Originally posted by SteveWallacesHelmet:
OK....you claim it has nothing to do with energy. So what is the reason Kawhi's stats are markedly down across the board this year? Just a coincidence that it happens to be the same year that he carried far more of an offensive workload?
It obviously has something to do with energy. That's what made Jordan special - he was able to carry the load offensively and still lock up his man on defense. Lebron is bigger, stronger, and a better playmaker than Jordan was, but he doesn't have that same motor/endurance. Neither did Kobe, who put in much less effort in on defense than Lebron at this point in his career.
All the top players start taking plays off at some point in their career. Lebron James at 32 doesn't have the same energy as Lebron at 25. He can choose to conserve his energy to pad his stats and average a triple double by not playing as hard defensively, but give me the 25-26 year old version of any superstar over the 32 year old version all day.
Kawhi still plays hard on both ends regardless of what the stats you're looking at say. He can't devote as much energy on defense now that he's the primary offensive threat for the Spurs, but he's still a big reason they're one of the best defensive teams in the league. Of the top MVP candidates (Westbrook, Harden, Lebron, Kawhi), Leonard puts in the most effort on defense and was the most valuable player during the regular season in my opinion.