What-if: Paul George and Kawhi Leonard ended up on Indiana?

[sammichoffate]

Indy traded the rights to Kawhi for George Hill in 2011. What do you guys think would have happened if he had stayed in Indy, would anything be different?

[!@#$%Vectors!@#]

I don't think it would work out. Danny Granger would have stunted one or the others growth. But if it did wow. They would be a defensive beast and easily would have made the finals in 2013 and 2014 and possibly even 2012. Lebeta would have one or zero rings because PG would guard Wade and Kawhi would guard Bran.

[bluechox2]

both played the same position at the time so one would get benched alot...and no pg to share the rock

[SCdac]

Kawhi is very talented and probably would have broken out in Indiana sooner than later.

He was projected to go as high as #9, #10, etc., in the draft. In San Antonio he averaged only 24 mpg his rookie season and finished 4th in ROTY voting. Richard Jefferson started every game he appeared in (41 games out of a 66-game lockout season) and the Spurs with Duncan-Parker-Ginobili have generally had the opportunity to bring Kawhi along real slowly.

My guess is the Pacers would have eventually chosen between Kawhi and George unless they could move one of em to SG comfortably and get the contracts to work out

[imnew09]

Lets not discredit Spurs coaching staff.

[SCdac]

Lets not discredit Spurs coaching staff.

Agreed. They've probably helped kawhi in a variety of ways, to the x's and o's, picking and choosing when to be aggressive, defensive improvement, improved shooting, etc... But gotta give credit to the hardworking athletic freak that is Kawhi who made it into the big leagues at like 20 years old. A number of players drafted by the Spurs did not become Finals MVP's, DPOY, and AS's (DeJuan Blair, Beno Udrih, Ian Mahinmi, George Hill, etc). I'm sure Kawhi would be tearing it up on most teams, regardless of whether that team is good or not