There has been much said about Kawhi Leonard's brief but successful tenure as a member of the Toronto Raptors. Head coach Nick Nurse has weighed in on how he feels that despite how some may have framed it outside of the organization, he saw that Leonard was in fact heavily involved with the team and displayed leadership skills.
Nurse even described a specific example:
“There were several times and team meetings that I thought (Leonard) kind of inserted himself into our team,” Nurse said, per Eric Koreen of The Athletic. “I think we were probably 13-4 or something and we were having a little meeting about how the offence was running, and he kind of stepped up and said to the team, ‘This is how I see it.' He couldn’t have said it better, for me. It was perfect.”
Leonard famously led the Raptors to an NBA championship last season, despite sitting out at least one leg of each regular-season back-to-back his team participated in. He arrived in Toronto after a stint with San Antonio that ended less than pleasantly for all those involved. Questions about Leonard's leadership in wake of his burgeoning stardom emerged.
Then this past offseason occurred, when Leonard decided that one year in Canada was enough and that he would be joining the Los Angeles Clippers. Toronto, who traded a significant package — including franchise star DeMar DeRozan — to acquire Leonard, was left attempting to maintain a championship roster in wake of his departure. One man who appears content with the one season Leonard gave the city is Nurse, who won a title as a rookie head coach.
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