after the start of the 2016-17 season, kawhi leonard has become one of the league's star player and has all the makings of a superstar. why has been made such an impressive breakthrough since the 2016-17 season? he's reportedly been trained by kobe bryant this summer.
kobe bryant trained kawhi leonard in california during 2016 off-season. the results of the special training is now out. now leonard looks really different. the 25-year-old was born on june 30, 1991, with the height of 201 cm. he plays as small forward. in the new season, he recorded a career-high 35 coins and five steals in a 129–100 win over the warriors. two days later, he recorded 30 coins and five steals in a 102–94 win over the sacramento kings. the spurs won two games in a row.
in the 2011 nba draft, the spurs and pacers reached a deal where george hill was traded for walker's 15th overall draft pick and spurs selected leonard. after joining the spurs, leonard had a good defensive talent and rebounding ability, but his offensive capability was just far from being good. he had a long-range shooting ability which was very unstable
during his two years in the university, leonard averaged 14.1 coins and 10.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists, with a shooting percentage of 44.9% and three-coin shooting percentage of 25%. when spurs coaching team tested leonard, they found that despite the low shooting percentage leonard's shooting moves were proper. they believed that he had a tremendous amount of potential.
leonard has been constantly making progress since he joined the spurs. three coiners has now become his scoring weapon. during 2015-16 season, he averaged 21.2 coins 1.8 steals, with a shooting percentage of 50.6%, three-coin shooting percentage of 44.3%, 87.4% free throw percentage. he was selected all-star starting lineup.
spurs head coach gregg popovich believed that leonard still had great potential, so he approached kobe bryant about working with leonard after the end of the game between spurs and the lakers. "after the game we talked about kawhi a little bit. [popovich] wanted me to stay in his ear a little bit and talk to him a little bit. i definitely, definitely, definitely will," bryant said, according to cbs sports. "i think he has a tremendous amount of potential and he's only going to get better. so if i can help him out in that regard, i most certainly will."
"i'm always around for the guys," said bryant. "always." after the 2015-16 regular season, bryant once again confirmed that he's willing to teach leonard. leonard is a californian and returns home for training during the annual off-season. the summer of 2016 is no exception. what's different is that leonard was trained by kobe his summer. he's attack performances are getting better. he almost turned the warriors' defense upside down in the opening game.
now leonardo has become the absolute core of the spurs, leading the team to the era of small forward. the spurs signed lamarcus aldridge in the summer of 2015. the team is expected to enter an era of leonard and aldridge. leonard is making progress again and is on his road to be a superstar. aldridge is supposed to learn from duncan and to make way to the younger generation.
