Fox Sports 1 voice Colin Cowherd had some harsh words for Kawhi Leonard, claiming he is not a leader and the antithesis of LeBron James after the Toronto Raptors cruised past the Golden State Warriors without him on Wednesday night.
The host of The Herd ripped into Leonard's lack of charisma and reserved personality as reasons why he wouldn't be welcome into a James-led team.
“Kawhi Leonard is odd and in sports and in life, you become your personality,” said Cowherd. “He's one of the strangest players ever. His career averages in assists is bizarre — it's two assists a game. Shaq averaged more assists a game, Shaq, who when you dumped the ball on him became a human, 7-foot-2, 330-pound bulldozer and didn't have teammates — Shaq averaged more assists than Kawhi Leonard.
Kawhi Leonard doesn't talk, nor does he pass and it's not a coincidence that the two greatest big man communicators, Magic Johnson and LeBron James, are in my opinion — the two greatest big man passers ever.”
“You kept telling me three years ago that Kawhi was the next LeBron — he's the opposite of LeBron — he never passes and he never talks. LeBron is incredibly functional, Kawhi is bizarrely dysfunctional.”
Cowherd's comments should be taken with the proverbial grain of salt, given his known infatuation with LeBron James, but his argument ultimately fell apart when he said Leonard's defense simply doesn't matter. And I quote…
“I know he plays good defense, but it's 2018. Does it really matter?,” said Cowherd. “How good a defense can you play when you can't hand-check, you can't put a body on anybody and it's a cardio game. Odd guys become odd players.”
Leonard's defense, despite not being all the way back just yet, has made a significant difference in how the Raptors have played this season, getting off to a sparkling 23-7 start to the season and allowing the sixth-least points per game by opponents.
Cowherd went on to rag on Leonard some more, claiming he wasn't surprised the Raptors were able to smoke past the Warriors by 20, given the 7-1 record without their best player.
“Teams often flourish without him,” said Leonard. “He'll never recruit, he doesn't communicate, he doesn't pass.”
The comparison between Leonard and James is nonsensical to begin with, as they both play a much different game. While James is a playmaking wizard, defense has been an afterthought through the latter stage of his career; a large reason why they've struggled to climb up to the top four spots in an ultra-competitive Western Conference.
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