Philadelphia 76ers shooting guard JJ Redick has high praise for Toronto Raptors superstar small forward Kawhi Leonard.
Redick says Leonard is “one of the all-time sort of elite wing defenders.”
“He guarded me in 2015 for most of that seven-game series in the first round when I played for the Clippers,” Redick said of Leonard, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “And he's one of the, I think, one of the all-time sort of elite wing defenders.”
Leonard has won the Defensive Player of the Year award two times in his career. He's regarded as the best perimeter defender in the NBA. The Raptors are going to put Leonard on Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris in the second round of the playoffs.
During the regular season, Leonard averaged 1.8 steals per game. That was good for seventh in the NBA. The Raptors are the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. Leonard put up 26.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists during the regular season while shooting 49.6 percent from the field, 37.1 percent from beyond the arc and 85.4 percent from the free-throw line.
The Raptors went 3-1 against the Sixers in the regular season. Simmons had 25 turnovers in the four games against Toronto. Most of those were caused by Leonard.
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