant, Curry can do that.

[Kawhi]

It's not only about efficiency. Lebron took over the games offensively by controling the pace, with his playmaking and his scoring.

Context. What James did in the 2015 finals in terms of controlling the pace, was backing down, backing down, backing down on the block, like he was Mark Jackson reincarnated.

And I get why he did that, because he had no team, but that isn't the discussion here.

[nba_55]

Context. What James did in the 2015 finals in terms of controlling the pace, was backing down, backing down, backing down on the block, like he was Mark Jackson reincarnated.

It worked, they won 2 games against Warriors without those of their starters.
When Kawhi does something like that, we'll talk.

Elite= top 5
Leonard is not top 5 offensively:
Lebron, Curry, Durant, Paul, Westbrook are clearly all better than him offensively.

[Kawhi]

It worked, they won 2 games against Warriors without those of their starters.
When Kawhi does something like that, we'll talk.

Alright, we'll talk when Kawhi takes about 200 shots (not counting free throws) in a span of 6 games on very low efficiency, which is apparently considered elite.

SPOILER: He won't.

[tmacattack33]

%Assisted on 2PA compared to other elite offensive players:
Kawhi Leonard: .460
Stephen Curry: .388
Kevin Durant: .520
LeBron James: .361

It's another story in terms of 3PA, but Kawhi only takes about 3 a game.

Yes, I was looking for these stats. Thanks for finding them and proving my point

[SCdac]

love kawhi's skills as much as the next fan, and think he's underrated by some overrated by others... but Barkley is dumb... Yeah even a broken clock is right twice a day, but don't take anything Charles says seriously. He's done it to himself, shot his credibility that is

[Dresta]

He's not the best, but he's better than Lebron.

[tmacattack33]

Alright, we'll talk when Kawhi takes about 200 shots (not counting free throws) in a span of 6 games on very low efficiency, which is apparently considered elite.

SPOILER: He won't.

We can talk when Kawhi averages more than 3 assists per game (which is a pretty damn low bar, lol) and more than 25 ppg.

SPOILER: He won't.

[Kawhi]

We can talk when Kawhi averages more than 3 assists per game (which is a pretty damn low bar, lol) and more than 25 ppg.

He averaged 3 assists last season.

[pastis]

Alright, we'll talk when Kawhi takes about 200 shots (not counting free throws) in a span of 6 games on very low efficiency, which is apparently considered elite.

SPOILER: He won't.

probably not. but he wasnt in the james situation. no love, no irving etc.
i dont know what kawhi and pop woud do, but if ginobili/parker/lma/duncan would be injured, kawhi might shot a lot as well

dont get me wrong, kawhi is right now the best offensive/defensive mix in the nba

[tmacattack33]

I don't agree with Barkley, but it's one of those where I don't feel a need to call him out.

Kawhi is one of the best players in the league..and excels at both ends of the court.

Someone wants to say he's better than Curry? Go ahead.

Yeah, if someone wants to say that Kawhi Leonard is having a better season right now than Curry, which also means he's having a better season than peak Magic, peak Bird, peak Lebron, peak Hakeem, and peak Duncan, they can go right ahead.

And if they want to do that, they might as well say that current Paul George is better than peak Bird and all of them too. And maybe even Jimmy Butler while we are at it.