Kawhi Leonard, always a spur in the heart

When Kawhi Leonard was traded to the Raptors, I had trouble understanding. This not only marked the end of an era, but also raised serious questions about the actual functioning of Leonard and the Spurs. The eternal All-Star, who had previously shown little interest in anything other than his team victories, finally revealed to have an ego, or at least a group of people around him who could convince him to do it. The Spurs, especially Gregg Popovich, also mismanaged the situation, not quite taking Leonard for granted, but perhaps taking too much of it.

A few months later, I am much better. We can debate for days if Leonard wants to laugh but can not, or he laughs despite his ultra seriousness. Anyway, this laugh made me realize that things should not be so broken. Leonard will resume his business as usual because he can not help it.

We still do not really know why the situation in San Antonio has become uncontrollable. The way Leonard has already arrived in Toronto, however, suggests that he is perfectly keen to pick up where he left off and that, true to form, his impending independent agency is barely on his radar. Of course, Leonard must remind us that he can play and make Raptors a threat to get out of the East. Above all, Leonard will try to pick up the resemblance that has marked his career so far – and that is, for all intents and purposes, his natural rhythm.

I've already written about it: For years, I hated the Spurs. The early incarnation of the team played a slow, often ugly ball, described as opportunistic and, at worst, cynical. The team has evolved; the game has become prettier, the pace faster, the will to win less superficial. I also changed and learned to appreciate the expertise and consistency of Spurs. This is the league's great constant, and San Antonio's penchant for growth and decline allows them to feel more, not less, lasting. Far from being radical, they were the cornerstone of the league – its fundamentals – as almost every team and every player worthy of the name saw its value, no matter how inconsistent it was with their style or style. personality. The Spurs were not for everyone except they had to orient themselves and find their place.

"What makes Leonard's new departure from Toronto so fascinating is that we've never seen an ear of this caliber, as central in this myth and so steeped in this franchise culture, go elsewhere, will he spread the gospel, or will he be forced to make compromises? "

Kawhi Leonard was Spurs-y's most daring project to date: a dynamic wing that could easily handle matches on its own – the hotshot of the modern NBA par excellence – but absolutely refused to recognize it. At one point in 2017, Popovich started playing plays for Leonard based on how the Predynastic Bulls were using Michael Jordan, and Leonard was conscientiously getting to work, exploding or improvising the script as he pleased. … because he had been told to do it. That does not mean that Leonard is servile. In the same way that we clung to the Spurs as organizing principle, Leonard had absolute faith in the ideal of an orderly universe in which harmony with the rules and laws would produce a ideal state of balance in which things were predictable. , familiar and quite correct.

What makes the departure of Leonard from Toronto so fascinating is that we have never seen an ear of this caliber, so central to this myth and so rooted in franchise culture, to go elsewhere. Will he spread the gospel? Or will he have to compromise? Do the Raptors end up looking like the Spurs – a frightening prospect for an already very good team – or does Leonard open up his game even more and perhaps, at the same time, will he expand his awareness? ? The reality of the situation will probably be a combination of both. But even though, during the summer, this dynamic could have been interpreted as a conflict or tension, after The Laugh, we know that Leonard is at the top and is ready to assume his situation for the first time in his life. Instead of relying on his openness to find a meaning that corresponds to his vision of the world, he must take control, define himself and find new ways to enter his particular form of rhythm that has no rhythm. And there is every reason to believe that Leonard can get away with it without frustration or confusion, because, after all, there is still a Spur in the heart and the Spurs are not frustrating or confusing.