JV vs Leonard

[barkleynash]

Seeing Leonard win finals MVP made me very happy as he's my 2nd fav Spur after Manu but at the same time it also saddened me as I immediately thought of the 5th pick Raps used on Val that year when there was a lot of talk about Leonard being a perfect fit for the Raps but the problem was he wasn't looked at being nearly a top 5 pick. Kawhi has since emerged as the best player from that draft ahead of the likes of Klay, Farried, Parsons, JV and TT.

Neither Leonard or JV have come close to reaching their potential but it's safe to say that Val has more growing room than Leonard who is much closer to a finished product (despite still just being 22).

I know most Rap fans love JV and his tremendous upside but who here at this point wouldn't trade him in a heart beat for Leonard if we could jump back to 2011 and do it all over again?

Hoping the Raps finally get that defensive big wing in this draft! Seeing Leonard succeed makes me want them to draft KJ McDaniels even more now unless some absolute GEM slides to them down to 20...

thoughts?

[Chamberlain]

Sure, I'd love Leonard. But we have to remember that we've been looking for a quality center for years. Much longer than we've been looking for a quality wing player. That draft year, our two biggest needs were at C and SF. Valanciunas was the better prospect then, and he may still be now. Leonard is no doubt a great player, he was one of my favourite players during this draft as well, but had he been picked by the Raptors, who knows where he'd be in his development right now. Hindsight is 20/20, I'd love Leonard on my team, but I'm also very happy with Jonas.

[bk33]

Look at the bright side, the immediate picks following JV was, in order, Jan Vesely, Bizmack Biyombo, Kemba Walker, Brandon Knight and Jimmer Freddette. Still pretty happy with the JV pick.

[kmart]

I think post players aren't going to have the flashy stats that a wing player would have when first entering the NBA. Usually it takes about 3 to 4 years for post players to pick up the speed and size of the NBA (Val is still awful at guarding the perimeter). I know it might be early, but when it comes down to it I think Val may a guy who gets about 15 and 10 on a good team while manning the paint.

Kawhi got into a lucky situation where he could contribute immediately defensively. IMO he wouldn't even have a championship it weren't for the team that the Spurs had built and maintained over the course of 15 years. His main focus was to shut down LeBron. I think he'll top out as a guy who shoots 3's, defends, and will be excellent on straight line drives. With good ball movement he fits in perfectly, not so sure he would fit at all in Casey's system.

I'd say that over the careers they will both be All-stars and even players. Spurs got the best wing of that draft, but we got the best big man. Spurs had about about 8 other guys making contributions on any given night as well and this past season, the Raps didn't even have close to a team like the Spurs did.

[Himan12]

I'll still take JV over KL. A good big man will always impact the game more than a good winger. At their peaks jv will be the more valuable player.

[Legends66NBA7]

I'll still take JV over KL. A good big man will always impact the game more than a good winger. At their peaks jv will be the more valuable player.

I agree that big man will more often have the edge, but the game is geared towards wing players more than ever. It really hinders big men in the post as you don't see many having consistent post games anymore.

I do agree that Jonas should be better than Leonard in the future and there's no way that we were re thinking about Leonard back then. Although, in a perfect world, Leonard would be perfect on this current team with Val on it too.

So much balance. Also would have a stronger bench, since Ross would thrive much better backing up DeMar, along with Patterson and Vasquez. Really good 8 man rotation right there.